US National Archives
Nara: Teaching With Documents: Black Soldiers in the Civil War
This comprehensive site from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) describes the history of the participation of colored troops in the Civil War and government efforts to research and compile records about them....
Library of Congress
Loc: Teachers: Women in the Civil War: Ladies, Contraband, Spies
With this instructional activity, a collection of primary texts, including diaries, letters, and photographs help learners understand how women were affected by the Civil War. Students will explore, through reading a collection of...
Rutgers University
Digital Archive of New Jersey History: New Jersey in the Civil War
Lesson plans that use primary sources to teach the role of New Jersey in the Civil War. Plans tie literature with history and provide opportunities for many learning styles.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: America in Class: The Enslaved and the Civil War
National Humanities Center lesson on how enslaved African Americans in the South undermined the Southern cause during the Civil War. Lesson contents includes primary sources material, strategies for text analysis, vocabulary, and...
US National Archives
National Archives: The Civil War as Photographed by Mathew Brady
Students will surmise what life was like for soldiers fighting in the Civil War by viewing photographs from that time period. Students will answer questions in small groups and reconvene for a whole class discussion.
US National Archives
Docsteach: The Civil War as Photographed by Mathew Brady
Students will analyze a series of photographs taken by renowned photographer Mathew Brady to reflect on the lives of soldiers during the Civil War. The holdings of the National Archives include over 6,000 photographs taken by Brady and...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Looking for Lincoln: Looking for Lincoln During the Civil War
Using interactives and videos, this lesson explores the unique challenges Lincoln faced during the five years of bloody civil war which made him America's greatest but most controversial wartime leader.
![Civil War: In the Classroom: Civil War Letters [Pdf] Lesson Plan](https://content.lessonplanet.com/knovation/original/41529-552dbb8cc4ee666fb8636f2c093a45c0.jpg?1661260709 "Civil War: In the Classroom: Civil War Letters [Pdf] Lesson Plan")
PBS
Civil War: In the Classroom: Civil War Letters [Pdf]
A lesson plan using letters from soldiers and civilians in the Civil War to gain a greater understanding of this time in U.S. history.
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Gilder Lehrman Institute: History Now: Casualties and Costs of the Civil War
[Free Registration/Login Required] A brief lesson that presents charts showing the the number of troops in the Civil War, the casualties of troops in the Civil War and other U.S. wars, and the costs incurred in U.S. wars. Discussion...
![Pbs Teachers: Conflicting Newspaper Accounts (Civil War Lesson Plan) [Pdf] Lesson Plan](https://content.lessonplanet.com/knovation/original/41528-385cb213e0de2299b311cc32f0592197.jpg?1661419286 "Pbs Teachers: Conflicting Newspaper Accounts (Civil War Lesson Plan) [Pdf] Lesson Plan")
PBS
Pbs Teachers: Conflicting Newspaper Accounts (Civil War Lesson Plan) [Pdf]
Multilayered lesson that begins with analysis of a series of photographs of the battle of Antietam and ends with writing an account of the battle in the style of a nineteenth-century war correspondent from opposing perspectives of North...
Library of Congress
Loc: The Civil War: The Nation Moves Toward War
Examine the causes of the Civil War using primary source documents. This lesson plan gives background on the Civil War, includes a timeline, and a bibliography for further reading. Primary source documents include music, newspapers,...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Civil War: A "Terrible Swift Sword"
In this Curriculum Unit, students will consider "Civil War: A"Terrible Swift Sword"" in 3 Lessons. The unit also includes worksheets and other student materials that can be found under the resource tab.
ArtsNow
Arts Now Learning: Civil War Personalities [Pdf]
This instructional activity invites students to derive inspiration from photographs (portraits and people) from the Civil War era. These images serve as impetus to write monologues and create improvisational skits.
Other
Lesson Plan: The Civil War
The books about the Civil War period written for young audiences provide a rich context in which to learn about the war itself and to explore more basic issues about the nature of human life and society. This lesson plan for an upper...
Library of Congress
Loc: Women in the Civil War: Ladies, Contraband and Spies
This lesson uses primary sources - diaries, letters, and photographs - to explore the experiences of women in the Civil War. By looking at a series of document galleries, the perspectives of slave women, plantation mistresses, female...
Success Link
Success Link: Civil War 1861 1865
An eight-lesson unit on the Civil War using Patricia Beatty's young adult novel, Charley Skedaddle, as the unifying text. Geared mainly for middle school, but certainly has good information for high school young scholars as well.
University of Pittsburgh
Center for American Music Library: Civil War Homefront
A great lesson plan using Stephen Foster's music and lyrics to show what life was like on the homefront during the Civil War.
American Battlefield Trust
American Battlefield Trust: Civil War Lesson Plans: High School
Several lesson plans for high school aged students that are standards-based to help them learn about the Civil War.
Other
War Within War: Hidden Stories of Civil War's Impact on Tennessee [Pdf]
These lesson plans teach Tennesse history during the Civil War era.
Yale University
Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: Literature of the u.s. Civil War
This very thorough unit plan focuses on the literature of the Civil War for 4th and 5th graders. It includes both a student and teacher bibliography.
Other
Radford University: The Civil War for Fifth Graders
A complete lesson plan covering the Civil War for fifth grades based on the Virginia standards of Learning U.S. History.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Expository Writing and the Civil War
This lesson is designed to help students strengthen their research and writing skills, while learning more about the Civil War, as they produce an expository paragraph. Students will glean information from an article about the causes of...
Library of Congress
Loc: Teachers: Civil War Photographs: The Mathew Brady Bunch
Learners browse a collection of over one thousand Civil War photos, and then choose one to examine in-depth. The resulting assignment is a news article based on the photo's events and subject matter.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Collaborative Project on the Civil War
During this lesson two or more schools will work together using distance learning to investigate and share their community's involvement in the Civil War.
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