Iowans at the Battle of Shiloh
NCSS Thematic Strand: Time, Continuity, and Change
National History Standards (National Center for History in the Schools, 1996)
Era 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Standard 2: The course and character of the Civil War and its effects on the American people.
Historical Thinking Standards
Standard 3: Historical Analysis and Interpretation.
Iowa Core Curriculum - Social Studies Standards (Iowa Department of Education, 2010)
Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies (grades 6-12)
RH.6-8.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
RH.9-10.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date of origin of the information.
Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies (grades 6-12)
WHST.6-8.1 and WHST.9-10.1: Write arguments focused on discipline specific content.
History Concepts and Skills (grades 6-12)
Essential Concept: Understand cause and effect relationships and other historical thinking skills in order to interpret events and issues.
· Understand processes such as using a variety of sources, providing, validating, and weighing evidence for claims, checking credibility of sources, and searching for causality.
Grade Level: 8-12
Class Periods Required:
“Using the ‘Principles of War’ to Analyze the Battle of Shiloh” – two 50 minute class periods
“The Battle of Shiloh: An Iowa Perspective” – two 50 minute class periods
Purpose, Background and Context
These lessons are part of a unit covering the American Civil War. Sequentially, they should be taught as part of a chronological overview of the war’s major military campaigns. The Battle of Shiloh took place on April 6 and 7, 1862. The first lesson involves using the modern U. S. Army’s “principles of war” to analyze this pivotal Civil War battle. The second lesson examines the role played by Iowa soldiers in the battle. It includes four primary source documents. The first two documents focus on General Ulysses Grant’s leadership, both before and during the battle. The third and fourth documents encourage student reflection on the effects of the battle, both on soldiers and their families and on northern public opinion in general.
Objectives
Students will:
· Understand how military leaders use the “principles of war” to make critical battlefield decisions.
· Understand how historians and others use the “principles of war” to evaluate the decision making of military leaders.
· Understand the military objectives of both Union and Confederate forces at the Battle of Shiloh.
· Be able to compare and contrast the events that transpired on day one of the battle with those that took place on day two.
· Understand the role played by Iowa soldiers at Shiloh.
· Be able to analyze the decision making of General Grant, both before and during the battle.
· Understand the impact of the Battle of Shiloh on soldiers, their families, and northern public opinion in general.
· Understand the role played by primary sources in helping historians to reconstruct the past.
Materials:
Handout: “The Principles of War”
Handout: “The Battle of Shiloh: You Be a General”
Map: Union Invasion of the Tennessee Valley
Article: “The Battle of Shiloh” by James M. McPherson
A study guide covering “The Battle of Shiloh” (McPherson)
Article: “The Battle of Shiloh: An Iowa Perspective” by Steve Meyer
A study guide covering “The Battle of Shiloh: An Iowa Perspective” (Meyer)
Letter: “Two La Porte City Boys Write Home” (from Soldier Life – Many Must Fall, Traer Historical Museum, Traer, Iowa)
Report: “General Grant’s Official Report” (from Iowa Valor by Steve Meyer)
Letters: “Two Iowa Soldiers Write Home after the Battle of Shiloh” (from Iowa Valor by Steve Meyer)
Editorial: “Iowa and Her Soldiery” – from the Peoria Transcript as reprinted in the Vinton Eagle, April 23, 1862 (from Iowa Valor by Steve Meyer)
Procedures – “Using the ‘Principles of War’ to Analyze the Battle of Shiloh”
Day 1
Give students the handout “The Principles of War.”
Discuss how military leaders and historians use these principles in military decision making and in historical scholarship.
Using an overhead transparency, have students summarize the various principles in their own words.
Give students the handout “The Battle of Shiloh: You Be a General” and the map showing the Union invasion of the Tennessee River Valley.
Have students speculate about what advice they would have given to Confederate general Albert Sidney Johnston if they had been one of his divisional commanders prior to the battle.
Have students write their recommendations on the back of the accompanying map.
Have them illustrate their battle plan on the map.
Assign the article “The Battle of Shiloh” (James M. McPherson).
Have students write out their answers to the accompanying study questions.
Day 2
Have students finish the article “The Battle of Shiloh” (McPherson) and the accompanying study questions.
Discuss the article “The Battle of Shiloh” (McPherson).
Ask students to analyze the battle using the “principles of war.”
What principle did the Confederates employ on the first day of the battle? (surprise)
What principle did Union forces use to prepare for day two? (mass)
Procedures – “The Battle of Shiloh: An Iowa Perspective”
Day 1
Review the previous day’s discussion of the Battle of Shiloh.
Hand out the article “The Battle of Shiloh: An Iowa Perspective” (Steve Meyer).
Have students write out their answers to the accompanying study questions.
Discuss the article “The Battle of Shiloh: An Iowa Perspective” (Meyer).
Give students the handout “Two La Porte City Boys Write Home.”
Be sure to discuss the thought question concerning General Grant’s defensive preparations.
Assign “General Grant’s Official Report.”
Have students write out their answers to the accompanying study questions.
Be sure to discuss the thought questions.
Remind students that most of the regiments at the “Hornets’ Nest” were captured.
Ask students why Grant might not want to call attention to that.
Tell students that Grant was harshly criticized, both in the press and by some of his own officers, for his failure to be better prepared.
However, President Lincoln refused to dismiss Grant, saying, “I can’t spare this man, he fights!”
Remind students that Lincoln, at this time, was becoming increasingly frustrated with General George McClellan’s hesitation in planning a new campaign against Richmond in the eastern theater of the war.
Also, remind students of the extremely high casualty rate on both sides.
Thousands of dead and wounded soldiers had to be attended to. Why might this result in a temporary truce between the two sides?
Day 2
Give students the handout “Two Iowa Soldiers Write Home after the Battle of Shiloh.”
Discuss the impact these letters might have on the soldiers’ families and on public opinion back in Iowa.
Give students the handout “Iowa and Her Soldiery.”
Tell students that the editorial had appeared in the Peoria (Illinois) Transcript prior to the battle of Shiloh.
Ask students how battle reports from Shiloh might have affected the Peoria editor.
Tell students that, by the end of the war, Iowa had committed a larger share of its military age population to the Union cause than any other northern state.
Have students do either of the following:
1) Imagine that they are either the mother of Private William Harris or the brother of First Sergeant Gustavus Cushman (“Two Iowa Soldiers Write Home after the Battle of Shiloh”). Have them write a letter (at least 200 words) back to their loved one.
2) Imagine that they are the editor of the Vinton Eagle. Have them write an editorial (at least 200 words) about the battle of Shiloh to accompany the article reprinted from the Peoria Transcript. Tell students that their editorial should include both a discussion of the role played by Iowa soldiers during the battle and an assessment of General Grant’s leadership.
Assessment of Outcomes:
Students will:
· Students will show their understanding of the “principles of war” by using the principles to write out a battle strategy to be used by Confederate forces at Shiloh.
· Review, through small group or class discussion, the role played by Iowa soldiers at the Battle of Shiloh.
· Understand the impact of the war on people back in Iowa by writing letters of reponse to the letters written by two soldiers in “Two Iowa Soldiers Write Home after the Battle of Shiloh.”
· Evaluate the role played by Iowa soldiers at Shiloh and the decision making of General Grant, both before and during the battle, by writing an editorial discussing both of these matters.
Resources:
Army Field Manual 100-5 (“The Principles of War”)
McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom. New York, New York: Oxford Press, 2003.
Meyer, Steve. Iowa Valor. Garrison, Iowa: Meyer Publishing Company, 1994.
Soldier Life – Many Must Fall (a collection of primary source documents covering the Civil War service of Company G of the Fourteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment). Traer, Iowa:
Traer Historical Museum, 2008.