Civil War Journal

Civil War Journal provides in-depth accounts of the nation’s greatest tragedy with personal stories, diaries, photographs and commentary by some of the premier Civil War historians of today. It is a video exploration of the war that pitted the North against the South, and brother against brother. Civil War Journal would be useful for classes on American History, American Culture, Military History, Geography and Gender History. It is appropriate for middle school and high school.

OBJECTIVES

Students will analyze the effects of the Civil War on American life, political institutions, economics, and culture. They will trace how political, economic and cultural issues culminated in a divided nation and the consequences of a country at war with itself.

NATIONAL HISTORY STANDARDS

Civil War Journal fulfills the following National Standards for History for grades 5-12: Chronological thinking, historical comprehension, historical analysis and interpretation, historical research capabilities, historical issues-analysis and decision-making for Era 5.

Reporting the War

Press coverage of the Civil War was excruciatingly detailed. In newspapers and magazines, reporters, photographers, and illustrators brought the tragic struggle into the American home, shattering the nation’s romantic notion of war.

• accentuate
• archive
• bohemian
• carnage
• cauldron
• censor
• clamored
• comprehension
• debris
• endeavors
• enterprising
• humanity
• hysteria
• immortalize
• lambaste
• lurk
• pioneering
• premature
• profound
• rakish
• ravenous
• realism
• smoldering
• sophisticated
• spellbound
• vagaries
• wielded
• woefully

Discussion Questions

1. The images and written accounts of the Civil War left by journalists and photographers are part of our national collective memory. What is collective memory? What other events are part of our collective memory?

2. The Civil War was the first American war in which photography played a part. How did photographs change the civilian population’s concept of war?

3. How did these photographs “bring the war home?”

4. The media wields enormous power and influence. Discuss the power and influence of the media, comparing its role in the 1860s and the present.

5. Compare the reporting of the Civil War with that of the Vietnam War. How was it similar? How was it different?

6. We all know what patriotism is, but how would you define it? How did patriotism influence war reports?

7. What is a rumor? How do rumors spread? What are its influences?

8. What is a “scoop?”

9. How does the press exert its influence?

10. Discuss the role of contemporaries’ reports, such as letters and diaries, on our understanding of the Civil War.

Extended Activities

1. Research some primary resources such as newspaper accounts of the Civil War. How do northern accounts and southern accounts differ? How do accounts and reports change as the war drags on?

2. Imagine that you are a reporter during the Civil War. Research one of the war’s famous battles and write a report for your newspaper or magazine.

Related Videos

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Air Dates

• June 17, 2004