Video Segments

• The Cause, 1861; Volume # 142, Chapter 12
• Simply Murder, 1863; Volume # 145, Chapter 4
• War Is All Hell, 1865; Volume # 149, Chapter 3

Objectives

• To help students understand that at the time of the Civil War the United States was becoming a modernized country.

• To introduce students to the changes occurring in technologies and weaponry during the time of the Civil War.

Table of Contents

Connecting to the Past
Thinking Critically
Empathizing With Personal Experience
Using What We Know

Connecting to the Past

1. Explain to students that the North, in an attempt to cut off supplies to the Confederacy, blockaded the South's ports during the war. This action was taken in the hopes of crippling the South economically and forcing it to surrender earlier. Today, blockades are often used by countries that do not want to start "shooting wars." Ask students how they think blockades work. What portion of the population tends to suffer the most from a blockade?

   Display a map of the community or the state. With students working in groups, have them design a way to blockade their own community. What roads, railroads, rivers, canals, bridges, etc., are necessary to the community? What kinds of supplies and resources would be targeted? Students can complete their tasks in the form of an outline. For each separate blockade, students should state their goal.

2. The United States in the 1850s was a new home to millions of new immigrants. (Three million arrived in the United States between 1845 and 1855.) These people expanded the country's labor force, and though jobs became increasingly hard to obtain during the war, cheap labor was the backbone of industrial expansion. Students might research the kinds of work available for those living in the large cities of the North. How did modernization affect people employed for industrial work? How did the lives of unskilled working immigrants compare with those of slaves in the South? What are some examples of ways in which these two types of existence were similar or different?

   Have students research the rate at which the US population grew from 1850 to 1860. How does this compare to population growth today? What kinds of impact does such rapid population growth have? Students might research this further and write a journal entry from an immigrant's perspective. Do students know their family histories?

3. Ask students if they know when the railroad was first used. Explain to the class that the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, when (primarily) Chinese and Irish teams converged just east of the Rockies. Ask students what kinds of changes this transportation system must have brought to the country. How did the railroad thrust Americans into a new age? What was modern about the railroad?

   You might want to write the following railroad statistics on the board for discussion. Miles of railroad operated in each year: 1830: 23; 1840: 2,818; 1850: 9,021; 1860: 30,926; 1870: 52,922; 1880: 93,262; 1890: 166,703

   How do the figures illustrate a country in the process of modernizing? Tell students that at the time of the Civil War seventy percent of the track operated was in the North. Have students work in pairs or groups to create lists of goods that might have been transported by rail. In what directions would some of the goods have traveled?

4. One of the inventions used for military purposes during the Civil War was the hot air balloon. Why might a bird's-eye view of the battlefield have been particularly useful to field commanders at the time? What technologies did the hot air balloon evolve into during the present century?

Thinking Critically

1. Students might be interested in researching Civil War inventions in weaponry. Tell the class that Abraham Lincoln himself was interested in technology, and even considered himself an amateur inventor. What impact might his interest have had on the development of new weapons? Ask students if they think the development of weapons should be regulated. Should their capacity to kill humans be controlled? Debate the issue as a class. Make connections to contemporary discussions such as gun control, assault weapon bans, disarmament, nuclear proliferation, or chemical weapons.

2. View Volume #142, Chapter 12. Ask students why so many soldiers had limbs amputated during the war. Invite them to find out from a science teacher why gangrene was a serious threat to many wounded men during the Civil War. What is gangrene, and why was amputation preferable to its spread? Students might be disgusted to learn that maggots were used to clean out gangrenous wounds (leeches are still used today to reduce swelling from blood loss).

3. View Volume #149, Chapter 3 and discuss Sherman's views on war. Why did Sherman want to make war as cruel and miserable as possible? Why did he target civilians in his March to the Sea? Explain to the class that this qualifies him in many people's views as one of the first modern generals.

   Ask students if they agree or disagree with the phrase "All is fair in war." Hold a debate around the issue of fairness in war. Should civilians be military targets? What kinds of targets might be considered suitable to military ends? Should wars be fought by military professionals only? How else might wars be waged? How have these issues changed historically in the present century?

4. In the 130 years since the Civil War, weaponry and fighting technology have changed significantly. Most wars are fought today as much from the sky as from the ground. Missiles are launched from great distances, making it possible for a country to fight a war far away from its own population. Ask students to imagine what the Civil War would have been like if it were fought today. Would battles look like the battle maps contained in the Maps section?

Empathizing with Personal Experience

1. Play segment from Volume #145, Chapter 4 about Fredericksburg. What kinds of misunderstandings did soldiers have of the capabilities of weaponry at the time? What happened as a result of these mistakes?

2. Have students interview their parents and grandparents about inventions. What are some innovations that are outdated today? What inventions did those replace? Do students' parents and grandparents miss any of the older technologies? If so, why? What conclusions can the class make about innovation? Is a product born out of necessity and need, discovery, or of improvement and refinement? What are the connections between money, industry, and invention?

Using What We Know

1. Ask students to view videos or cable television programs or movies that are at least twenty years old. If you wish, rent a video; choose one that illustrates how film makers used to imagine the future. Examples of such films are: War of the Worlds, Superman (original), Time Machine, etc. Ask students to watch the films or programs for humorous moments and why do we laugh at outdated visions of technology? How much has changed since these films or programs were produced? How much might change over the next twenty years?

2. Discuss the following topics with the class, or ask students to work on them independently:
   • What new technology will everybody want to have next?
   • What old technology will become outdated next?
   • How long will these processes take to unfold? Discuss the speed of change in contemporary society.
   • How does it compare to the rate of industrial and technological change a hundred years ago?

   Ask each student to think of one recent invention without which his or her life would be dramatically different. Encourage students to find out more about the history of their chosen inventions. Discuss them as a class.

3. Explain to the class that during the time of the Civil War, many Americans identified more with their home states than they did with their country. People considered themselves Virginians, Ohioans, and New Yorkers. Ask students to reflect on what geopolitical entity they identify with. Have each student create a list of five ways they would identify themselves. Next have students list ten ways they think others would identify them. How are the lists different?

   Discuss the notion of identity as a class. What role might the contrast between how people view themselves and how they are viewed by others have played in the country's division during the Civil War?

 

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