Civil War Links

General Links

The Civil War
www.ibiscom.com/cwfrm.htm
This web site from EyeWitness (presented by ILbis Communications, Inc., a digital publisher of educational programming) offers snapshots of the Civil War in concise, visually appealing web pages. Core events like the death of Abraham Lincoln and the surrender at Appomattox are covered. Photos and illustrations complement the text and are printable.

The Civil War Projects
www.germantown.k12.il.us/html/CivilWar.html
Upper elementary students will find this site, for the Germantown, IL, schools, easy to navigate and full of useful information about the Blue vs. the Gray, the abolitionist movement, national compromises on slavery, and "sectionalism" between industry and agriculture.

About.com: Civil War Menu
americanhistory.about.com/homework/americanhistory/
cs/civilwarmeu/index.html
About.com has extensive Civil War resources, mostly through links. The student can easily locate primary documents, like the Gettysburg Address and the Emancipation Proclamation, as well as information on historic places and battles and the political and economic tensions leading up to secession.

The American Civil War Homepage
sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/warweb.html
This regularly updated page from the University of Tennessee's School of information Sciences is the portal for Civil War study; high schoolers should make this site their first stop. The site is clearly organized into subsections on "biographical information," "images of wartime,"

Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System
www.itd.nps.gov/cwss
The National Park Service presents this informational site. Students should visit the "history" page to learn how African Americans were involved in the war and then click on the Exhibit page to explore what camp life was like for soldiers. Once there, students can view a soldier's authentic shaving kit and other personal effects. The site also has a searchable database listing servicemen who served on both sides during the war. Students can search for soldiers, sailors, regiments, battles, prisoners, and more.

The Time of the Lincolns
www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/lincolns/index.html
This companion site to the PBS special of the same title explores Abraham Lincoln's life and his decisions on partisan politics, slaver and abolition, and sweatshops. Students can tour a slave cabin and learn about slave living conditions. They will discover how primitive medicine was through soldiers' narratives and primary documents and can follow a Union and Confederate soldier into battle. Also, students can research the economic differences between North and South and how these differences contributed to the beginning of the ar. THe site also includes a teacher's guide to enrich curriculum.

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Specific Links

The CWI Civil War Cookbook
www.civilwarinteractive.com/cookbook.htm
This extensive web site from Civil War interactive is an electronic magazine that presents recipes of meals eaten during the Civil War, such as groat gruel and hasty pudding. There are over 500 recipes, subdivided by food or meal, from seafood to wild game.

The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War
jefferson.village.virginia.edu/vshadow2
This site from the University of Virginia explores neighboring communities in the Shenandoah Valley, one Northern and one Southern, before, during, and after the Civil War. Students can view maps, church records, newspaper articles, and letters and diaries from citizens of each community and learn why each has strong beliefs about slavery, their economy, and the war

Aboard the Underground Railroad
www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground
This site from the National Park Service documents historic posts where slaves found shelter along the Underground Railroad and includes images of these posts and biographies of the people involved, like Harriet Beecher Stowe. The site also links to the museum's or landmark's official site when available. Students can browse the locations by site.

Exploring a Common Past: Researching and Interpreting the Underground Railroad
www.cr.mps.gov/history/exugrr/exuggr1.htm
Another National Park Service site, these pages guide students' research of the Underground Railroad. The focus is on researching primary texts from national and local libraries and archives.

Documenting the American South: North American Slave Narratives
docsouth.unc.edu/neh/neh.html
This site from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries presents "the narratives of fugitive and former slaves published in broadside, pamphlets, or book from in English up to 1920 and many of the biographies of fugitive and former slaves published in English before 1920." Students may read electronic texts of narratives or search the collections for a person or place. These materials offer a unique look into Southern perspectives on history and culture.

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Primary Links

Been so long there: American Slave Narratives
newdeal.feri.org/asn
Writers working for the Federal Writers Project (FWP was part of the New Deal's Work Progress Administration) complies numerous slave narratives during the Great Depression. This site includes 17 selected interviews, accompanied by classroom activities and lesson plans.

Civil War Women: Primary Sources on the Internet
scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/women/cwdocs.html
This site from Duke University Special Collections Library includes letters, photographs, and full text diaries of Civil War-era women, such as 16-year-old Alice Williamson's diary of life in Gallatin, TN, in 1864. Throughout the journal she references people and events, such as John Morgan and the Grand Military Ball, pertaining to the Civil War. The library created links to more information on each of these so the reader can better understand the historical context.

Remembering Slavery
rememberingslavery.org
Created by the Smithsonian Institution, this site presents audio narratives of freed slaves who talk about family life, culture, work, and their struggle with power and their owners. This is a companion site to the Smithsonian's radio series, which highlighted excerpts from the FWP slave narrative program.

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
www.undergroundrailroad.org
The center's recently updated site "teaches lessons of courage and cooperation from Underground Railroad history to today's freedom movements" using time lines and biographies of key figures like Sojourner Truth. It explores safe house locations like Benjamin Hanby House in Westerville, OH, and answers frequently asked questions like "How many people escaped on the Underground Railroad?" and "How do I find out if my family was involved?"

The Underground Railroad
www.nationalgeographic.com/features/99/railroad
At this interactive site from National Geographic, students simulate being slaves and must make several difficult decisions, like when to escape and which way to run to find a safe house. Once students complete the journey, they can read biographies, explore a map illustrating Harriet Tubman's route to freedom, or experience the creative steps several slaves took to reach freedom, like Henry "Box" Brown, who mailed himself to Philadelphia. This site also includes classroom activities broken down for grades K-4, 5-8, and 9-12

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