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LESSON PLAN: War Unleashed

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The Cause, 1861; Volume #142 Chapters 9-14


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Summary

By the time the war broke out on April 12, 1861, seven states had seceded from the United States and joined together to form the Confederate States of America. Six more states would follow by the year's end. Few in the South imagined that they would defeat the Union in the conflict they had started, but many thought they could force the North to sue for peace and let the southern states alone. On both sides, young men answered their presidents' calls to arms with zeal and excitement; they feared they might miss the adventure ahead.

The first real battle, at Bull Run (Manassas), was a rout for the North. Lincoln's confidence in his general, George McClellan, waned as the Army of the Potomac lost time drilling his troops and winning only partial victories on the field. The high casualty count at Bull Run marked an unread warning sign of what was to come. The battle of Antietam, documented by the acclaimed photographer Matthew Brady, produced even more dead and stunned the Union. Meanwhile, Lincoln addressed the issue of slavery, and decided to sign a proclamation to emancipate slaves in the Confederate states. It was 1862. Emancipation would sit for a year as the president shored up his political support.


Questions for Discussion

1. Fort Sumter

  • Which side started the war? What were its direct and indirect causes?
  • How did people react to the news? Did northerners and southerners have the same reactions?
  • Why did Lincoln allow the South to fire the first shot?

2. Rush to Arms

  • Why did the North and the South have to call up soldiers?
  • What kinds of young men were the armies made up of?
  • Were either the North or the South prepared to fight a war? Give examples of how they were or were not ready to go to war.
  • What were the expectations of soldiers in the North and South regarding the length of the war?

3. Bull Run

  • How were many of the first battles described or reported?
  • How did civilians react to the beginning of the war?
  • Were soldiers ready for the battle they encountered at Manassas? Explain.
  • What were the first lessons of war to be learned from this battle?

4. Antietam

  • Which army might have won a great victory at Antietam if it had continued attacking?
  • Which side suffered the most losses?
  • Why did some soldiers run backwards while retreating? (A soldier's honor dictated avoiding the shameful injury of being shot in the back.)

5. Emancipation

  • Why did Lincoln hesitate to declare slaves free?
  • How was the proclamation to affect slaves in the South?
  • What did the Emancipation Proclamation mean to soldiers fighting for the North?
  • Do you think the proclamation increased the North's or the South's chances of winning the war?
  • In your opinion, did the proclamation affect attitudes northerners and southerners had towards one another?


Activities

  1. Ask students if they can think of anything (an idea, a place, a person, etc.) they would be willing to stand up for and defend. Ask the class for some examples. How far would students go to defend them? How many students would go to war? (See the Thematic Lesson Plan, "Some Things are Worth Fighting For" for a discussion of honor and duty.)

  2. Review Volume #142, Chapter 10. How would students feel about going to war over the issue of national union? Slavery? Discuss the calls to arms in the North and South at the beginning of the war. Do students think the governments were right to force men to fight in their armies? What kinds of present-day issues, if any, would students feel compelled to defend or fight over?

  3. Divide the class into pairs of interview partners. Have students interview each other to discover the reasons each would have either for going to war or for avoiding conscription. Discuss these as a class. What were the best reasons students provided for objecting to a military draft? What were the best reasons students provided for complying with the draft? Do males have to serve in the army today? (You may want to introduce students to the issues that galvanized antiwar protesters during the Vietnam War.)

  4. Students might research the Shakers. On what grounds did this group oppose war? What is conscientious objection?

  5. The beginning of a conflict is a difficult time for leaders responsible for the lives of both soldiers and citizens. Ask students to think about the characteristics a leader must have to make good decisions in this kind of situation. Write these on the board. What are some examples of good decisions? Bad decisions? What are some different kinds of leaders required at times of war? Have students work alone or in pairs to write a character profile of a qualified leader. Display these on the classroom wall when students are finished.

  6. Ask students if they can explain the overall strategy of each side. Make sure that they understand how the war was being fought. (The South wanted to weaken the North's morale and force the North to sue for an early peace. The North wanted to divide the South along the Mississippi, cut off resources by blockading port cities, and sink the South's economy.) Why did the Confederate leadership believe that the Union didn't have the stamina to fight a long war? Why did the Union leadership think it could prevent the Confederacy from existing as a separate country?

  7. Divide the class into groups. Nominate half of the groups "the Union" and the rest "the Confederacy." Explain to the class that each group is to map out its wartime strategy. Among strategies to be considered are those that are defensive in nature and those that are offensive in nature. Students should also distinguish between long-term and short-term goals. Examples might be: to wear down the enemy slowly; crush the enemy in quick and overwhelming blows; destroy the enemy's economy and/or wear out the enemy's citizens; cut off the enemies' supplies, etc. Have students consider the following factors: economic damage; territorial growth; battle victories. Each goal should be stated in a sentence. For example: "Occupy the enemy's territory;" "Weaken the enemy's economy;" "Destroy the enemy's military capability."

    For each long- and short-term goal, students should then list the means they might use to achieve those goals. For example: "Invade the enemy's cities," "Blockade the enemy's port cities," "Cut off the enemy's roads and railroads."

    Groups might also want to nominate a general, president, department of war, etc. Ask the groups to come up with specific goals, including names of states and cities.

    When groups have created their plans, discuss them as a class. How many different strategies did students come up with? Did most students choose offensive or defensive strategies? Which ones were the most conservative? Which were the most demanding? Which does the class find most appealing or likely to succeed? Which does the class find most risky and likely to fail? Which would cost the most lives? Which would take the longest to execute? What is required to make an offensive strategy work? How does a defensive strategy work? What kinds of military capability are required to make offensive and defensive strategies successful?

  8. Provide each student with a copy of excerpts from the Emancipation Proclamation. Ask each student to find what he or she considers to be the most important word in the document. Next, ask students to think of a synonym. You might divide the class into groups and have each work as a team to paraphrase or rewrite the proclamation using contemporary English. Discuss the activity as a class.

    If students are familiar with the difference between field and house slaves, have them write a paragraph about emancipation from each slave's point of view. You might want students to write each perspective on opposite halves of a sheet of paper folded down the middle. Some students might want to write their passages as a conversation between a field slave and a house slave.

  9. Have students write the word "proclamation" or "emancipation" vertically on a sheet of paper. Next ask them to write a word using each letter, as in a crossword puzzle, related to the word written vertically.

  10. The first class pictures taken at West Point military academy were shot in 1857. With the coming of the war, these young men had to decide whether or not to fight for the Union. Almost all of them chose to defend their home states.

    Make sure that students understand that, during this time, Americans identified first and foremost with their states. This fact made the war particularly unbearable for the patriots of some states who went into battle against one another.

    What might these West Point graduates have entered into each other's yearbooks as they headed off in different directions, sometimes to become enemies instead of friends?

  11. Students might make a yearbook page out of class photos. Each student should choose a home state (there were only thirty-four at the time of the war), occupation, and allegiance. Students might play some of these roles while doing other activities suggested in this guide.

  12. The Confederate attack on Fort Sumter confirmed the country's commitment to war. Review Volume #142, Chapter 9 and have students write headlines describing the attack on Fort Sumter and its significance. Create the front page of a newspaper the day after Fort Sumter's fall.


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