Historic Perspectives: Battles of the Civil War

"The American Civil War" 
"The Civil War Home Page" 
"Civil War Photographs"
"The Civil War" from PBS
"The Civil War Page" from the National Parks Service (NPS)
"US Civil War" from the History Channel 
"Civil War" from the History Place
"Civil War Dot Com"

For Wednesday, February 23, 2011, you are to write an informative account of a civil war battle.  Once your chosen battle is approved, you may begin researching alone or with a partner using the recommended sites above. 

You are to write an account of the battle from a particular perspective (a nurse, a low-ranking soldier from the winning side, a high-ranking soldier from the winning side, a photographer, a plantation owner, a brother, a woman soldier, an immigrant soldier, etc.)  Be sure to include concrete facts (where the battle was fought, which troops were involved, how many soldiers died on each side, how many were injured, the conditions, how long the battle lasted, who won, why the battle mattered in the greater context of the war, etc.).  The reader of your account should literally be able to "see" and "hear" the battle via your writing.

You may chose to write a newspaper article or a journal entry (in the style of Mary Chestnut's account of Fort Sumter).  Use the above websites to add relevant pictures to your piece.  Be sure to include your works cited at the end.  Cite sources correctly using APA, MLA, or Chicago styles.  (See Diana Hacker's Research Guide if you need help doing so.)

Grading will be as follows:

Creativity/Imagery. . .20 points
Historical Facts. . . 50 points
Presentation. . .10 points (give your piece a "newspaper" or "journal" look, 500 to 700 words)
Proofread. . . 10 points
Correctly Cited Sources. . .5 points
Relevant Picture Referred to in Writing. . . 5 points