Civil War Quest

Lesson 6: Secondary Sources: Town, County and Regiment Histories

Focusing Questions/Themes:
How can we learn more about our town in the Civil War?
What are secondary sources?
How can we find them? What can we learn from them?
Vermont Standard(s):
Being a Historian: 6.6: Collect and use secondary resources in building original historical interpretations.
New Hampshire Standard(s):
15.1 Identify, using maps; illustrations; photographs, and documents from different time periods, how the community has changed and discuss the reason for these changes.
Materials:
Your town history
County Gazetteer
Regiment Histories
Town reports from 1861 - 1865 (these can be primary or secondary)
General books on the Civil War
Other websites
Procedure:
  1. Invite the students to consider the question: "How can we learn more about these soldiers, and life in their town during the Civil War?
  2. Introduce the concept of primary, secondary and on-line resources:

    The UCLA Institute on Primary Resources defines primary resources as follows:

    Primary resources provide firsthand evidence of historical events. They are generally unpublished materials such as manuscripts, photographs, maps, artifacts, audio and video recordings, oral histories, postcards, and posters. In some instances, published materials can also be viewed as primary materials for the period in which they were written.

    Bowling Green State University defines secondary resources:

    Secondary sources, on the other hand, offer an analysis or a restatement of primary sources. They often attempt to describe or explain primary sources. Some secondary sources not only analyze primary sources, but use them to argue a contention or to persuade the reader to hold a certain opinion. Examples of secondary sources include: dictionaries, encyclopedias, textbooks, and books and articles that interpret, collect or review research works.

    Typically, primary resources are "artifacts" from the time in question. Secondary resources are books about the time in question. And on-line resources are information that has been digitized and is available on the World Wide Web via a search engine.

  3. Show the students the variety of secondary resources available. As you place each different type of resource on a different table, tell the students where you located this source.
  4. Have students "carousel" around the room, visiting each resource to try and gather information on their particular soldier. To do this they will need to be able to use a table of contents, an index; and to skim looking for topics (e.g. Wars, Veterans, 19th century).
  5. At each station, students can record information gathered using the Research Document Worksheet.
    6. How many Fairlee residents served in the American Civil War?
    What were the names of these soldiers?
    How many were wounded in combat? Taken prisoner? Died of disease?
    Or died in battle?

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