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An Educational Lesson Plan for United
States History
Contributed by the Journey Through Hallowed
Ground
Grade: Middle School, 5-8
Lesson Time: 1-2 class periods
Overview:
In September, 1862, General Robert E. Lee felt the timing was finally right
to invade the North. The Army of Northern Virginia had just won a decisive
victory at the Second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas), and he anticipated the
retreating Union army would need time to regroup. He confidently marched
his 40,000 men to Frederick, Maryland. There he drew up strategic plans to
divide his army in an effort to capture the Federal garrison at
nearby Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. The army would then come back together
at Hagerstown, Maryland and move north into Pennsylvania under cover of the
Catoctin and South Mountains. Unfortunately for Lee, the Union army was able
to regroup more quickly than he anticipated, and it marched to Frederick.
While there, Union commander General George McClellan obtained an official
copy of Lee's battle order, known as Special Order 191, wrapped around three
cigars at Confederate General D.H. Hill's abandoned campsite in Frederick.
Unbelievable! When Lee learned what happened, he quickly deployed his troops
into a defensive position at a location known in the north as Sharpsburg
and in the south as Antietam. What followed was the bloodiest battle of the
Civil War.
Lesson
Objectives: Students will:
- Identify key geographic areas on a map of the Battle
of Antietam; western Maryland, western Northern Virginia, and eastern West
Virginia, and explain how these features impact battlefield strategy.
- Analyze Special Order 191, a primary source document,
and explain how it impacts the Antietam battle.
- Work in
cooperative groups to analyze primary sources and propose solutions to a
historical problem.
- Explore the term strategy and
explain how and why historical leaders use it to accomplish a goal.
- Identify their position on a historical question
and defend it during a class debate.
- Explain how a well developed strategy impacts contemporary decisions from
a personal and community perspective.
Topics Covered: Battle
of Antietam, Lee’s Special Order 191, Developing a strategy
as a tool for problem solving.
Time Period: 1862
Essential Questions:
- Where was the Battle of Antietam fought?
- Why is the
Battle of Antietam remembered as a turning point in the Civil War?
- What factors
must an army commander consider when seeking to validate the authenticity
of information?
- What tools does a leader use to make decisions?
- What
is strategy? How does strategy relate to leadership?
- Does strategy
apply to your life?
Field Trips: This lesson can stand alone or serve as a perfect
introduction to a visit to the National Park Service Antietam Battlefield.
See our Field Trip Guide for more information on site visits.
Materials:
For the student
JTHG Antietam Area Map for Students
Special Order 191
In His Footsteps - What Would You Do
If You Were General
McClellan?
National Park Service Battle of Antietam Map
Highlighter,
marker
For the teacher
JTHG
Antietam Area Map for Teachers
Lesson Outline
1. Geography:
A mapping activity to acquaint students with the area surrounding Antietam. |
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a. |
Distribute the
JTHG
Antietam Area Map for Students. |
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b. |
Ask
students to highlight key towns, mountain ranges and rivers that surround
Antietam on their map:
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Towns: Frederick, Middletown, Boonsboro, Hagerstown, Williamsport,
Sharpsburg, and Point of Rocks, MD; Harpers Ferry, WV; and Leesburg
and Lovettsville, VA.
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Mountains: Catoctin and South ranges.
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Rivers: Potomac and Shenandoah, and the Antietam Creek.
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c. |
Brief
Discussion with students: What role do you think these geographic features
play as a leader develops a strategy to prepare for a battle? During
a battle? |
2.
Special Order 191 |
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a. |
Distribute Special
Order 191. (Teachers may also elect to print document and wrap
around lollipops for students to find in the classroom or outside as
a simulation for how General McClellan found this information. Visit
this website for
background information on how McClellan received this vital information.) |
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b. |
Ask students
to use Special Order 191 to plot Lee's plans for his army (Teachers
may use the JTHG
Antietam Area Map for Teachers as a reference map/answer
key.) |
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c. |
As a class,
discuss Lee’s strategic plan to divide and conquer the
Union army. |
3. What would
you do? |
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a. |
Divide the class
into small groups. Distribute the In His Footsteps page and review directions as students are asked
to assume the role of General McClellan on the night of September 16,
1862. |
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b. |
Each team will
be directed to develop a strategy for General McClellan based on the
new information received through Special Order 191 and a general plan
for the ensuing battle. |
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c. |
Ask teams to
share decisions and defend their positions. |
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d. |
Share how McClellan
actually used Special Order 191 to inform his decisions |
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1. |
As reported
by the History Channel |
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a. |
Pittman took
the order to McClellan. The Union commander had spent the previous week
mystified by Lee's operations, but now the Confederate plan was clear.
He reportedly gloated, "Here is a paper with which if I cannot whip
Bobbie Lee, I will be willing to go home." |
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b. |
McClellan now
knew that Lee's forces were split into five parts and scattered over
a 30-mile stretch, with the Potomac River in between. At least eight
miles separated each piece of Lee's army, and McClellan was just a dozen
miles from the nearest Confederate unit at South Mountain. Bruce Catton,
the noted Civil War historian, observed that no general in the war "was
ever given so fair a chance to destroy the opposing army one piece at
a time." |
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c. |
Yet McClellan
squandered the opportunity. His initial jubilation was overtaken by his
caution. He believed that Lee possessed a far greater number of troops
than the Confederates actually had, despite the fact that the Maryland
invasion resulted in a high rate of desertion among the Southerners. |
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d. |
McClellan was
also excruciatingly slow to respond to the information in the so-called
Lost Order. He took 18 hours to set his army in motion, marching toward
Turner's Gap and Crampton's Gap in South Mountain, a 50-mile long ridge
that was part of the Blue Ridge Mountains. |
4.
McClellan’s
response and the battle of Antietam. |
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a. |
Enlarge and
display the National Park Service Battle of Antietam
Map. |
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b. |
Discuss as a
class McClellan’s actual response and the unfolding of the day’s
battle. |
5.
Assessment of Student Understanding |
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a. |
These questions
can be part of a class discussion or presented to individual students
as a written quiz. |
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1. |
Was McClellan
an effective leader? |
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2. |
Did you respect
General McClellan’s strategy during the battle of
Antietam? What would you have done differently? |
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3. |
Are there times
when you need a plan/strategy to accomplish a goal? Explain. Would McClellan’s
leadership model inform your decisions or your actions? |
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4. |
Explain the
relationship between the terms leader and strategy |
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Summary and Conclusion:
Have your students access the Antietam
animated history web page. This site reenacts Lee’s original plan
to invade the North, his raid on Harpers Ferry, his defensive regrouping,
and the battle at Antietam. The site uses animated maps and sound effects
(that may be turned off).
Extensions:
Abraham Lincoln wrote a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation and decided
to wait for a Union victory before issuing it. Antietam provided that victory,
giving Lincoln his opening to issue the proclamation. Teachers may want to
follow, In His Footsteps: General George McClellan at
Antietam Battlefield with the Emancipation Proclamation lesson plan provided by JTHG.
Standards
of Learning Connections (SOL's)
VS.1
The student will develop skills for historical and geographical analysis including
the ability to
- identify and interpret artifacts and primary and secondary
source documents to understand events in history;
- determine cause and effect
relationships;
- draw conclusions and make generalizations;
- make connections
between past and present;
- interpret ideas and events from different historical
perspectives;
- evaluate and discuss issues orally and in writing;
- analyze
and interpret maps to explain relationships among landforms, water features,
climatic characteristics, and historical events.
USI.1
The student will demonstrate knowledge of how early cultures developed in North
America by
- identify and interpret primary and secondary source
documents to increase understanding of events and life in United States history
to 1877;
- make connections between the past and the present;
- interpret
ideas and events from different historical perspectives;
- evaluate and discuss
issues orally and in writing;
USI.9
The student will demonstrate knowledge of the causes, major events, and effects
of the Civil War by
e. using maps to explain critical developments in the war,
including major battles;
References
Primary documents:
Additional
Reading
McPherson. Crossroads of Freedom. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
We are developing a list of additional reading materials for this topic and
welcome your suggestions.
educationpage, Education, Teaching-materials, school trips, educational trips, zedu, Education-page, Theme-Land of Leadership, Period-20th Century, Standards of Learning, SOL, civil war, frederick county maryland
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