Title of Unit: Women in the Civil War Vital theme of the unit: Students will learn how women were important in the war effort, through support at the home front, as soldiers and spies, and in the medical field. Author and contact information: Tammie McCarroll-Burroughs Lenoir City Elementary School 203 Kelley Lane Lenoir City, Tennessee 37771 Phone: (865) 986-2009 ex. # 7349 Email: [email protected] [email protected] Grade Level: Intermediate – Fourth or Fifth Grade Curriculum Standards Addressed: 4.5.3; 4.6.2; 5.5.1; 5.1.2; 5.5.7; 5.5.10; 5.6.2; 5.6.3; 5.6.5; Technology Used: Primary Source Materials Provided in Lessons: Lenoir Funeral Invitation Letter from Hattie Lenoir to Henriettta Lenoir Pictures of Lenoir Family Gravestones Greenhow, Rose O’Neal Papers, Duke University, Special Collections Library Online Archival Collection. 1996. http://library.duke.edu/specialcollections/ November 17, 1861. Washington, D.C. From Rose Greenhow to William H. Seward, Secretary of the State. News clipping of a letter to Seward, obtained by the Richmond Whig, details her imprisonment and offers an impassioned protest of the current state of the government. October 1, 1864. News clipping, presumably from the Wilmington Sentinel, describing Greenhow’s funeral complete with details of the reactions of the Wilmington townspeople and the service itself. November 29, 1861 News clipping, (source unknown) which describes “Fort Greenough” the brick building in which Rose Greenhow was imprisoned for 3 months. (MJ Solomon Scrapbook, Special Collections Library, Duke University). Thompson, Sarah E. Papers, 1859-1898, Duke University, Special Collections Library Online Archival Collection. 1996. http://library.duke.edu/specialcollections/ January 15, 1878. Washington, D.C. From S.G. Carter. A testimonial concerning Sarah Thompson’s wartime service. May 7, 1898. Washington D.C. Army Nurse’s Pension Certificate. The certificate issued to Sarah Thompson when she was granted a pension. Music (Optional): “Hard Times Come Again No More – Found on CD Recording Songs of the Civil War – may also be found on many other recordings Unit introduction and overview of instructional plan: Over the course of this unit, students will gain understanding of the roles of women in the Civil War through lessons that go beyond the lessons taught in the textbook. The lessons are based on events and issues that may not necessarily be covered in the textbook. An example of this is the events involving a local history event. Similar items addressed in the unit are covered in the CRT Assessment and the Chapter Assessments of our Social Studies textbook. The unit will be taught during the Social Studies periods, for three homeroom classes, as our elementary school is semi-departmentalized in fourth grade. Students will address questions that will lead to the understanding of concepts taught in the unit. These include: • How did women cope with tragedies in daily life during the American Civil War Period? • What contributions did Rose Greenhow make in the Confederate efforts to win the war? • How did Sarah Thompson exhibit bravery and loyalty to the United States? This unit will be taught within the time allotted on the Curriculum Map for the study of the American Civil War, Chapters twelve and thirteen in the Social Studies textbook. The time allotted is approximately four weeks to teach both chapters, the unit will be taught in the period of one to two weeks. Each lesson will be taught as it correlates to the lessons in the chapters. Suggested Classroom Library: These items are collected for study involving the Civil War era. Starred (*) items are exceptionally good. Reference Books: *Bolden, Tonya, Portraits of African American Heroes. 2003, Dutton Children's Books Flato, Charles, The Golden Book of the Civil War. 1961, American Heritage Publishing Herbert, Janice, Civil War for Kids: a History with 21 Activities. 1999, Chicago Review Press *McPherson, James M., Fields of Fury: the American Civil War. 2002, Atheneum Books For Young Readers *National Park Service, Underground Railroad. 1999 U.S. Department of Interior Sandler, Martin W., Civil War: a Library of Congress Book. 1996, Harper Collins Chapter and Picture Books/Read-Alouds: *Picture Book of... Series by David Adler (Scholastic Books) Harriet Tubman *National Geographic Reading Expeditions Library Blue or Gray? A Family Divided The Anti-Slavery Movement *If You... Series (Scholastic Books) If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War If You Traveled on the Underground Railroad *America Series Journals/Diaries (Scholastic Books A Picture of Freedom - Diary of a Clotee, a Slave Girl (1859) A Light in the Storm - The Civil War Diary of Amelia Martin (1861) My Brother's Keeper - Virginia's Diary (1863) When Will This Cruel War Be Over? - Civil War Diary of Emma Thompson (1864) *Houston, Gloria, Bright Freedom's Song. 1998, Silver Whistle Books, Harcourt & Brace (Read privately first!) *McGovern, Ann, Wanted Dead or Alive": the True Story of Harriet Tubman (Original Title: Runaway Slave). 1965 Scholastic Books *Lester, Julius, From Slave Ship to Freedom Road. 1998, Puffin Books Weiss, Ellen, Hitty's Travels: Civil War Days. 2001, Aladdin Paperbacks Video: *The Civil War: A Concise History *Civil War Series by Ken Burns (PBS) (Viewer Discretion Advised) *Civil War Journal (History Channel) Not for Ourselves Alone: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony (PBS) *A Picture of Freedom (Scholastic) (Goes with Dear America) Race to Freedom: The Story of the Underground Railroad Saga of Slavery *Underground Railroad (History Channel) (Viewer Discretion Advised) Music/Multmedia (CD): Bobby Horton's Civil War Songs Series *Steal Away: Songs of the Underground Railroad (Appleseed Recordings) Soundtrack from PBS Civil War Series *United and Divided: A Young Nation through the Civil War (Book and CD Set Narratives and Lyrics with Posters). This can be used from Revolutionary War to Civil War! Reference Bibliography: Ash, Stephen V. A Year in the South 1865. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. Augustus, Gerald L. The Loudon County Area of East Tennessee in the War 1861-1865. Paducah: Turner Publishing Company, 2000. Blanton, Deanne, and Cook, Lauren M. They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the Civil War. New York: Vintage Books, 2002. Garrison, Webb. Amazing Women of the Civil War. Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 1999. Gwin, Minrose C. Ed. A Woman’s Civil War: A Diary with Reminiscences of the War, from March 1862 Cornelia Peake McDonald. New York: Gramercy Books, 1992. Hesseltine, William B. Ed. Dr. J. G. M. Ramsey Autobiography and Letters. Nashville: Tennessee Historical Commission, 1954 Myers, Robert Manson. The Children of the Pride: A True Story of Georgia and the Civil War. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1984. Women in the Civil War American citizens were thrown into a tumultuous five-year tailspin known as the Civil War. People in the opposing regions called the confrontation by other titles, such as the War Between the States, the War of the Rebellion, the War of Northern Aggression, and a personal favorite - the Recent Unpleasantness. Whatever the name, it was war; therefore, women were impacted by the ravages of war, whether they were standing by on the home front, serving in the ranks as soldiers and spies, or treating the sick and wounded in makeshift hospitals. Women on the Home Front When war erupted, American women were faced with the prospect of having to see their husbands, fiancés, and sons march off to fight fellow Americans. Many families had ties to either side, so these women had to make choices and sacrifices. Their ways of life were threatened and reactions to the war differed with regional affiliation. The most famous women at this time were the wives of the political and military leaders of the period: Mary Todd Lincoln, Julia Dent Grant, Varina Davis, and Mary Custis Lee. The common woman had to cope with the upheaval of daily life, and we are able to perceive their ordeal through diaries and correspondence. Their opinions of the conflict were reflected in their writings. Mary Jones, who resided in Georgia, wrote often to her son, Lt. Charles C. Jones, Jr. during his service in the Confederate army. In 1862, after the fall of Fort Pulaski, she wrote, “I see no hope for Savannah but in the special mercy and goodness of God; and my only comfort springs from the hope that he will deliver us in the day of battle from our inhuman foes.” In the same letter, she sends “howdies” from the slaves (Myers, pp. 230-231). She wrote about events at home involving family members and slaves, concerns about his safety and nutrition, and news from other cities in the south. After the war, widowed and destitute, she died at the home of her daughter, in New Orleans in 1868. Mrs. Cornelia McDonald and her seven children would flee their home in Winchester, Virginia in November of 1863, after the occupation of Federal forces. Her husband, Angus, was an officer in the Confederate army, in spite of his age of sixty-five. She wrote in her diary in June 1864, of three-year-old Hunter crying and when asked what was the matter, he replied, “The Yankees are coming to our house and they will take all our breakfast, and will capture me and Fanny” (Gwin, p. 187). Fanny was his sister’s doll and considered by him to be a member of the family. She depended heavily upon her husband’s pay, which would eventually end when her husband died in Richmond. She received a letter to come to him in his sickness in December of 1864, but arrived one day too late to see him alive (Ash, p. 8). She would write of her shock at his death.