Unit 1 Curriculum: How it Began (1860-1861)

I’ll be honest – I am not a history buff and I am definitely terrible at history. Growing up in public school, my history consisted of 20 minutes a week tops for history vocab words and few lectures. I don’t know if I ever truly learned about the history of my own country.

But creating this curriculum for our almost highschooler was eye-opening. Who would’ve thought that I would learn more about history in this curriculum than I ever did in my entire school career?! I enjoyed the conflicts, the debates and cultural wars that were simmering below the surface between the North, the South and all these small people groups just wanting independence and to do their own way of life. The craziest part of all this was how much the Revolutionary War seeped into the Civil War. Let’s dive in and learn our amazing free country come to life.

A Civil War Curriculum that brings history to life…

The Civil War is a vital time in our American culture in which the tides of civil liberties turned. Fresh off the Revolutionary War, the country wanted independence. Although there were concerns about President Lincoln leading the country, there was also a deep conflict between the North and South regarding slavery and industry booming.

Since I wanted to teach our son the Civil War but make it unique to his age, I decided to use materials that would provide some reading challenges and begin the process of teaching him high school critical thinking.

The Lesson Breakdown

• Key Terms
  • Wordsearch
  • Election, secedes, representatives, inauguration, confederate, union, Lincoln, Sumter
• Big Leaders
  • Abraham Lincoln
  • Brigadier General PGT Beauregard
  • General Nathaniel Lyon
  • Thomas Sumter – a general who won victories in American Rev
• Major Battles
  • Fort Sumter – Guns of Sumter (Fort Sumter Battle Facts and Summary | American Battlefield Trust)
  • Bull Run (First Battle of Bull Run | Summary, Casualties, & Facts | Britannica)
  • Wilson’s Creek (Battle of Wilson’s Creek | Missouri, Union, Confederate | Britannica)
  • Balls Bluff (Ball’s Bluff Battle Facts and Summary | American Battlefield Trust)
• Maps (East Coast map)
  • Charleston, SC (Sumter)Manassas, Virginia (Bull Run)Springfield, MO (Wilson’s Creek)
  • Leesburg, Virginia (Ball’s Bluff)
• Cause-Effect Charts/Activities
  • What battles led to Civil War? What states seceded and joined Union vs. Confederate?
  • How did civil war/secede affect slaves?
  • Union flag
  • Confederate flag

Reading Material:

More Reading

Full Unit 1 Week 1 & 2 Below: FREE FULL LESSON

Week 1: Reading

1. Read Materials above: Mix of online articles that are free and books available online or at library.
2. Take Notes on Notes Outline (included in full lesson here)

Week 2: Activities

1. Complete wordsearch with keywords (HERE)
2. Mark East Coast map with battles of For Sumter, Bull Run, Wilson’s Creek and Balls Bluff (HERE)
3. Complete Cause-Effect Chart (HERE)
4. Color or mark flags of Union (HERE) and Confederate (HERE)

Final Thoughts

This Unit 1 is just about the beginning of the Civil War (more units to come!). It is teaching the conflicts brewing, the initial fights and the storms within the different sub groups. This unit is about teaching the student about the conflicts leading up to the Civil War becoming a full War. In creating this unit, I tried to incorporate a mixture of materials including current online articles, colorful maps, and old historical books. Because let’s be honest – history doesn’t have to be boring! We have so much to learn from it.

Often times history is difficult to make fun and interesting. My goal in this unit is to help your student understand the basics of the Civil War struggles and conflicts. Key words, key leaders, essay questions and cause-effect gets your student thinking about the people, the country and the battles by making the complex content simplified and colorful.

Not only is this unit teaching the Civil War content but your student will also be learning skills like notetaking, research, using resources, analyzing, geography and more.