Clarion Books, 1992

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Summary: Uses excerpts from the diaries of Lieutenant John Dooley, a 19-year-old Confederate officer, and Corporal Thomas Galway, a 17-year-old Union soldier, to describe the events leading up to and through the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. Includes information on the dedication of the National Cemetery in Gettysburg and the speeches of Edward Everett and Abraham Lincoln.

Level:RL: 5 IL: 5-adult

Themes:

Different perspectives and perceptions
Telling history from primary sources (people who lived and wrote at the time the event was happening)

Activities:

1. When you are part of an event, your understanding of it is determined by your own personal feelings and experiences.

A. Abraham Lincoln did not think his speech was a success. Many of the newspapers at the time agreed with him. Read his short speech and decide what you think he is telling people to do. Why do you think that message was/is important? Is it important for people today? Are there other countries in the world that would think his message is important? Discuss this with your class and locate those countries on a map. What is happening in those countries right now?

B. The War Between the States had many causes and the soldiers fought for many reasons. Why did John Dooley go to war? What was Thomas Galway's reason? Do you think these were good
reasons to fight and kill people? Were there
other ways to resolve the problem? What were Abraham Lincoln's goals for the war?

C. Many Southerners felt that since the states had chosen to unify into one country they should also be allowed to choose not to remain in that union. Would Abraham Lincoln agree with that idea? Would you? If you joined a team to play baseball and then decided you did not want to be part of the team, what would you do? Discuss with a group of your classmates how they would feel about your decision.

D. An author writing a book often has an opinion about the event being described. This is called "point of view." If he had been alive at the time, do you think Jim Murphy would support the Union or the Confederacy? Defend your answer using passages from the book. Look at the words he uses to describe John Dooley and Thomas Galway. Does he seem to like one better than the other? Does he use more pages to describe one army's activities than he does the other? Count the books in your library that are from the Union point of view and the Confederate point of view. Look in other books and decide if the author has a point of view that you can recognize.

2. When writing about history it is important to check historical facts for accuracy. You should use several sources whenever possible.

On page 19 Jim Murphy writes: "At Chancellorsville, his most brilliant general, Stonewall Jackson, had been shot and killed while leading his troops [italics mine]." Check this fact in at least two sources. You might use a biography of Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, such as Stonewall by Jean Fritz, or a reference book like The Dictionary of American Biography. Discuss with your class why accuracy is especially important in non-fiction books.

3. Photographs and sketches are used as illustrations in this book. How do they help you understand what is written? Make a list of words that describe your feelings about the War as you page through the book looking at the illustrations. Put a star (*) next to those feelings you would not have listed if you had only read the text.

4. Go view the movie Gettysburg. Re-read the book after you see the movie. Did your feelings about and understanding of the book change? About the Battle of Gettysburg? About war?

5. Both men and women worked in field hospitals during the War Between the States. Conditions were primitive and complications of wounds and disease killed as many men as did bullets and cannon balls. Read more about doctors and medicine in the 1800's. What role did Dorothea Dix, Clara Barton and Louisa May Alcott play in the War?

Resources:

Catton, Bruce. Battle of Gettysburg. Troll Associates, 1963.

Chang, Ina. A Separate Battle. Lodestar Books, 1991.

Cox, Clinton. Undying Glory. Scholastic, Inc., 1991.

Golay, Michael. The Civil War. Facts on File, 1992.

Johnson, Neil. Battle of Gettysburg. Four Winds Press, 1989.

Lawson, Don. The United States in the Civil War. Thomas Y.
Crowell, 1977.

McPherson, James M. Marching Toward Freedom. Facts on File, 1991.

Murphy, Jim. The Boy's War. Clarion Books, 1990.

Ray, Delia. A Nation Torn. Lodestar Books, 1990.

Ray, Delia. Behind the Blue and the Gray. Lodestar Books, 1991.

Robertson, James I. Civil War. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.

Voices from the Civil War. Harper Collins, 1989.

Katz, William Loren. Breaking the Chains. Atheneum, 1990

Prepared by Sally Jean Kappler, North Yarmouth Academy, Yarmouth

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