American Civil War Era

Week Six Schedule:

Freedom's Ferment and the Historian's War

(See original schedule here.)

Monday (4/7)

Antietam: A Wide Angle View.

Read the Letter from R.E. Lee to Jefferson Davis, 3 September 1862. Read Lee's Proclamation to Maryland.View all of the Antietam Photographs from the Library of Congress'scollection of Selected Civil War Photographs. If you were writing a Civil War textbook and could use just two pictures from this set, which would you choose and why? View the USMA maps of the Situation on 7 September 1862. How did the geography give the Confederates an advantage? What were the chief obstacles? View the USMA maps of the Situation at 9:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on 17 September 1862. How did the terrain benefit the Confederates?


Tuesday (4/8)

Emancipations.
Read Burton, Age of Lincoln,161-167.
Read Lincoln's Compensated Emancipation Proposal for Delaware (Nov. 1861), his Draft proposal for compensated emancipation (Feb. 1862), his "Raymond Letter" (March 1862) defending compensated emancipation, his "Greeley Letter" (August 1862) on the union vs. slavery, and his "Conkling Letter" (Aug. 1863) defending Emancipation.
Read Frederick Douglass's Speech on the 25th Anniversary of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
Read the Reactions of the Richmond Whig and the Charleston Courier. As you read these, you may find it useful to build a timeline listing the date of each document (and make a mental note of the long empty spaces between dates as well).


Wednesday (4/9)

(Discussion of the Spring Revolution of 1862)


Thursday (4/10)

Local Communities at War.
Read Ayers, In the Presence of Mine Enemies, pp. 143-339 in preparation for class discussion. We will use an "open fishbowl" format. Feel free to develop discussion topics for advance posting to the course workspace. You will find some initial questions posted there for starters.


Friday (4/11)

No Class Meeting Today.

Perceptions of Combat.
Read John Keegan, The Face of Battle (Chapter One's sections on "The Narrative Tradition," and "Verdict or Tradition," pp. 61-77) (On reserve; make a copy for your own use).
Read the ABPP/CWSAC summary of the Battle of Perryville. Read Gen. Bragg's Proclamation to the People of Kentucky. Read contemporary reports and accounts including Gen. Buell's Official Report, the Cincinnati Gazette account, Gen. Bragg's account, and Sam Watkins' account.

Please post reactions and comments to the course workspace.
It may be helpful if we divide up the commentary, with Team 1 (last names starting with A-E) responding to Keegan's arguments and the Cincinnati Gazette, Team 2: (last names starting with F-N) responding to Keegan's arguments, Buell's report and Bragg's Account, and Team 3: (last names starting with O-Z) responding to Keegan's arguments Sam Watkin's account and at least one other primary document of your own choice.


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Note: The instructor reserves the right to change any provisions, due dates, grading percentages, or any other items without prior notice. All assignments on this schedule are covered under the university's policy on plagiarism and academic integrity. See the syllabus statement for further details. This page was last updated on 4/9/2008.