Battles of the Civil War

In class, we went on a scavenger hunt throughout the school to learn about several battles of the Civil War. The day before the actual hunt, each student chose a battle and were given some basic information about the battle: Name, location, date(s), victor, etc. We then went home and created a google doc with the information on it, and used bit.ly to create a QR code for the document and a URL. Everyone printed out a piece of paper with the battle name, URL and QR code and brought it to class the next day. As a class we put them in places all over the school and tried to find a scan each one, then copy down the information. After all the battles had been scanned, we looked at patterns involving the area of the battle, the victor, and why they won. Our teacher created a Padlet and we discussed our essential questions and their answers.

The Civil War spanned across much of the country, but it can easily be sorted into three theaters: East, West, and Naval. Each side had an advantage over the other in each theater. For instance, in the naval theater, the north's strong economy compared to the south combined with their already existing navy led to the a northern domination on the sea. In the eastern theater, the Confederates were the main victors. It was the Confederates use of terrain and positioning in many battles that gave them this advantage. When the two armies met at the battle of Cold Harbor, the Confederates used the forested area to hide their troops and ultimately ended up winning. It was until the Battle of Gettysburg that the Union started to achieve victory in the East. On the west, the Union won significantly more battles than the Confederates due to their strategy. It involved many sieges, such as Vicksburg, where the Union surrounded and bombarded the city until they surrendered. The Union was ultimately able to win the war with their Anaconda plan, but the Confederates almost made a punch into breaking the Union through their eastern domination.

Each theater of the war had very similar tactics used in each of their battles. In the west, the Union ended up surrounding their enemies until they surrendered. In the east, the Confederates beat their opponents to the battle location and set up fortifications, or out maneuvered the Union. Although, towards the end of the war after Gettysburg, the Union had the Confederates on the back-foot, using momentum from the Battle of Gettysburg.


http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/civil-war-in-america/april-1861-april-1862.html

Freedom from above and below

It is the middle of the Civil War, the War over slavery that divided the United States into two opposing sides. While the Confederate and Union soldiers are slugging it out on the battlefield, President Lincoln decides to make a choice that will greatly affect the course of the war. On January 1st, 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves all over America. The south, naturally, refused to recognize Lincoln as their president and therefore was outraged that he would dare try to free slaves, which was a part of their way of life. This week in class, we first analyzed a drawing of Abraham Lincoln with a family of slaves, as he is freeing them. This is an example of freedom from above, where a higher authority, in this case the President, is granting freedom to the enslaved. We then wrote on the drawing what we thought each character would say, for example, Lincoln might say "You and your family are now free peoples of the United States" or something along those lines. We then looked at four Lincoln Documents and analyzed how his opinion changed on the goal of the war as it went on. We also watched a PBS video on slavery in the US.
We also learned about another way that freedom is gained, freedom from below. This is when the enslaved people, usually due to their advantage in numbers, gain freedom by themselves via protests or other means. To analyze this method, we looked at two documents, a letter and a picture. The letter is from a Union officer who explains that slaves who have abandoned their plantations are following the Union troops and making an issue. This is an attempt to get the attention of the government to turn to the issue of slavery, as the soldiers would be slowed down by the runaway slaves. In the picture, it is a depiction of the slaves who worked on Confederate President Jefferson Davis' plantation all leaving and going to a Union camp. These both are examples of freedom from below, as the slaves are trying to become free by their own means and taking action. But when the slaves were eventually freed, was it because of freedom from above or below?
In 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, stating that all slaves in the United States were free. Up until this point, the Union was being defeated overall in the war. Lincoln knew he had to wait until they won a considerable victory in the war, otherwise it would make the Proclamation look like a final attempt at coming back into the war. Instead, it appeared as a new motivation for the Union when they turned the tide of the war. Since all slaves were free in the North, they were no longer fighting to keep the Union together, but to free the slaves everywhere. Now, since the South did not recognize Abraham Lincoln as their president, they did not recognize the Emancipation Proclamation, and would not free their slaves. In fact, they were outraged! How dare the North try to change their way of life. While this was happening, slaves everywhere had heard the news and began to leave plantations everywhere. This may have greatly influenced Lincoln's actions, as the complaints from Union officers eventually worked their way up to him. It wasn't until the battle of Gettysburg that President Lincoln said the famous speech, The Gettysburg Address, starting with the famous quote, "Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." This is often acknowledged as the moment when the slaves were freed and the war over. It may seem as though the slaves were entirely freed by Lincoln's actions, however the slaves did have a large role in harassing Union soldiers to bring Lincoln's attention to the issue of slavery and giving the war a new goal. When the slaves were freed, it was freedom from above and below.