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North Carolina Era 6: Civil War and Reconstruction - 1860 - 1876: Views of the Civil War Lesson Plan

Views of the Civil War

LESSON: Views of the Civil War
UNIT: Era 6: Civil War and Reconstruction - 1860 - 1876

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Learners will evaluate primary and secondary documents
• Learners will make note differing views of the war from the time of the conflict toviews fifty years after the war.
• Learners will understand that people in the same region held different views of the Civil War.
• LEARNING TARGET: I can list several differing opinions of the Civil War by people living in Western North Carolina.

TEACHER PLANNING:

• Time needed: ½ class period
• Materials/Equipment: copies of newspaper articles, primary sources, obituary in packets for groups

PROCEDURE:

1. Put students into cooperative groups of 4 – 5. Give each group a packet that includes the documents. Explain that they need to only read the sections of the newspaper articles that reference the Civil War. Give them the following information about the authors of the texts.
   
   • Mitchell Alexander Chandley – farmer and civil servant from Madison County, NC.
   • John B. Marsh – preacher, missionary for the American Sunday School Union, second president of Mars Hill College, from New York
   • Some of the newspapers are not dated; believe they are from the early 1900s
2. Give students time to read through the packet, discuss, and fill in one graphic organizer per group.
3. Lead a discussion concerning the documents.
   • Which were primary and which were secondary.
   • Go over the who, when, audience, and form of each source.
   • Ask students to bring up concerns about the sources – for example, the Chandley was written when he was over 80 years old and J.B. Marsh was
     a New Yorker who had traveled to NC five years before the war. He also was a preacher. The newspaper articles may have left out certain items
     (the Shelton Laurel event is inferred, but not directly referenced).
   • Ask for specific evidence from each source that shows each authors view of the Civil War.
   • Ask what surprised them as they read through the material. Students may express surprise that Chandley fought for the Union, but was from
     Madison County. They should make the connection that he was still well respected (but was he really??) at his death according to his obituary.

ASSESSMENT:

• Graphic organizer should be complete.
• Class discussion should examine considerations about the documents.
• Class discussion should review differing opinions of the war from the time of the conflict to views fifty years after.
• You might ask students to write a paragraph explaining how these documents give them a different view of the war in Western North Carolina.

EXTENSION/DIFFERENTIATION ACTIVITIES:

• This activity presents an excellent opportunity to examine the events and aftermath of the Shelton Laurel incident, particularly since it is skimmed over (or
  information is false) in some of the newspaper accounts.
• This also can lead to a short lesson on the events at Warm Springs that J.B. Marsh wrote about in his letter.

Resources:

Echoes of Madison Genealogical Society http://echoesofmadison.com/

Pdf of M.A. Chandley obituary
Four newspaper articles from the Southern Appalachian Archives “Mars Hill College Records – History” Collection (Box 11)

Southern Appalachian Archives “Mars Hill College Records – History Collection (Box 7) Photograph of J. B. Marsh

Southern Appalachian Archives “Mars Hill College Records – B-ED (Box 2 folder 14) Chandley, M.A.

The Civil War in Madison County, North Carolina
Short description of the skirmish at Warm Springs, NC.
http://www.visitmadisoncounty.com/who-we-are/madison-county/the-civil-war-inmadison-county-nc

Page from ‘Find A Grave’ concerning Woodfin.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9337875

Lesson Materials:

• North Carolina Era 6: Civil War and Reconstruction-1860-1876: Civil War Graphic Organizer can be found here.
• North Carolina Era 6: Civil War and Reconstruction-1860-1876: M.A. Chandley Obituary can be found here.
• North Carolina Era 6: Civil War and Reconstruction-1860-1876: Views of the Civil War by M.A. Chandley can be found here.
• North Carolina Era 6: Civil War and Reconstruction-1860-1876: Views of the Civil War, J.B. Marsh can be found here.
• North Carolina Era 6: Civil War and Reconstruction-1860-1876: "Fires, Battles Swept Campus in Early Days" Newspaper clipping can be found here.
• North Carolina Era 6: Civil War and Reconstruction-1860-1876: "Mars Hill Has Made History in Highland" Newspaper clippings can be found here.
• North Carolina Era 6: Civil War and Reconstruction-1860-1876: "Mars Hill College in the War Between the States" Newspaper clipping can be found here.
• North Carolina Era 6: Civil War and Reconstruction-1860-1876: "Stillwell Reviews Career of Mars Hill College, School Inseparably Connected with History of Madison" Newspaper clipping can be found here.