Pioneer Travel Tips

Captain Randolph Marcy was a cavalry officer in the US Army who wrote "The Prairie Traveler" in 1859 to help settlers make it safely to the West. 

Your assignment:

1. Find 5 bits of advice that Captain Marcy gives travelers, put them into your own words so that a modern traveler could understand them. 

2. Would any of the advice given by Captain Marcy in 1859 apply for travelers today? Why or why not?

Be sure to post your class period and first names/last initial so that you get credit. Example: "P5 Jack A & Jill B"

p.s. Follow the link to see the actual text of Captain Marcy's book, "The Prairie Traveler"

Reconstruction Vocabulary

In your own words, explain how these terms and people relate to the Reconstruction era in the United States, 1866-1876:

1. Reconstruction   2. sharecropper   3. scalawag   4. Charles Sumner   5. Andrew Jackson   6. Presidential Reconstruction   7. Congressional Reconstruction   8. Radical Republican   9. carpetbagger   10. "40 acres and a mule"   11. Freedman's Bureau   12. impeachment   13. Black codes   14. Hiram Revels

Black Codes

In the aftermath of the Civil War, the Southern states passed a series of "Black Codes" that restricted the rights and opportunities for the freed slaves. With you partner, review the handout containing excerpts from the 1865 Mississippi Black Codes. For each of the sections, put the main idea of the law into your own words.

Andersonville

For soldiers that became prisoners of war, life was harsh. Confederate prisoners in the North suffered because supplies were often deliberately withheld as revenge for the South's actions in causing the Civil War. For Union prisoners in Southern camps, food, shelter and medical care was in short supply for them as well as the citizens of the Confederacy.

Start this assignment by reading the link to "Life as a Prisoner."

After you have learned about being a prisoner, click on the link to Andersonville, the most notorious prison camp of the Civil War, and work with your team to answer the following questions:

1. Why was Andersonville chosen to the the site of a prison camp? 

2. Why did the prison have such a high mortality rate?

3. Who was responsible for the conditions and deaths at Andersonville?

4. "Wirz" was the last casualty of Andersonville." Should Captain Wirz, the officer in charge of the prison,  have been hanged for the deaths that occurred under his administration? Why or why not?

Gettysburg Address

1. A score equals 20. To what year does Lincoln take us back? Why?

2. To what was Lincoln referring to when he says the United States was born "dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal?"

3. According to Lincoln, what is the Civil War testing?

4. What advice does Lincoln give? 

5. According to Lincoln, what might happen if the North loses the Civil War?

Civil War Soldiers

Although historians, teachers, and students concentrate mostly on the major battles of the Civil War, we can learn a great deal by studying smaller battles as well. The Battle of Rivers Bridge was fought in South Carolina on February 2-3, 1865. 

First, read the Surviving on the Battlefield (Reading 1) to find out about Civil War tactics and specifically the Rivers Bridge. Then continue on to letters and reports about the battle and respond to the following questions:

Reading 2:

1. Compare the 2 casualty reports. Why do you think the number of Union casualties was twice the number of Confederate casualties?

2. Compare the number of Confederate casualties estimated by the Union commander compared to the number reported by the Confederate commander. Why do you think accounted for the discrepancy?

Reading 3:

1. Read the memoirs of Sgt. Moore and Captain Wilson. Both reported about the medical treatment received by wounded soldiers during the battle. Describe the medical services given to the Union and Confederate wounded as reported in the two accounts.

2. Read Mrs. Cherry's letter. What was her purpose in writing it?

 

John Brown's Raid

1. Follow the link to the newspaper headline reporting John Brown's seizure of the arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Was the newspaper biased toward either the North or the South? What words or phrases support your idea?

2. There were 5 African-Americans among the 21 men that accompanied John Brown. One of the five, Dangerfield Newby, who died in the raid, wrote about the reason that he participated? Why did Newby join John Brown's group?

3. Click on the link to the drawing of John Brown holding hostages at Harpers Ferry. Do you think the artist admired John Brown or not, based on the drawing? Why or why not?

4. Click on the link to the painting of John Brown being led to his execution. Do you think that the artist admired John Brown or not, based on the drawing? Why or why not?

5. Read the letters submitted by Majala Doyle, Francis Watkins, and Henry David Thoreau. Did they support or oppose John Brown? What is the main idea of each letter?