Urbana - Champaign During the Civil War

Fellowship Lesson 2009

Deb Heater

Abstract: The Civil War affected the entire country. Illinois was on the western edge of the country at the time. How did the people of Illinois rally around the nation? Did they enlist and fight during the war? In this unit, students will learn who enlisted in the Grand Army of the Republic by learning facts, evaluation of photographs and learning about a Civil War veteran through letters, newspaper articles and biographical sketches.

Essential Questions:
- While the country was fighting the Civil War, how did the people of Central Illinois participate?
- What are some ways the people of Champaign-Urbana participate in the Civil War
- Can we reconstruct a person’s life by the sketches of information available?

Assessment: Students will be assessed on their participation, completion of worksheets and a group project where the teacher will use a rubric, students will assess each other’s contribution and individuals will also evaluate their participation in the project.

Setting the Purpose: The purpose for this unit is to bring the Civil War home to Illinois so that students can see how people from their state participated. They will be able to identify areas of Illinois where trainings took place and where Confederate Prison’s were located. Students will also, in groups, evaluate the available information about a Civil War Soldier to sketch out the person they thought he might have been. This will be completed using a biological sketch questionnaire and then presenting their information to the class.

Lesson 1 – Students will start a KWL chart about Illinois and the Civil War. Introduction to Illinois and the Civil War power point: Students will complete a map of Illinois showing where the Military bases and Prisoner of War camps were located.

Lesson 2 – Students will evaluate local newspaper clippings to determine to what extent civilians participate in the war effort and how soldiers were treated.

Lesson 3 – Students will read and evaluate census information, memorial tributes and photographs. Once they have completed these evaluations, the project will be introduced.

Lesson 4 - Students will go into groups and will be assigned a folder on one soldier from Central Illinois. They will work as a team to create a biographical sketch of this soldier and present it to the class.

Lesson 5 and 6 - continuation of Lesson 4

Lesson 7 – Group Presentations

- Students will present the biographical sketch of their assigned soldier. Grading will be done by rubric attached.

- When all presentations are done, students will be given time to fill out evaluations for their team members and themselves.

Analysis of local primary sources:

- Students will read copies of Civil war Era Newspapers to evaluate how Central Illinois participated in the Civil War effort.

- Information for biographical project

o Family histories

o Probate records

o Census files

o Photographs

o Historical writings

o Civil Case records

Ties to National Primary sources:

o Students will read dispatches from Washington DC and East Coast newspapers about current events during the Civil War.

Annotated List of Materials and Resources for the lessons:

- KWL Chart

- Introduction Power Point

o This power point presentation has information about the United States during the Civil War as well as Illinois and the Urbana area. Information about who served in the war. Information is included for mapping the military camps during the War and the prisoner of war camps. Blank map of Illinois is also attached.

- Power Point worksheet

o This worksheet goes along with the introductory power point. Students fill in information as the power point is presented.

- Map of Illinois (students and overhead)

o This is the page sized map that appears at the end of the power point. Students use this to fill in the military camps and prisoner of war camps as the power point progresses.

- Data packets for individual soldiers

o John S. Wolfe

o Henry M. Brownfield

o Samuel T. Busey

o Homer W. Ayers

o Stephen Alfred Forbes

- Biographical Sketch directions

o Worksheets for groups to use when collecting data for their biological sketches.

- Biographical Sketch Rubric

o This is the rubric that will be used to assess students on the completed project. Should be shown to students prior to the start of the project so they are aware of how they are being graded.

- Biographical Sketch group evaluation rubric

o This rubric will be used for students to evaluate the participation of the peers in their group. Should be shown to students prior to the start of the project so they are aware of how they are being graded.

- Biographical Sketch individual rubric

o This rubric will be used for students to evaluate their own participation in the group project. Should be shown to students prior to the start of the project so they are aware of how they are being graded.

- Presentation Rubric

o This rubric will be used for the presentation part of the project. It will detail how students will be graded during their presentation of their project. Should be shown to student prior to the start of the project so they are aware of how they are being graded.