Civil War WebQuest

Reporters at Gettysburg

A WebQuest

Joyce Valenza and Len Arlen

Introduction // Procedures // Character Representation

Incidentals // Resources // Assessment

Images from Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Selected Civil War Photographs 1861-1865 and

Words and Deeds in American History: Selected Documents Celebrating the Manuscript Division's First 100 Years

Introduction

"The first casualty when war comes is truth." -- Senator Hiram Johnson, 1917

The Civil War created a tremendous demand for news. The telegraph made it possible for the public to read about what happened yesterday. For the first time in our history reporters actually traveled to the front, establishing a new breed of journalist--the war correspondent.

Welcome new reporters! You are assigned to rather dangerous duty. Your beat is the battlefields of Gettysburg. As a war correspondent for the Army of the Potomac or the Army of Northern Virginia, your job is to interview commanding officers, enlisted men, field doctors, nurses, civilians, and people who were present at Gettysburg from June 30th to July 4th 1863.

Your assignment is to cover the campaign from the perspective of a journalist. Though good journalists make efforts to be impartial in their reporting of the news, the fact that you live in either the North or the South will certainly color the story you tell. It will determine the people you are able to interview. Remember that propaganda has played a part in all wars in our history and journalists have often fueled the "propaganda effort."

Procedures

Choose a state you are interested in representing from the list below.
Use MIcrosoft Publisher to create a special edition newsletter reporting on the campaign
Cover from June 30th to July 4th 1863 in your interviews
Create a one-paragraph introduction expressing reasons for troop movement toward Gettysburg
Interview at least three characters - based on primary sources, one from your assigned state
Create at least six stories (include mostly news, interviews, and perhaps one ad or entertainment story), making sure they appear authentic.
In addition to your six stories, provide one article of background information for your readers at home. (Here's a good place to incorporate the material you gathered from our battlefield guide.)
Use no more than one general encyclopedia. You may use scholarly encyclopedias like The Encyclopedia of the Civil War.
Please use material from the library shelves. You must use at least two book sources. The general call number for the Civil War is 973.7. Also check for biographies and books on weapons, military strategy, etc.
Complete your bibliography following MLA Style
Cover at least two days of the campaign (June 30 - July 4) from your perspective
Create a one-paragraph conclusion on the outcome of the battle
Due date: June 2nd. (You will lose one letter grade for every day after due date)

On the bus tour, remember to bring a pad and pencil. Listen closely! You'll be expected to incorporate information provided by the battlefield guide into your newsletter. You should be in good shape if you have a full page of notes.

Resources

Make sure you consult the Gettysburg Resource and our general Civil War Resource pages to help you gather maps, quotes, and other primary source materials. Use (and cite) our tour guide's comments in your writing. When you use a search engine, it's a good idea to search the name of your assigned state and the following words: diary, letters, journal, interview, etc.

Character Representation

Northern Reporter	Southern Reporter
Maine	Virginia
New York	Georgia
Pennsylvania	North Carolina
Massachusetts	Alabama
Ohio	South Carolina
New Jersey	Mississippi
Michigan	Louisiana
Vermont	Tennessee
Wisconsin	Florida
Connecticut	Texas
Indiana
Maryland

Incidentals

Is your interview paper aged? Authentic looking
Are you asking in-depth questions?
Are your sources credible?
Are your Introductory paragraph and conclusion slanted (State your perspective - North or South)

Evaluation

Assessment

You will be graded on the following:

	Criteria	Poor (1)	Adequate (2)	Good (3)	Exemplary (4)	Score
Content of newsletter	Newsletter is historically accurate and covers the major events and importance of the campaign.
Creativity	Student's writing was clever and engaging. S/he used the format of the newsletter creatively to convey the feeling of the battle and give the reader a sense of the time.
Understanding of perspective	Student maintained the perspective of a northerner or a southerner consistently through their writing.
Documentation	Student used a variety of high quality resources and incorporated appropriate documents and visuals into their work. Student documented all sources appropriately in their Works Consulted section at the end of the newsletter.
Met project criteria	Student followed directions and completed all requirements. (introductory paragraph, conclusion, six stories, one background story, material from tour guide, three interviews, etc.)

Conclusion

You have been engaged in exploring history through the perspective of a "player" on one side of the great historic debate that was our nation's Civil War.

History is essentially the story of people and all people have perspectives. Perspective is the place where you stand relative to what you are viewing. By analyzing multiple interests and values, we develop a richer understanding how people really lived and of the great issues of our past.

How we view our history may well determine how we perceive the present.

"The only way in which a human being can make some approach to knowing the whole of a subject is by hearing what can be said about it by persons of every variety of opinion and studying all modes in which it can be looked at by every character of mind. No wise man ever acquired his wisdom in any mode but this." John Stuart Mill

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