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Researched by Cierra P.
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The Civil War was the greatest war and saddest war in American history. Over 620,000 men and women died in this war. It lasted four years! Abraham Lincoln was a very important leader during this time.
FAME
The Civil War was a very important event in American history, so it
is a popular topic. People have made movies, TV documentaries, books,
and plays based on the Civil War and are making others now. Historians
are finding more information from research to use every day!
WHEN AND WHERE
The Civil War took place from April 12, 1861 to April 18, 1865. It
started in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The war was fought over slavery.
IMPORTANT PEOPLE
Some important people in The Civil War were:
Abraham Lincoln: (Feb.12th,1809-Apr.15th,1865) Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky on Feb.12th , 1809. Lincoln is famous for many things during the Civil War and being president. In 1861, Lincoln’s weaknesses were more obvious than his strengths. Immediately after his installation he faced a critical point over Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, one of the few remaining U.S forts in the seceded states. Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States of America. He was killed by John Wilkes Booth on April 15, 1865 at 7:22 in the morning.
Robert E. Lee: (Jan.19th,1807-Oct.12,1870) Robert was born in Stratford, Virginia in 1807. He was famous because he was commander of the Confederacy. He became Chief engineer of the Mexican army in 1846. He commanded the U.S military Academy 1852 through 1855. In 1865, he surrendered his army to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse. After the war, he became president of Washington College at Lexington.
Clara Barton: (Dec.25th,1821-Apr.12th,1912) Clara’s Civil War work began in April 1861. Clara was chosen because she was a famous nurse in her time. In July 1862, she obtained permission to travel behind the lines, eventually reaching some of the grimmest battlefields of the war and serving during the sieges of Petersburg and Richmond. Barton delivered aid to soldiers of both the North and South.
Jefferson Davis: (Jun.3rd,1808-Dec.5th,1889) Jefferson was born in 1808 in Kentucky (like Abraham Lincoln). He is famous because he was elected president of the Confederate states. But very soon, he moved to Mississippi with his family. Possessing great intelligence and imagination, Davis was educated at a number of institutions, including Transylvania University before entering West Point, from which he was graduated. Robert E. Lee was a fellow cadet.
Stonewall Jackson: (Jan.21st,1824-May 10th,1863) Thomas Jonathan Jackson was born on January 21, 1824 in Clarksburg, Virginia. He was famous because he served in many great wars. He entered West Point in July 1842 and, in spite of his pitiful childhood education, he worked hard to graduate seventeenth in his class in 1846. Upon graduation, Jackson was sent on military duty to Mexico, and continued his service in the US Army in positions in New York and Florida. In 1851, Jackson became professor of artillery tactics and natural philosophy at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. He resigned from the army as of February 29, 1852.
Ulysses S. Grant: (Apr.27th,1822-Jul.23rd,1885) Ulysses Grant was famous
for being one of the MOST important people in the Civil War. He was one
of the very important generals of the north in the Civil War. The man we
know as Ulysses S. Grant was actually named Hiram Ulysses Grant. As a boy,
he was known as Lyss! Thomas Hamar, the congressman who appointed Grant
to West Point. Remembering that Grant’s mother’s maiden’s name was Simpson
and thinking that was Lyss Grant’s middle name, he filled out the application
in the name of Ulysses S. Grant.
William T. Sherman: (Feb.8th, 1820-Feb.19th, 1891) William was famous
for being an important general in the Union forces. William Sherman was
the seventh child of Charles Sherman and Mary Sherman. He was born in Lancaster,
Ohio, in a small frame house located next door to the large Hon, Thomas
Ewing home. The Sherman’s came to Lancaster just before the war of 1812
because Charles’ father, Judge Charles Taylor Sherman of Norwalls, Connecticut,
had been given, as indemnity for property lost in Connecticut in the Revolutionary
War, title 2 sections of land in the Western Reserve. Charles had been
admitted to the bar in 1810 and married Mary Hoyt shortly thereafter. They
came by horseback and covered wagon with their first son, Charles jr.,
their second child, Elizabeth, was born 10 days after they reached Lancaster.
When Charles died in 1829, Mary was left with 11 children. Thomas Ewing
offered to take the “ smartest” of the boys to raise as his own. Although
William was never legally adopted by the Ewing family, he lived with them
from the age of 9.
John Brown: Born in Torrington, Connecticut on May 9, 1800, John Brown was the son of a New Englander. He was a person who helped start the Civil War, even though he died before it started. John Brown was famous because he hated slavery. Brown spent most of his youth in Ohio, where he was taught in local schools to resent compulsory education and by his parents to revere the Bible and hate slavery. As a boy, he herded cattle for Gen. William Hull’s army during the war of 1812; later he served as a foreman of his family’s tannery. In 1820 he married Dianthe Lusk, who bore him 7 children; 5 years later, they moved to Pennsylvania to operate a tannery of their own. Within a year after Dianthe’s death in 1831, Brown wed 16-year old Mary Anne Day, by whom he fathered 13 more children.
SPEECHES
Lincoln states before the war- “We are not enemies, we are friends.”
The Gettysburg Address
On November 18, 1863, Abraham Lincoln gave one of the most famous speeches in U.S. History, the Gettysburg Address. He was dedicating a part of the Gettysburg battlefield as a cemetery for the soldiers. It was hard for me to understand the speech, so with help, I rewrote it so you could understand it.
The Gettysburg Address for Fourth Graders
Eighty seven years ago our ancestors formed a new country based on freedom and the idea that everyone is created equal.
Now we are at war with each other, and our country may not be able to survive. Today we are meeting on the Gettysburg battlefield to turn part of it into a sacred graveyard for the soldiers who died here. They gave their lives so our country could live.
We, ourselves, really can’t make this place sacred, because that has already been done by the brave soldiers, both living and dead, who fought here. The world will forget us, and what we say today, but it won’t forget the soldiers, who died. Those of us who are still living, must devote ourselves, and our lives, to the great task before us, the same task these soldiers died for. Our country must be reborn in freedom. Our government, of the people, by the people, for the people, must not die!
WEAPONS
Here are some weapons troops used to fight in the Civil War: Rifled
barrel- The Rifled Barrel Cannon was particularly effective in knocking
down fortifications and played decisive roles at Vicksburg and Atlanta.
Breech loading rifle-A Breech Loading Rifle was the most common of the
weapons used in the Civil War. It was used in all the battles of the Civil
War.
CAREERS
If you are interested in the Civil War, here are some War based careers:
First, you could be a Civil War historian which is a person who is interested
in this war and is an expert on it, too. Also there are College history
professors, they teach students about things that happened a long time
ago.
TIMELINE
1861:
May- Lincoln is elected president.
Jul.27th- President Lincoln appoints McClellan as commander of the
Potomac.
1862:
Feb.6th- U.S Grant earns his nickname, “Unconditional Surrender”.
Dec.13th- “It is well that war is so terrible- we should grow too fond
of it” states Lee during the fighting.
1863:
Jan.1st- President Lincoln issues the final Emancipation Proclamation
freeing all slaves.
Jul.13-16th- At least 120 people, including children, are killed.
1864:
Dec.21st-Sherman telegraphs Lincoln and offers him Savanna as a Christmas
present.
1865:
Apr.15th- Lincoln is shot at 7:22 in the morning by John Wilkes Booth.
Apr.18th- Confederate Joseph E. Johnston surrenders to Sherman.
Apr.26th- John Wilkes Booth is shot and killed in a tobacco barn.
In May- Remaining Confederate forces surrender. The nation is reunited
as The Civil War ends. 50,000 survivors return home as amputees (a person
who has had a limb or limbs removed by amputation).
INTERESTING FACTS
Fact 1: Over 620,000 out of 3,000,000 people died in this war.
Fact 2: The Civil War is the most famous war in American history.
Fact 3: More people died in The Civil War than in any other US war.
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