Real People of the Civil War

Introduction

Have you ever glanced through your social studies book and found a picture of someone from long ago and wondered, "Who was this person? What did he or she do everyday? Did they go to school? Were they happy?" Well, now is your chance to find the answers to these questions. The American Civil War was filled with a diverse group of people from all walks of life: African Americans enslaved and free, Jewish people, Germans, Native Americans, soldiers and civilians, and many, many others. If you were alive during the Civil War would you have gone to school? Where was your family and ancestors at this time of American history? Your job is to choose a person, any person, any age, any job, male or female, rich or poor, any ethnicity, and become them. What is your daily life like as this person? What do you do everyday and how do you spend your time? Do you have a family? Are you a soldier or a nurse? Are you an enslaved woman praying for freedom? Where did you come from and where are you going in your future? You will do research once you choose a new identity and create a life for yourself. Your job in your research is to find out exactly what everyday life was like for you To visit the Civil War click here: Civil War

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The Task

• Visit a series of websites and books in order to gather information about your new identity
• Write down any interesting information which relates to your Civil War life and identity
• Complete a write-up describing your new identity to turn in to your teacher and to share with your class
• Begin drafting a copy of your diary that should span at least one week of your life. There should be at least six entries describing what happened to you that day and how the Civil War is effecting your life.
• Edit a peers diary draft. Look for punctuation, spelling, and grammar errors. Then after your partner revises his/her diary re-edit it and look for clear sentences. Do the entries make sense? Do they make you think? and Do they reveal what life is like for the person?
• After you have edited a peer's diary and your own had been edited and revised you may begin the final draft. Make it authentic. You may lay your paper in a tub of coffee to give it an "old and tattered" look. Write in calligraphy like some people of the time did. Use language that you think might sound like the identity you have taken on. You may decide to bind your diary like a book using leather and twine. However you decide to present your diary, BE CREATIVE!!! It is all up to you how you choose to do it.
• After you have finished your diary be prepared to read your favorite entry to the class. The catch is though that you have to be in character. Design a costume to wear, use an accent, act like the age of the person you are. Again, BE CREATIVE!!!

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Resources for Civil War Identities

• http://rarities.com/civil-war-photographs.html Pictures and details about soldiers and battles of the Civil war
• http://www.civilwarhome.com/pearidge.htm Information about battles of the Civil War
• http://www.cl.ais.net/jkasper/civwar.html Great history source for the Civil War / lots of identity descriptions.

Women in the Civil War

• http://nara.gov/publications/prologue/womenl.html Women who pretended to be men to fight in the Civil War!
• http://www.pafb.af.mil/deomi/wommil95.htm More women who fought in the Civil War!
• http://americancivilwar.com/women/women.html Women in the Civil War era
• http://www.glue.umd.edu/cliswp/history/cwar/ Women in the Civil War
• http://americancivilwar.com Many descriptions of life in the Civil War

• http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/africanh.html African Americans in the Civil War
• http://kusd.edu/schools/bolt/features/lance-history/u.s._civil_war.html African Americans and the Civil War
• http://www.nara.gov/exhall/originals/54thmass.html Meet the 54th regiment
• http://jacksonville.com/learningcenter/blackhistory/7story.html The first African American regiment
• http://www.inform.umd.edu/ARHU/Depts/History/Freedman/bmepg.htm Explore what it was like to be African American during the Civil War
• http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/usct.htm African American identities in the Civil War

• http://www.nyhistory.com/harriettubman/life.htm Explore the Underground railroad and slavery in the Civil War
• http://www.inform.umd.edu/ARHU/Depts/History/Freedman/bmepg.htm Explore what it was like to be African American during the Civil War
• http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/usct.htm African American identities in the Civil War
• http://www.civilwarhome.com/poemsongs.htm What poems and songs were read and sung during the Civil War?
• http://danenet.wicip.org/lms/themes/civilwarpeople.html More real life details about people of the Civil War
• http://scrptorium.lib.duke.edu/slavery/ What was it like to be a slave during the Civil War?

• http://www.civilwarhome.com?cherokeecauses.htm Native Americans and the Civil War era
• http://dickshovel.netgate.net/Cherokee2.html Native Americans in the Civil War
• http://www.powersource.com/powersource/nation/dates.html A timeline of Native American history
• http://www.innova.net/~vsix/elmirsdocl.htm Prisoners of the Civil War

return toThe Task

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The Process

Step 1: Research. Spend two to three class periods just doing research to decide what identity interests you.

Step 2: Decide on your new identity.

Step 3: After doing research and getting a good idea of you new life write a description of the following to turn in to your teacher:

• your name
• your age
• your ethnicity
• your gender
• your occupation or job (if you have one)
• your social and economic status
• where you live
• what side of the war are you fighting for or are you in favor of and why
• what family you have
• your background / where you are from and how you got to where you are
• how you are involved in the Civil War
• how the Civil War is effecting your life
• what you want for your future

Step 4: Share your new identity with your classmates

Step 5: Write a rough draft of a diary as your new identity. Your diary must have at least six entries and describe your daily life and concerns, feelings, and dreams for the future.

Step 6: After you have written your first draft, switch papers with a peer so that you may each edit each other's diary. You are looking for spelling, punctuation, and grammar.

Step 7: Look over your edited diary and note any corrections.

Step 8: Switch papers with another peer and then edit each other's diaries again. This time you are reading for content. Does the writing make sense? Do you believe the person who wrote the diary really lived during the Civil War? Are the sentences clear? Do you know about the person's life from reading their diary? Is it interesting?

Step 9: Once you have had your diary edited by two different classmates and made your changes, you can begin your final draft. You may present your diary in any way. However, you must include at least six entries. See The Task section for some ideas on how to make your diary authentic!

Step 10: Once you have finished your final draft of your diary, be prepared to present it to the class. Become the identity you chose. Dress up, speak with an accent. Make your classmates and teacher believe that you really are a person from the Civil War. BE CREATIVE!!!!!! You must share at lest one entry from your diary.

  

African American in the Civil War

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 Conclusion

Now that you have a good understanding of what people of the Civil War were like, you can look at pictures and read materials about that time period and have an accurate idea of what life was like for them. By using your imagination, research and writing skills, you became one of these people! Think about what you learned. Were their lives different from yours? If so, how? How were they the same?

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