Search for Facts

            This week in our Honors History 10 class, we learned about many different Civil War battles. While studying these battles, we observed the tactics of the Confederacy and the Union. Every battle took place in one of the three “theaters.” These theaters were east, west or naval. We observed who won more battles in each theater. Our goal was to figure out who the ultimate victor, the north or south, was in all of the three theaters. To help gather information to find the answer to this question our class created and went on a scavenger hunt. Each person in the class was assigned a battle and they had to find general information on that battle. We had to find the date, theater, location, winner, and reasons for victory. Each person had to create a Google doc for his or her battle and then create a QR code for the sharable link. Everyone printed out the code and typed his or her battle name above the code. Once these sheets were printed everyone hid them around the school for everyone else to find and scan into to get information on the battles. This was a very enjoyable and entertaining way to gain knowledge about civil war battles. At the end of our findings we created a Padlet and voiced our opinions on who we though won in each theater.

            Through our findings in the scavenger hunt our class concluded that the Union dominated the western and naval theaters. The Union capitalized on the fact that the Confederates had minimal supplies. This was the case in the Siege of Vicksburg. In the battle of Shiloh the Union outnumbered the Confederates by a lot and that was a key factor in their victory. In the naval theater the Union prevailed in battles like the battle of Hampton Roads. In this battle the Confederate ship exploded. The Union had a much better naval system than the Confederates.

            When it came to the eastern theater, the result was not quite as obvious. Both sides had victories in the east. As the war progressed it was evident that the Union was more skilled in the east than the Confederates. Many Union victories had to do with the unpreparedness of the Confederates. Through this fun activity we learned that the Union dominated pretty much every theater there was.  

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