Soldiers' Letters in the Classroom
I have had my Civil War class write op-eds on 1860 presidential candidates, I have had them debate and vote on Virginia's secession in the wake of Sumter and Lincoln's call for 75,000 troops (secession carried), next week we are making (and eating) hardtack, in the near future we are going to review the Gettysburg Address from all perspectives on the political spectrum, and - just for fun, we are going to put Jefferson Davis on trial for treason. But of all of the things I have developed in an effort to get the kids engaged, my favorite by far is the soldiers' letters assignment. It's simple really, I have the kids read a handful of typical soldier letters that I assemble for them, then I have them go to the virtual archives to research on their own. I give them some patriotic stationary (both Yankee and Rebel) and task them to write a letter home...paying particular care to strive for an authentic voice.
The results are remarkable, without fail. Now I owe much of this to the unbridled enthusiasm of my exceptional students. My kids tend to be ambitious and go above and beyond the call of duty, as it were. But this last group of letters really hit the target. They captured the soldiers' sentiments and recreated an authentic look with cursive, stains, misspellings, bad grammar, tears and holes.
Teachers - give this a shot. I think you will find that the kids learn quite a bit about soldiers' thoughts on loneliness and missing their families, camp life, terrible food, weather, fear of being killed, the enemy, ideology, and any number of other things a typical soldier would have recorded in a letter home. If you want, download this stationary to help recreate the look:
And you can find resources from which to draw HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.
If you have your kids do this project, I would love to here about the results. Below are a few examples from my class:
With compliments,
Keith