Civil War Battle. Events Stations.Pdf

Instructions 1.) There are many options for completing this activity, so you may have to modify to meet your needs. 2.) Typically, I organize eight different stations around the room with the appropriate handout. We read through Fort Sumter together since it is shorter than the rest, and I believe it is good to demonstrate the expectations of the carousel. 3.) Explain the graphic organizer to students and how they should fill out the organizer at each station. An answer sheet has been included! 4.) I have also included a “close reading” worksheet that students should complete as they progress through the activity. Each station will have at least ONE question on the worksheet. After completing the organizer, I have students find the question that they can now answer from what they know about this event/battle. 5.) You will have to modify the activity to meet your needs, such as including reading assignments, taking out sections, using less of the organizer, or ignoring the “close reading”’ activity. Enjoy! 1. Describe “total war.” Be sure to explain what it is, who it involves, where it was used, and the effect of using it. 2. This Union victory presented one positive outcome relating to slavery following the battle, what was it? 3. Describe the 2 decisions weighted by Lincoln about sending a warship to resupply Fort Sumter. 4. How did Union leadership completely spoil an opportunity to win the war on September 17, 1862? 5. Explain the conditions given to the Confederates as part of their surrender? 6. This was a costly battle for both armies. While the battle was considered a Confederate victory because it pushed the Union army back to Chattanooga, TN rather than letting it proceed into Georgia. Why was this a costly battle? 7. Describe the event known as “Pickett’s Charge.” Be sure to explain the circumstances surrounding the event, what the term means, how it receives its name, and the outcome of it. 8. Explain the term “live off the land.” Be sure to explain what it means, how it works, and in what battles it was important. 9. What goals did Sherman have in his “March to the Sea?” 10. In President Lincoln’s speech, what does he mean when he says: “We are dedicated to the great task remaining before us –”. Fort Sumter (April 12, 1861) Fort Sumter was a federal fort in Charleston Harbor, which is located in South Carolina. The fort needed resupplied when it ran low on provisions (supplies) in April of 1861. This fort was important because it was one of two Union-controlled forts in southern territory. President Lincoln was faced with a tough choice in April 1861. With tension rising between the North and South, would sending a warship to resupply the fort be seen as an act of aggression? Also, not resupplying the fort could likely demonstrate weakness in the face of a rebellious south. Lincoln decided to resupply the fort, but before his ship could get there the Confederacy attacked. Orders were sent to the fort that the Union would be resupplying Sumter. However, South Carolinians claimed this fort was theirs – it was in the South therefore it belonged to the South! Thirty-three hours later, the fort fell to Confederate forces. At Fort Sumter, the Confederacy was the aggressor since they attached first over a simple resupply issue. As a result of the South’s attack, thousands of northerners flocked into the Union army. Lincoln immediately asked for 75,000 men had signed up to fight. The Beginnings of War Antietam 1 (September 17, 1862) Prior to the Battle at Antietam the Union had lost again at Bull Run (or Manassas). The Union army was now on the run. Confederate President Jefferson Davis and General Robert E. Lee saw an opportunity now to invade the North. The Union was on the run, northerners were becoming anxious to end the war, and the South was highly motivated – why not give it a shot? Too, Lee believed that once his army crossed into the border state of Maryland that the people there would rise up and support the Confederate cause. Lee crossed the Potomac River with 55,000 men, however there was no popular uprising. On September 13 something very unique happened. In a field near Frederick, Maryland, two Union troops found a copy of Lee’s orders to invade the North. These orders included his battle plan. Shockingly, Union General McClellan did not act upon this advantage. After the battle, Lincoln removed McClellan because, as he stated, “McClellan has a case for the slows.” McClellan waited almost eighteen hours to begin to move his troops to attack Lee. Meanwhile, Lee used this time to reorganize his men since he learned from a Maryland citizen about the Union’s discovery of his orders. McClellan squandered any hope of taking the Confederate army by surprise. On September 17, the two forces finally met at Antietam Creek, near Sharpsburg, Maryland. By the time they fought the armies were relatively well-matched. The fighting was horrible, by the end of the day over 6,000 troops had died and roughly 17,000 more were wounded. Lee was forced to retreat. Again, McClellan did not take advantage. He did not pursue Lee into Virginia despite being urged by President Lincoln. Finally, Lincoln had enough. He removed McClellan from command and replaced him with Ambrose Burnside. However, the Union victory did present one major positive: following the battle. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves in the Confederate states. This forced many European countries – all who relied on Southern cotton and had outlawed slavery many years earlier – to rethink their plans to help the south. The Confederacy, low on men, supplied, and morale, knew that if they were going to win they needed foreign help. Because of the horrific casualties in Antietam, many soldiers were hastily buried in mass graves. 2 The Emancipation Proclamation President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." Despite this expansive wording, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied only to states that had seceded from the Union, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also expressly exempted parts of the Confederacy that had already come under Northern control. Most important, the freedom it promised depended upon Union military victory. Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery in the nation, it captured the hearts and imagination of millions of Americans and fundamentally transformed the character of the war. After January 1, 1863, every advance of federal troops expanded the domain of freedom. Moreover, the Proclamation announced the acceptance of black men into the Union Army and Navy, enabling the liberated to become liberators. By the end of the war, almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and freedom. From the first days of the Civil War, slaves had acted to secure their own liberty. The Emancipation Proclamation confirmed their insistence that the war for the Union must become a war for freedom. It added moral force to the Union cause and strengthened the Union both militarily and politically. As a milestone along the road to slavery's final destruction, the Emancipation Proclamation has assumed a place among the great documents of human freedom. The original of the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, is in the National Archives in Washington, DC. With the text covering five pages the document was originally tied with narrow red and blue ribbons, which were attached to the signature page by a wafered impression of the seal of the United States. Most of the ribbon remains; parts of the seal are still decipherable, but other parts have worn off. The document was bound with other proclamations in a large volume preserved for many years by the Department of State. When it was prepared for binding, it was reinforced with strips along the center folds and then mounted on a still larger sheet of heavy paper. Written in red ink on the upper right-hand corner of this large sheet is the number of the Proclamation, 95, given to it by the Department of State long after it was signed. With other records, the volume containing the Emancipation Proclamation was transferred in 1936 from the Department of State to the National Archives of the United States. Teacher Notes: The Emancipation Proclamation After the Battle of Antietam, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862. Though often understood as the document that “freed the slaves,” the Proclamation actually said that all slaves in the rebellious states would be freed on January 1, 1863. At that point, all slaves in states that fought with the Union were not freed. Hypothetically, according to this document, if the South had surrendered before January 1, they would have been allowed to keep their slaves. However, Lincoln knew the CSA would not give up, and this document would end slavery once the war was over. It would also be the moral issue that kept other European powers out of the conflict. The Battle of Chickamauga For the first three years of the Civil War, Georgia was virtually left untouched. There were a few skirmishes, though the Battle of Fort Pulaski3 in 1862 led to the North’s control of the Georgia coast and expansion of the Union Blockade of Southern ports. However, the major impact of war arrived on Georgia’s doorstep in 1863, during the Battle of Chickamauga.

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