Civil War Webquest




			A Civil War Webquest

The North vs The South

1861 - 1865

	General Ulysses S. Grant Union General, North

	General Robert E. Lee Confederate General, South

...but one of them would make war rather
than let the nation survive,
and the other would accept war rather than let
it perish, and the war came.

Abraham Lincoln, 4 March 1865

Background
The Civil War was a war between the states of the North against the states of the South. It was the greatest war in American history. 3 million soldiers fought - 600,000 died, making this war the heaviest of casualties in all of history.

The southern states wanted to have their own nation and be able to decide what laws to have. The north did not want the country to be broken apart. In the election of 1860 Abraham Lincoln stated that he wanted to stop the spread of slavery. The southern states said that if Lincoln won, they would secede (leave) the union.

When Abraham Lincoln, a known opponent of slavery, was elected president, the South Carolina legislature perceived a threat. Calling a state convention, the delegates voted to remove the state of South Carolina from the union known as the United States of America. The secession of South Carolina was followed by the secession of six more states -- Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas -- and the threat of secession by four more -- Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. These eleven states eventually formed the Confederate States of America.

The Civil War began. It was the only war fought on American soil by Americans, and for that reason we have always been fascinated with The Civil War.




	Intro duction It is 3:30 a.m. in the middle of the night. You have just woken up from a long and strange night of sleep. You have been learning about the Civil War in school, and last night you dreamt that you were fighting in civil war battles, talking to soldiers, and listening to President Lincoln give an Address at Gettysburg. Suddenly, you hear a knock outside of your window. You open your window and see a boy peering in at you. You ask him who he is and want he wants. "My name is Emit Praw." he replies. "I need your help." You ask him how he got here and he replies that he has been traveling through time warps for years. He tells you that he just came back from the year 2015. You are amazed to find out that something terrible has happened in the future. Nobody in the year 2015 remembers anything about the Civil War. He is afraid that if something isn't done about it, this important event in history will be forgotten forever. "What can I do to help?" you ask. "You can help me by gathering up 3 classmates, coming with me through the time warp, learning more about the Civil War, and then sharing it with your fellow classmates. It is important that they learn all about it so that they can share it with others, who will share it with others, who will share it with others, and so on." You are amazed at what you are hearing. "Well," he says, "are you going to accept this mission?" "Absolutely!" you state. " I can't believe I am going to travel through time and see all of these famous events, people, and places. I have always wondered what it would be like to live during the time of the Civil War. But what should I tell my folks?" "Tell them your with Emit Praw! I think they will catch on to the meaning of my name."

Ta sk
Your time travel team will need to research and report on many important aspects of the Civil War. Your team will be :

*making a map of southern and northern states

*creating a timeline

*reporting on battles

*reporting on events and people

*retrieving written letters from Civil War soldiers

*making northern and southern flags

*comparing advantages and disadvantages of the north and south during the war.

Proc ess
*The four roles of your group members will be a reporter, historian, illustrator, and an editor.

*Each person will have a specific task.

*Each time traveler will be required to keep a journal to record all findings while in the time warp.

Upon arriving back at the present time, each member will then need to organize their findings into a clear, neat, and creative form that can be presented to classmate.

Roles

Your Job

Resource Ideas

Reporter

Find 2 letters from Civil War Soldiers. Print them out & paste them in your jounal.

Report on what the Underground Railroad was.

Compare advantages and disadvantages of the north and south. Include each side of the issues causing the war.

Report on the meaning of abolition and succession.

Type up reports in Word.

Use a Venn Diagram to show how the North and South were alike, different and the same.You can create this in Word or Power Point.

Historian

Create a timeline of 10 important events/battles during the war. Each event or battle should have a detailed description of the important information and pictures.

Create a graph compaing war costs and causalitites.

Create timeline with pictures and descriptions as slides in Power Point.

Use Chart Wizard in Excel to create graphs showing costs and causalities.

Illustrator

Create replicas of the Union and Confederate flags.

Identify states of the Union and Confederacy. Use a visual aid to show the states of each side.

Show examples of uniforms worn by soldiers and money used during the war.

Kid Pix may be used to create flags.

Insert pictures of the Northern and Southern states into Word. Document and label states.

Find pictures of currency and copy into a word document.

Editor

Write an article on the causes of the civil war.

Identify and and write about 2 important women and 2 important African Americans during the Civil War.

Identify and write about 3 important people from each side of the war. This may include generals, presidents, etc.

Use Microsoft Publisher to create news articles about your assigned topics.

Find pictures on the Internet and copy into articles.


	Resources: Use the resources below to gather information Civil War Resources The Civil War overview Diaries and letterswritten by soldiers Pictures and images of the war Information on many aspects of the Civil War Battles Battle of Gettysburg Surrender at Appomattox Court House History of the Battle of Gettysburg Monitor vs. the Merrimack Events The Gettysburg Address Emancipation Proclamation History of the Drinking Gourd The Drinking Gourd Restoration Battle of Gettysburg Fredricksburg Click on Direct Access for information about other important events. People Harriet Tubman Abraham Lincoln Research Site A site about all the many people associated with the Civil War Choose from a list of people at this site Choose from a list of women of the civil war General Sherman and his “March to the Sea” Uniforms, Money, and Medicine Flags and uniforms during the Civil War Uniforms of the Civil War Money and medicineduring the Civil War Cost and Casualties of the war Civil War statistics



	Eval uation Each time traveler will be evaluated on grammar, punctuation, and spelling of written or typed work. Neatness, creativity, and completion of tasks will also be considered when grading the projects. It is also important that while traveling through time, all travelers work cooperatively. In addition to handing in your journal, ~this rubric will be used to assess your work.



		Conclu sion "With your help and dedication to the Civil War, I am confident that this team of travelers will do well at saving the future," says Emit Praw. "The future of students everywhere depends on you!" "We will do our best, " you reply. "Good luck," says Emit. And with that he is gone.

For the Teacher
This webquest is geared for upper elementary students. This webquest is designed to take between 2-5 weeks depending on internet and computer availability.

Each student can each be assigned a role from above, or groups of 3-4 can be assigned to each role.

Upon studying this webQuest, students should already be familiar with many events and topics of the Civil War.

Emit Praw is the time traveler. The meaning of his name is a mystery, but can be easily decoded with creative thinking. The idea for this name can be found by reading George Washington's Socks. Refer to or read this book if you need help in unraveling the meaning of this name.

Credits

This webquest was created by
Michelle Dishon
Betsy Rhodes E.S.

I took what they had created, changed a few things, added some resources, and made it work with the programs we had at our school. This is a fabulous Webquest -- Thank you for sharing this!

Karen Gamblin
kgamblin@barrow.k12.ga.us