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Handout
American Battlefield Trust

American Battlefield Trust: Civil War Biography: Susie (Baker) King Taylor

For Students 6th - 8th
This is a PowerPoint resource that gives factual account of Susie King Taylor's life and involvement in the Civil War.
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Primary
University of North Carolina

Documenting the American South: A Soldier's Recollections

For Students 9th - 10th
This 'Documenting the American South' site from the University of North Carolina provides the full 326 page text (HTML file) of Randolph McKim's "A Soldier's Recollections" that describe his experiences and observations during his...
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Handout
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Comission

Explore Pa History: Wartime Mobilization

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the short-term problems and long-term successes in mobilizing troops from Pennsylvania to fight in the Civil War. Included is information about the discussion of allowing blacks to serve in the war.
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Lesson Plan
US National Archives

National Archives: Comparing Civil War Recruitment Posters

For Teachers 6th - 8th
The Lincoln administration struggled with the idea of recruiting black troops until it became a necessity for the Union army. Compare and contrast the following recruitment posters - one for recruiting black men for the Union army and...
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Website
Other

Camp Nelson: United States Colored Troops at Camp Nelson

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from Camp Nelson provides text, photos, and original documents of Camp Nelson, a refugee and training camp for African-Americans during the Civil War.
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Primary
University of Florida

Baldwin Library: The Little Soldier's a.b.c. By Mc Loughlin Bros.

For Students Pre-K - 1st
This is an online photocopy of the original text of the children's book The Little Soldier's A.B.C. by McLoughlin Bros. (c1894), a children's alphabet book, illustrated with military scenes from the American Civil War and soldiers.
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Website
Ohio State University

E History: Confederate Regimental Histories: South Carolina

For Students 9th - 10th
A list of the South Carolina regiments that served in the Civil War, with special emphasis on Kershaw's Brigade. Included are regimental roles, biographies, and photographs of many of the soldiers who served for South Carolina.
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Website
Other

Wild Geese Today: Colonel Patrick Guiney: Boston's 'Good Knight'

For Students 9th - 10th
In-depth, action filled look at an Irish soldier's life in the Civil War.
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Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Themes: War & Peace: How Are We Changed by War?

For Students 9th - 10th
This is a collection of Grade-Leveled texts (3-12) to address the question, "How are we changed by war?" Select a grade level and a collection of on grade-level reading passages on the topic comes up. [Free account registration required...
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Primary
University of North Carolina

Documenting the South: Robert Stiles, 1836 1905: Four Years Under Marse Robert

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from the University of North Carolina contains the actual text of "Four Years Under Marse Robert" from the memoirs of a Confederate soldier.
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Article
Virginia Historical Society

Virginia Historical Society: Waging War: The Battlefront: Men of Color to Arms?

For Students 9th - 10th
When the war began, many African Americans - North and South - volunteered to serve as soldiers. The vast majority were former slaves who sought to strike at slavery and improve their position in society. Desperate to avert defeat, the...
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Primary
Read Works

Read Works: Passages: "Patrick Cleburne's Proposal to Arm Slaves"

For Students 11th - 12th
[Free Registration/Login Required] In this letter from January 2, 1864, Patrick R. Cleburne, a Confederate commander, writes to a Confederate general proposing that black soldiers be added to their ranks as they were in grave danger of...
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Primary
University of Groningen

American History: Essays: Black Lost Cause. Colored Service in Confederate Army

For Students 9th - 10th
This well-researched extensive essay by Peter Stam looks at the issue of the number of African Americans serving in the Confederate Army as soldiers. By examining information from many historians, some of whom turn out to be unreliable,...
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Website
University of Maryland

Department of History: Freedmen and Southern Society Project

For Students 9th - 10th
Collection of primary documents that depict the social revolution and drama of the Emancipation in the words of the participants. Includes the voices of liberated slaves and defeated slaveholders, soldiers and civilians, common folk and...
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Handout
Library of Congress

Loc: America's Story: Frederick Douglass' Role in the Civil War

For Students 3rd - 8th
Frederick Douglass had the ear of Abraham Lincoln. Read about how he used his influence to allow African Americans to join the Union Army,
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Handout
American Battlefield Trust

American Battlefield Trust: Civil War Biography: Albert Cashier Aka Jennie Hodgers: Private

For Students 9th - 10th
A biographical profile of Albert Cashier aka Jennie Hodgers, who, disguised as a man, fought with the Union army.
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Handout
American Battlefield Trust

American Battlefield Trust: Civil War Biography: Moses Ezekiel: Vmi Cadet

For Students 9th - 10th
Biographical profile of Moses Ezekiel, who served in the Confederate ranks when still a student at the Virginia Military Institute, and later became a well-known sculptor.
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Website
Curated OER

National Park Service: Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park

For Students 9th - 10th
Peruse the history of the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park established in 1890 to honor the soldiers who fought on the two battlefields during the Civil War. The Military Park straddles the Georgia-Tennessee state...
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Website
University of Virginia

Virginia Center for Digital History: The Valley of the Shadow

For Students 9th - 10th
This is a must-have site for the study of the Civil War. Students will have access to primary documents from many sources, including: census and veteran records, letters and diaries, newspapers, and church records. This Project explores...
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Website
Virginia Historical Society

Virginia Historical Society: Home Front: How Did Slaves Support the Confederacy?

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the different roles that slaves and freed blacks took on in Virginia during the Civil War. They provided labor while the white men were away fighting and they helped with the military efforts. Many took the opportunity to...
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Website
Other

Cartania: Civil War Reflections 1862 1865

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
Harvey Hogue's adventures as a Union soldier in a Confederate prison camp, and his escape from the notorious Andersonville make interesting reading. Not exactly a primary source document, but stories from an actual participant in the...
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Handout
Civil War Home

Home of the American Civil War: Winfield Scott

For Students 9th - 10th
A brief biography of the famous Union military commander who devised the Anaconda Plan, Winfield Scott. Information is from the book, "Winfield Scott, the Soldier and the Man," by Charles W. Elliot.
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Graphic
Curated OER

Library of Congress: Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Portraits

For Students Pre-K - 1st
View this entire collection of beautiful ambrotype and tintype photographs of Union and Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War. Many have personal notes found in the case. It is very touching to see the young faces of these...
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Website
Library of Congress

Loc: The Negro in the Wars of the Nation

For Students 9th - 10th
African Americans have fought proudly for our country as far back as the Revolutionary War. Christian Fleetwood gives an account of the history of African-American soldiers in the Revolutionary War to the Civil War. He cites examples of...

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