The National Park Service continues to present a trove of information on the Civil War. I found last night a project the service is undertaking to develop a network of places significant to the Underground Railroad. The program seeks to integrate and preserve Underground Railroad sites and museums throughout the United States. Supported by the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Act of 1998, participants in the program will be able to receive technical assistance, display a uniform logo, and take part in program workshops.

The website for the program, in addition to spelling out its goals, provides a helpful introduction to studying the Underground Railroad, including a glossary of terms, maps, and pages with information ranging from codes and ciphers used on the railroad to stories of escape. A good resource for introduction to the topic and encouraging student interest.

I ran into a great site today with tons of transcribed documents from the civil war. There are several categories to choice from including Soldiers Letters, Battle Reports, and Diaries. Its a great place to gain an insight on everyday life throughout the civil war.

I found on the Civil War Preservation Trust website an animated map of the first day of the Battle of Chancellorsville. The site also has a page geared towards teachers, but I found the animated map to be most interesting. I searched a little more for animated maps and found a few videos on Britannica Encyclopedia Online ( Gettysburg, Battle of ). This kind of map is great for people, like me, who are visual learners.

David Plouffe, Democratic Senator Barack Obama’s campaign manager, had an interesting response on Wednesday (6/04) to Republican Senator John McCain’s proposal to hold ten town hall meetings before the November 2008 election. According to the Associated Press, “Plouffe said…the campaign would recommend a less-structured, lengthier exchange more in line with the historic Lincoln-Douglas debates.” See this report for the full story.

Update:
Marc Ambinder, who blogs over at The Atlantic, has posted McCain’s letter and Plouffe’s response.

The U.S. National Park Service has a wealth of information on some of the key battlefields of the Civil War. Not least among them is Gettysburg, located nearby Dickinson College in Adams County, PA. Along with pages discussing the battlefield itself, the National Park Service features a web exhibit of the day-to-day life of Civil War soldiers. The site includes definitions of some Civil War era military terms and brief descriptions of what soldiers of the time would have experienced during their long encampments. Most interesting are the image galleries included in the site. These are contemporary, high quality digital images of artifacts related to encampment life. Among these artifacts are game boards, musical instruments, diaries, letters, and personal photographs. Certainly a site worth checking out!

I stumbled across a great site today called Picture History. It has a lot of great scans of original letters and pictures from the time period. I ran across the site while researching Grace Bedell, the young girl influential enough to convince President Lincoln to grow his beard. They have scanned and posted the letter Lincoln wrote back. There are many other documents to browse around through.

Kansas Historical Society has a very comprehensive site that categorizes major events in Kansas history into easily browsed sections. Some of the topics include Civil War and “Bleeding Kansas.” In addition to a search engine the website provides articles and images on the topic pages. This would be a good resource for an expansion on several aspects of the House Divided site. Kansas Historical society website also has a section for teachers.

Harpers Ferry Images – Part II
I wanted to point out a few more images of Harpers Ferry that I found through American Memory (Library of Congress). Many textbooks already have pictures of Harpers Ferry, but I think students might find these interesting.

Harpers Ferry, Railroad Bridge:
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cwpb.03739

Harpers Ferry, Railroad Bridge destroyed:
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cwpb.04106

Harpers Ferry Panorama (1912):
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pan.6a13009

Harpers Ferry Panorama (1915):
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pan.6a13017

I was looking for images of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and I found several interesting ones on the Library of Congress website. While none are from John Brown’s attack in October 1859, these are related to it.

Before the raid, Brown and his men lived for several months at the Kennedy Farm in Maryland:
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hhh.md0587

PBS also has an interesting site on the Kennedy Farm: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/brown/sfeature/kennedyfarm.html

The Library of Congress also has an image of the engine house (from 1865) where Brown was captured by the US military:
http://memory.loc.gov/ndlpcoop/nhnycw/ad/ad45/ad45008v.jpg

For anyone looking for a neat place to visit, I must highly recommend Harpers Ferry. The town is idyllic and has been historically preserved so that it still looks much as it did in the 19th century. There are several museums to visit, numerous historical buildings to explore, and scenic hiking in the surrounding mountains. I first visited the town on a class field trip, and, especially for older students who can be let run free to explore the museums and buildings at their own pace, Harpers Ferry makes an excellent field trip destination. The town was not only the scene of John Brown’s infamous raid, but of several battles between the North and the South throughout the Civil War and thus holds a unique perspective into both the war between the states and the era which created and endured this conflict.