Change or Stay the Course?
An exploration of the wartime strategy and personal interactions between Lincoln and his generals
Included below is some relevant information for the pages contained on this site. In particular, you will find links to the websites where images, statistics, or readings used in the videos came from, as well as a few suggested guidelines for teachers with regards to the documents. Please feel free to contact me if you have any specific queries, and I will do my best to address them in a timely fashion. Aditionally, instructors looking for pacing suggestions can take a look at this handout for ideas on how to structure the lesson. Lastly, a link to a class ready handout (both in powerpoint and pdf) has been provided here.
McClellan Page
Lincoln's Letters to McClellan: The readings used for the dramatic read can be found on the House Divided website.
McClellan's Letters from the Civil War: While not the full text, Google Books has a large sampling of the Civil War Papers of George McClellan.
Suggestions for teachers
In studying the video, word cloud and the documents, students could craft and complete a chart on personal, political, and military reasons Lincoln was frustrated with George McClellan. Alternately, students could pick a word from the word cloud, and find examples in the resources on the site to support that term. The overarching question on the page lends itself to an essay: teachers could use the materials as a starting point for a formal response about the Lincoln/McClellan relationship.
Grant Page
Halleck's correspondence: The readings used for the dramatic read can be found here in Google Books. In addition to primary sources, this work also provides a narrative on Halleck and his career during the Civil War.
Matt Halstead's take on Grant: This colorful characterization of Grant can be found in Shelby Foote's narrative on the Civil War. The book provides a little more detail and context than is seen in the dramatic read.
​Mary Todd Lincoln's discussion of Grant: This recollection came from the book 'Thirty Years a Slave,' which gives some insight into Mary Lincoln's life in general as well as impressions on the conduct of the war.
Suggestions for teachers
Teachers may want to start by querying students on what they believe are important qualities in leadership, as well as what qualities/obstacles stand in the way of recognition or merit. After generating that list, students could study the page on Grant, seeing which of the positive/negative qualities exist in Grant, and using that as a springboard for further discussion on why Lincoln should stand by or abandon his general. For IB classrooms, students could compare and contrast the views in Sources A and D about Grant's failings as a general, or else examine the values and limitations of the various sources present on the page.
Meade Page
Halleck's and Meade's conversations: The Life and Letters of George Meade contains a lot of correspondence between Meade and other major figures in the Civil War, with this particular volume dealing extensively with Gettysburg.
Lee's Letters: These were pulled from Civilwar.org (scroll down to Confederate correspondence), and this page in particular also has a lot of other primary sources good for use in a classroom.
Lincoln's Letter to Meade: While only excerpted in the video, the full text of Lincoln's note to Meade can be found on the House Divided website. Lincoln goes into great detail as to why he is unhappy with Meade's actions after Gettysburg, though he does acknowledge Meade's service to the country.
Suggestions for teachers
In examining the documents and videos, students may want to draw up two columns: 'Reasons for pursuit' and 'Reasons for caution.' As they examine the sources, students could document the evidence given in each account as to why pursuit should or should not be offered to Lee. This research could serve as the first step towards addressing the main question on the site. Alternately, students could handle these questions in an IB fashion. Sources C and D lend themselves to the question (1a on a Paper 1): According to the source, why didn't Meade aggressively pursue Lee after Gettysburg? Sources A and B could also be compared and contrasted on Meade's actions after Gettysburg.
Useful Links
Many of the pages below were invaluable in creating this website. For teachers looking for extensions, feel free to visit these pages for more materials.
God and the Strongest Battalions: This essay by Richard Current would be a good introduction for students new to the Civil War. The first few pages, in particular, detail the relative advantages of each side at the outset of war, and would be a good contrast to the importance of leadership in winning a war.
House Divided: This website was utilized for many of the primary sources (both written and visual) used for the videos produced on my site. The 'Understanding Lincoln' section contains many more videos and teacher resources for some of Lincoln's most enduring writings.
Abraham Lincoln's Classroom: Visuals and critical essays made this site particularly useful, and there are a lot of readymade things for teachers to use in the classroom. The 'Cartoon Corner' is one page that I plan to revisit in gathering materials for classroom study.
Civilwar.org: This site has a wealth of information on the major battles of the Civil War, and also includes many primary resources for the classroom. Excellent maps and casualty statistics make this a useful page for teaching the campaigns of the war itself.
Library of Congress: This subset of the LoC collection contains photographs from the Civil War. Many of these images were used in the videos produced on this site, but with a helpful timeline, teachers can find useful resources for classroom study.
New York State Library: This site was also utilized, primarily for the first video on McClellan. It contains a wealth of photographs from the opening battles of the Civil War.
Pacing Guide and Resources