The Civil War for Fifth Graders

The Civil War for Fifth Graders

A civil war is a war between different groups of people who belong to the same country. The American Civil War was fought between the North (Union states) and the South (Confederate states). It lasted from 1861-1865, but was triggered by the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. Lincoln wanted to end slavery and keep the Union together. The conflict between the North (the Yankees) and the South (the Rebels) started because of their different ways of living. The North wanted the South to give up their farms, build factories, and abolish slavery. Congress treated the slaves as personal property and would not take away rights of ownership. Thus, America began the conflict that would take the lives of more than 620,000 of its citizens and injure more than 375,000. Most of the battles took place in the South and the recovery from the destruction took many years. I created this project for my fifth grade cohorts and share the dedication of this site with a special Civil War historian. This site meets the 5.7 History & Social Science Virginia Standards of Learning. (KPB)

Confederate States

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Alabama	Mississippi
Arkansas	North Carolina
Florida	South Carolina
Georgia	Tennessee
Louisiana	Texas
	Virginia

	North	South
Economic Differences	factories	large plantations
Economic Differences	money not plentiful, but developing	prospered through farming tobacco & cotton
Philosophical Differences	freedom for slaves	depended on slavery
Philosophical Differences	attacked slavery in the state legislatures	owners thought they were providing for slaves
Influential Men	Daniel Webster backed the tariff bill of 1828 and said, "Liberty and union now and forever, one and inseparable."	John C. Calhoun argued South Carolina had the right to nullify the tariff and the right to secede.

Events Leading to Secession

	The Missouri Compromise kept a voting balance of free and slave states.
	Republican Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as President on March 4, 1861.
	Southern states feared there would be no new slave states.
	Southern leaders thought their power in the House would decline as free states joined.

Events Leading to Civil War

	The North and the South had different attitudes toward slavery.
	Confederate troops bombarded a Union stronghold, Fort Sumter, Charleston, South Carolina, April 12, 1861.
	Ways of life were different for both sides: plantations versus factories.
	Ideas of the use of free labor (paid) versus slave labor (unpaid) differed.
	On state's rights the North argued no state had a right to secede from the Union, the South argued a state could leave the Union if it voted to do so.

Influential People of the Civil War

William Lloyd Garrison

Major Battles of the Civil War

On April 12, 1861 at 4:30 A.M. the first shot hurtled over Fort Sumter, at the entrance to the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. This was the beginning of the Civil War. The Union troops, under Major Robert Anderson, were forced to leave the fort the following day by General P.G.T. Beauregard. The U.S. flag was not raised again at Fort Sumter until February 18, 1865. The fort was not of military importance, but a symbol to both sides. The First Battle at Bull Run was suppose to be the shortest and the end to the brand new war. Volunteer soldiers lined-up in colorful, clean uniforms waiting for the event to begin. People with picnic baskets sat on the hillsides as the troops battled. After ten hours of fighting, 900 soldiers lay dying as the Union troops retreated to Washington. Known as the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Shiloh caused more than 23,500 men to be killed or missing. From this important battle, General U.S. Grant knew that the South would not be pushovers. The Battle of Antietam saw General Robert E. Lee lead the Confederate troops into the North in 1862. The battle was too close to call as a decisive victory for either side. More than 23,000 soldiers were wounded, killed, or missing. This battle led to the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Lincoln. All slaves were granted freedom. At the Battle of Chancellorsville, General Joseph Hooker face-off against Lee. The Union had twice as many soldiers as the Confederates. On July 3, 1861, Lee’s troops fought against General George Mead’s army at the Battle of Gettysburg. Meade lost 70% of his men, but 4,000 Confederate soldiers were captured. From December 1862 to July 1863, the Battle of Vicksburg was fought in Mississippi. This Union victory split the Confederacy in two and was aided by 73,000 troops. Grant had twice as many Union soldiers as did General John C. Pemberton. The Confederate soldiers were starving and low on ammunition when Pemberton surrendered. Sherman’s March to the Sea began on November 12, 1864. General William T. Sherman, commanded 100,000 soldiers up the Atlantic coast. He created a sixty-mile tract of destruction in the Confederate heartland.

Fort Sumter April 12, 1861

First Bull Run (Manassas) July 21, 1861

Shiloh April 6, 1862

Antietam Sept. 16, 1862

Chancellorsville May 2, 1863

Gettysburg July 1, 1863

Vicksburg July 4, 1863

Sherman's March Nov. 15, 1864

The Civil War Homefront

Clara Barton
Clara Barton known as the "Angel of the Battlefields" was a famous Civil War nurse to wounded Union troops. She was the founder of the American Red Cross in1881. After the war, she opened the Missing Soldier Office. The government gave her $15,000 in federal money and her own staff. As soon as the word spread, Clara got many letters looking for lost men and boys. She made contacts with the families herself. Soon after, she went to Andersonville, Georgia where almost 80,000 soldiers were prisoners of the war. When she closed the office in 1868, she was able to find information on more than 22,000 soldiers.

Elizabeth Blackwell Louisa May Alcott Rose O'Neal Green

Life on the Battlefield

Most Civil War soldiers did not travel before they joined the army. The Blue and Gray soldiers were homesick for their families. The only way they could contact each other was by letter writing. Each day, 90,000 letters passed through Washington and even more through Kentucky. Soldiers used lead pencils, because pens and ink were very rare. The lead pencils were of very poor quality. In the South, necessities were scarce including stationary for letters. The soldiers used anything they could find to jot down their thoughts to friends and family.

Letters from soldiers

Letter from Sullivan Ballou to his wife, Sarah

Important Changes to the Constitution

Amendment 13 - Abolishment of Slavery
Amendment 14 - Equal Protection of the Laws
Amendment 15 - Voting Rights for All

The Reconstruction of a Country

Reconstruction after the Civil War was the process of reorganizing the southern states into the Union. The southern states were ruined by the war because most of the battles were fought in the South. Livestock were killed and plantations and industries were destroyed. Productivity levels slowed down, behind the rest of the nation. Southern productivity depended on slave labor, which no longer existed. Changes from the war forced southern landholders to reduce the size of their plantations. These landowners were not used to paying laborers for their work and had to sell large portions of their land. The concept of sharecropping began in the South. A tenant or sharecropper agreed to give the landowner, as rent, a portion of the crop that he raised from his labor. Sharecropping kept newly freed slaves in debt to landowners. As the northern cities were building industries with the help of immigrants, the southern cities were trying to reconstruct their lives.

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In Dedication...

"It is more of a sport than a hobby, for me…"
--- Jay Monahan on re-enactment portrayals (1997)

John Paul "Jay" Monahan, III, my second cousin, was a long-time history enthusiast who became interested in the Civil War, while attending Washington and Lee University (1973-1977) in Lexington. Jay was a founder and president of The Stonewall Jackson Brigade, in Woodstock, Va. He helped rescue the historic Kernstown Battlefield, from auction, by securing government funds to protect the areas once occupied by Generals Jackson, Shields, Early, and Cook. Jay participated in a dozen Civil War re-enactments in the Virginia area. While performing the position of Bugler for The Valley Light Horse Calvary, Jay studied the important functions needed for delivering the calls to the battlefield troops. He admired Generals Robert E. Lee, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, and Harry Gilmore of the 2nd Maryland Calvary. His favorite battles were at Fisher's Hill (September 22, 1864), Tom's Brook (October 9, 1864), and Cedar Creek (October 19, 1864, when 18,000 Rebel troops surprised 31,000 troops of the Army of the Shenandoah). Jay was an avid collector of war relics and Civil War documents. He was instrumental in writing a Congressional bill that formed The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District Commission. Its mission is to preserve, interpret, and increase awareness of the history surrounding the battlefields of the Shenandoah Valley. My Web site is dedicated to Jay's legacy and the pride he shared with comrades on and off the battlefields. Jay fought like a courageous soldier before he passed away in January, 1998 at age 42. Though he left us too soon, his contributions to the preservation of the history he loved and appreciated will live on.

Civil War Credits

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