by Gawain Roberts, SOARS
A short webquest where students work in pairs to recount 4 Civil War battles in the form of letters written home to their loved ones.
Introduction
The US Civil War was America's bloodiest war, fought between The Union states of the north and The Confederate states of the south. As President Lincoln was voted into office, 7 southern states declared their succession from the Union, dividing the nation in two. The war not only divided the states, but communities and familes alike, as loyalties and ideologies were tested.
The Civil War was notable as it was the first to pioneer the use of the telegraph and photography, providing many primary sources. Soldiers also kept in regular contact with relatives and friends back home, with their letters providing further insight into the battles and conditions experienced.
Photo: [Antietam, Md. Allan Pinkerton, President Lincoln, and Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand] Civil War photographs, 1861-1865 / compiled by Hirst D.
Milhollen and Donald H. Mugridge, Washington, D.C. : Library of
Congress, 1977. No. 0146