Making the Civil War Relevant to Children’s Lives

Carole Parsons

Alecia Wagoner

How Children Were Affected by War: Northern/Southern/Slaves

• Boy soldiers• Boys - prisoners of war• Children with soldier fathers/brothers• Children who took the roles of fathers

and older brothers at war• Children in battle areas• Children displaced from their homes

Best Source for Multiple Perspectives of Children

• Reluctant Witnesses: Children’s Voices From the Civil War by Emmy E. Werner

#1 CHOICE

Primary Sources

• Show how real-life children experienced historical events

• Help students reconstruct what children experienced during the Civil War

• Develop a much deeper understanding through student analysis

• Engage students’ interest• Offer multiple perspectives on historical

events• Capture the passion and drama of the

past

Children’s Voices From the Civil WarTeaching History.org

• After reading a section of the textbook, students analyze primary sources showing how children their age experienced the events described in the textbook.

• In this lesson, students examine excerpts from letters written by teenagers who witnessed or participated in Civil War battles, and they analyze period photographs to consider the extent and ramifications of children's involvement.

Library of Congress: The Civil War Through a Child's Eye

CD Contents

• Annotated Civil War Bibliography

• Primary Sources & Lessons

• Emma LaConte’s Diary

• Background Information Articles

• Historical Fiction Novel Units

• Battle of Aiken Movie (produced by students)

From the Smithsonian

Civil War Charactershttp://www.historyexplorer.si.edu/interactives/resource.asp?id=3661

Using the Premise of a Mystery

• Students act as history detectives as they explore a historical question and analyze clues (primary sources) to form and test hypotheses– Gather, organize and process information as

they work with evidence– Formulate and test hypotheses– Think creatively and analytically to solve

problems– Develop, defend and present solutions to

problems– Report findings

• This strategy relates to what historians do and the process of historical inquiry.

Civil War CSI

• To investigate the impact the Civil War had on children, students will act as history detectives.

• A group examines an evidence box to investigate clues about a real-life child, containing some of her/his possessions.

• As students analyze primary sources and try to reconstruct information about the child from the evidence, they formulate and test hypotheses.

• As a result of the investigation, students develop reports or short stories detailing the subject of the investigation.

Investigating Questions

Factual Questions• Who was the child, and what was

his/her age?   • Where was the child living?• What was the date of the events

described in the primary sources?• Was the child for the Union or

Confederacy?The Women Will Howl by Mary Deborah Petite

http://www.women-will-howl.com/

To Unlock the Mystery

Analysis Questions• What has happened to this child?  • How do you think this child felt about

the war?• What were the hardships faced?• Describe any example of compassion

or courage that the child witnessed.• Describe the major events in the Civil

War of which the child was a part. • How did the Civil War change this

child's life forever?

Get Into the Theme of Things

Extensions1. Have students in groups construct historically

accurate paper dolls of the Civil War characters.2. Have students form a human timeline with each

presenting a Civil War child's view:– Students use their assigned child’s primary source words and

views for the presentation. – Presentations occur in chronological order to provide an

overall summary of the war through the eyes of real Civil War children.

3. Draw parallels from what children experienced in the Civil War to children in war-torn areas today.

1861T.G. Barker

1863Johnny Clem1862

Celine Fremaux1864

Michael Dougherty1865

Emma LaConte

living history time line

Local Sources

• Use local Civil War children’s stories to enhance your instruction and further engage your students

• Start with your local public library to find published journals, letters, diaries, reminiscences, and news articles.

• Aiken, SC area: I. Jenkins Mikell, Pauline DeCaradeuc, and Schofield Normal and Industrial School

Using Local Sources

“Rumbling of the Chariot Wheels: Doings and Misdoings in the Barefooted Period of a Boy's Life on a Southern Plantation.”

by I. Jenkins Mikell

I. Jenkins Mikell Home

Peter’s Point Plantation

Barton’s Pond

Graniteville Mill

Used for education with permission by Richard Pearce and the Alicia Patterson Foundation

Corn Field Near Cotton Factory

Edisto River Moss

Martha Schofield

Schofield Normal and Industrial School Campus

Schofield Normal and Industrial School

More Books!

Confederate Lady Comes of Age: The Journal of Pauline DeCaradeuc Heyward, 1863-1888 by Mary D. Robertson

At the age of nineteen Pauline DeCaradeuc Heyward began keeping a journal in which she recorded the final years of the Civil War, including the destruction of her plantation home near Aiken, South Carolina; the hardship of the Reconstruction era; her marriage into a distinguished Charleston family; and her efforts to provide for her large family after her husband's death. A fascinating document that spans a traumatic quarter of a century, Heyward's diary offers intimate insights into the deprivation and devastation suffered by southern women during and after the Civil War.

From USC Press

More Books!Topsy Turvy: How the Civil War Turned the War Upside Down for Southern Children. by Anya Jabour

From Publishers WeeklyUniversity of Montana professor Jabour explores the American Civil War through its effects on children, both black and white, from the time before the war to Reconstruction. Jabour's extensive use of journals, diaries, and records of interviews with adults who lived through the war as children enlivens her text considerably. The recollection of a former slave girl's comment to a passing white boy-"Bottom rail on top now!"-is but one example of the power of Jabour's anecdotes. Given the efficacy of these recollections, it's unfortunate that Jabour chose not to expand more on the people she includes. Instead, her writing suffers from an overtly academic style with a tendency toward obvious statements such as, "...children's attitudes toward the national conflict were shaped by their families and their identities." While the unique topic is intriguing, and the use of primary sources admirable, the ultimate result is nonetheless disappointing. 28 b&w illustrations. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

From Amazon

Clip Art

• http://www.jewish-history.com/clipartgallery/clipart3.htm

• http://classroomclipart.com/cgibin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=History/United_States/Civil_War

• http://www.cksinfo.com/americana/ushistory/civilwar/index.html

LC-DIG-cwpb-03034

LC-DIG-cwpb-02402

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Oldpictures.com

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LC-DIG-cwpb-02394

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Old Post Office and the only remaining palmetto in Charleston

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LC-B8171-3082

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