Mike Breslau
Teaching American History
Lesson Plan #6 – Civil War Battle Postcards
(in electronic format for placement on the Teaching American
History website)
Time: Two 45-minute class periods
Frameworks referenced: USI.39 Analyze the roles and policies of various Civil War leaders
and describe the important Civil War battles and events. (H);
Leaders
A. Jefferson Davis
B. Ulysses S. Grant
C. Robert E. Lee
Battles
A.
B.
C.
D.
the Massachusetts 54th Regiment and the Battle at Fort Wagner
Antietam
Vicksburg
Gettysburg
USI.40 Provide examples of the various effects of the Civil War. (H, E)
A. physical and economic destruction
B. the increased role of the federal government
C. the greatest loss of life on a per capita basis of any U.S. war before or since
Objectives: Students will be able to:
•
•
•
summarize the effects of war on the landscape and on the soldiers themselves
visualize the aftermath of the field of a chosen battle
create a detailed rendering of battle based on descriptions and photographs
Vocabulary: terms will vary
Introduction: This is something of a summary activity and a follow-up to some of the
previous lessons included here. After having familiarized themselves with letters from
soldiers, students will create a postcard. Each student will use a name, either of a real
person or a creation of their own, and s/he will pen a postcard to a family member/loved
one detailing the result of a particular battle that s/he has researched. In addition, the
student will draw the field or location of a battle as it appeared before or after the clash
based on photographs of the era. The letters may come from the website used for earlier
lessons (http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu) or from other web sources, such as
http://www.pacivilwar.com/histories.html
or
http://www.cartania.com/history/clintondiary.html, which can be accessed through the
“private/personal
documents”
section
of
the
following
website:
http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/warweb.html#graphic.
The Letters
* Students are already familiar with some soldiers’ letters by now. As they peruse
some of the websites listed above, they will get a further sense of the types of things
about which soldiers wrote to loved ones during the war. Students are asked to fit their
writing onto the postcard sheet, an example of which can be found at the end of this
lesson plan. The copy each student receives is made on heavy duty card stock paper. The
front and the back are glued together upon completion of both the writing and the
drawing.
The Pictures
* Pictures that can be referenced for the students’ drawings of battlefields can be
found on several sites: http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/warweb.html#graphic (in the
“Images” section) and http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/cwphome.html have
plenty of photographs to view. Students should search for pictures of battlefields to give
themselves, and their fictional postcard recipients, a visual sense of the destruction a
battle does to a farm or town, as well as to the psyches of the soldiers themselves. That’s
where the writing and drawing connection takes place. The words should relay the
desperation and the emotional highs and lows felt by soldiers just before or immediately
following a battle. Here are some examples of photographs that may be used as
reference points:
Antietam
Nashville
Web Sources: http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu; http://www.pacivilwar.com/histories.html;
http://www.cartania.com/history/clintondiary.html;
http://sunsite.utk.edu/civilwar/warweb.html#graphic; http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/cwphome.html
Student Postcard Sheet: (see following page)
NAME_____________________________
DATE________
FRONT
BACK
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Please remember that you will be graded on your neatness, the thoroughness and
accuracy of your information, and your spelling/grammar/punctuation. Follow all of the
directions carefully. Good luck!