Dave Ostroff

"It is very necessary, if you are going to understand the American character in the twentieth century, to learn about this enormous catastrophe in the nineteenth century."

Perhaps the most destructive and bloody conflict the Western Hemisphere has ever endured, the American Civil War was the violent and final settlement of questions that had plagued the nation since its inception. In the minds of many, the moment at Appomattox when Robert E. Lee surrendered his sword to Joshua Chamberlain (as both Federal and Southern Armies stood at attention) united the United States more so than ratification of the Federal Constitution.

The Civil War Era will seek to cover the basic social, political, and military developments in the 1820-1877 period in American history with special emphasis on the years 1861-1865. The course will focus in depth on the coming of the Civil War and the major issues that dominated the North-South conflict. The course will begin with a brief study of the proper background of the conflict including antebellum slavery and the era of the Old South. To conclude, the course will deal with Reconstruction and American memories of the Civil War today.

The essential text for the course is Charles A. Roland’s, An American Iliad (University Press of Kentucky). Students will also read The Killer Angels, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historical novel by Michael Shaara. In addition, students will consider such primary documents as soldiers’ letters from Soldiers Blue and Gray by James Robertson, The Portable Abraham Lincoln edited by Andrew Delbanco, A Diary from Dixie, the Civil War diary of Mary Chestnut, and Frederick Douglass’ Autobiography, My Bondage and My Freedom.

The Stormy 1850s

Why War Came

Part II: 1861-1863

Preparations for War

Technology and Tactics

Common Soldiers

Civil War Medicine

Women and the Home Front

Lincoln and Davis: Civil War Political Leadership

Lee and Jackson; Grant and Sherman: Civil War Military Leadership

Gettysburg: "Independence Day, 1863"

Sherman’s March to the Sea

Guerrilla Warfare in Mosby’s Confederacy

Prisoners of War at Andersonville, GA and Elmira, NY

The Siege of Petersburg, Lee’s Retreat, and Surrender at Appomattox

Why the North Won (or Why the South Lost)

Reconstruction in Brief

The Civil War in American Memory

Rationale for the Course:

1. Because the first half of the Atlantic Experience sequence ends at the Civil War and the second half of the sequence begins with Reconstruction, The Civil War Era will fill an important gap in the Upper School History Department’s set of course offerings.
2. According to Civil War historian Shelby Foote, "The Civil War was the crossroads of our being." In terms of social and political upheaval, The Civil War Era is such an important turning point in American history that students should have the option of studying the period in more depth and detail than either of the Atlantic Experience courses can afford.
3. The History Department lacks a course in military history; The Civil War Era will consider Napoleonic and guerrilla tactics as well as the impact of ‘modern’ technology on warfare.
4. Issues connected to The Civil War Era (including whether to fly the Stars and Bars Confederate flag over Southern state capitols) continue to be important topics in American public policy.
5. Because so many Civil War soldiers’ letters survive, the course will sharpen students’ ability to decode and analyze primary source documents. The Civil War period has been the subject of a wealth of historical writing; students will also learn to sort through voluminous materials from differing perspectives.
6. Both public policy issues related to the Civil War and the wealth of historical writing on the subject (approximately one document each day since the surrender at Appomattox) seem to demand that students’ research in the course take full advantage of resources available only through the Internet. Technology will play a significant role in this course.
7. The Civil War Era includes heroic stories of uncommon courage from common people. The course will present--and ask students to analyze-- a range of leadership styles (Presidential and military; male and female; successful and not so).