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Research Essay #3: Civil War Experiences

Due: in discussion, December 3

IMPORTANT NOTE: ALL students must do the reading for this assignment – it will be the topic of our discussions on December 3. However, whether or not you write the paper is OPTIONAL. Those who take the option of writing the paper will be able to replace a previous paper grade with the grade from this assignment (assuming the latter is higher).

The Civil War is perhaps the most studied event in American history, and yet, historians still know very little about how “ordinary” people, those who were not prominent leaders, experienced this turbulent event. For this assignment, you will become an historian and begin to fill this gap in our historical knowledge by studying one individual’s personal diary or letters.

Directions:

All of the primary sources for this assignment are available on “The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War,” an online archive of thousands of sources from two counties during the Civil War: Augusta County, Virginia, and Franklin County, Pennsylvania (http://valley.lib.virginia.edu). This archive is too vast to be examined in its entirety, so the directions below point you specifically to one section -- “Letters & Diaries” from the war years.

1) Choose one of the following three topics (or people) below to study.

Topic #1: Southern White Women

Read the entire diary of Nancy Emerson, 1862-1864.

(Go to http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/VoS/personalpapers/browse/p2augusta.html, scroll down to Nancy Emerson’s diary.)

Question to answer: Why did Nancy Emerson support the Confederacy during the Civil War? As you read, pay close attention to Emerson's views of the North & South and think about why she developed these views.

Topic #2: Northern African-American Soldiers

Read the letters written to Mary Jane Demus by her husband, David Demus, and her brothers, Samuel, Jacob, and John Christy, between March 5, 1864 and February 8, 1865.

(Go to http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/VoS/personalpapers/browse/p2franklin.html, scroll down to the Demus & Christy Family Letters.) (Note: You may want to choose the "modern- spelling" link on each of these letters to help you read them.)

Question to answer: How unique was the military experience of these black soldiers during the Civil War? (You do not have white soldiers' letters to read for comparison, so instead you should read the Demus letters for clues about the unique aspects of the black military experience.).

Topic #3: Northern White Officers

Read all the letters written by Samuel Potter to his wife, 1862-1864.

(Go to http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/VoS/personalpapers/collections/franklin/additional.html, and then scroll down to the Samuel and Cynthia Potter letters.)

Question to answer: To what extent did the Civil War disrupt the family life of Samuel Potter? As you read, pay close attention to Potter's feelings and actions regarding his separation from home.

If you choose to write the paper, be sure to examine the topic you have chosen in a

3 page, double-spaced essay that includes:

*a clear and coherent thesis

*examples from the sources, including quotes

*proper footnote citations for those examples (see course website for citation assistance)

*clear organization and writing (spelling and grammar matter!)