Introduction:

 A popular history magazine has secretly discovered a way for people to travel back in time. This discovery is a perfect opportunity for this magazine to send teams back in time to observe and experience first hand important events in history. The magazine has planned to use the upcoming issue to report on several of these events. The Battle of Gettysburg has been chosen as an event to send teams back to research because of its importance as the turning point in the Civil War and because of its distinction as the bloodiest conflict in United States history. Through this magazine article, readers will be able to more fully understand what happened at this battle and why it was so important to the history of this nation.

Task:

 Teams will be organized into groups of five people. As a team you will research several websites and other resources to learn as much as you can about the Battle of Gettysburg so that you will be able to convey your groups knowledge in the magazine article. As you review these resources, use the following questions to guide your research:

• Why was this battle fought at Gettysburg?
• Who were the main armies involved?
• Who were the main leaders on each side and what were their roles?
• What were the strategies for the North? for the South?
• What were the feelings of leaders, soldiers, townspeople, family members back home as the battle progressed?
• What was life like for the typical leader, soldier, towns person, or family member back home?
• How many people were killed or wounded during the battle from each side?
• What were the advantages and disadvantages each side experienced?
• What were the major factors that led to Northern victory and Southern defeat?
• Why was this battle such a turning point in the Civil War?
• Make sure you include as many important or interesting facts that you discover on your search.

Process:

 After you have been assigned to your team of five people, your team will organize itself into five different specialists in order to create the best possible magazine article. Each specialist will research on his/her specialty and become experts on that area of the article. After becoming experts, team members will come together and collaboratively create their magazine article. Here are the five specialists that you will organize your team into:

• Chief Writer and Editor: This person will do most of the writing and editing of the final copy of the magazine article and will work most closely with the teacher if and when questions arise. This person will be the leader of the group and make sure all other group members are accomplishing their assignments.
• Northern War Correspondent: This person will focus on the Northern army and research the above questions from the Northern perspective.
• Southern War Correspondent: This person will focus on the Southern army and research the above questions from the Southern perspective.
• Home front Correspondent: This person will focus on the impact the battle has had on ordinary citizens of Gettysburg and family members of those involved in the conflict that are back at home.
• Visual Editor: This person will be in charge of selecting photographs, maps, charts, drawings etc. to include in the magazine. This person will also be in charge of the layout of the magazine article.

Resources:

http://www.civil-war.net/searchlinks.asp

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/v?ammem/cwar:0185-0209:T11

http://www.rockingham.k12.va.us/EMS/Gettysburg/Gettysburg.html

http://militaryhistoryonline.com/gettysburg/

http://www.geocities.com/alhn_civil_war/newspaper.html

http://www2.smumn.edu/deptpages/%7Ehistory/civil_war/

http://americancivilwar.com/getty.html

http://www.gettysburg.com/bog/bogstory/story1.htm

http://www.gettysburgguide.com/

http://www.collectorsnet.com/cwtimes/gettysbu.htm

http://www.virtualgettysburg.com/

http://www.nps.gov/gett/

http://homepages.apci.net/~rutherfc/

http://home.att.net/%7EDogSgt/warren15_17.html

http://www.cr.nps.gov/features/gett/

http://www.historyplace.com/civilwar/battle.htm

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/gtburg.htm

Learning advice:

 It is important that you work with your group members to include all of the components to make your article interesting, creative, informative, and visually appealing. The resources listed above are great resources but feel free to branch out into other areas to find your information. Your article should include a title, page numbers, captions on all photographs, maps, charts etc, quotes, and a bibliography. There is no required amount of pages but make sure that you have enough information to be substantial and coherent and not too much information that will confuse or overwhelm your readers. Have fun with this assignment and try to put yourselves into the time period of those involved in this battle.

Conclusion:

After completing this assignment, I hope that you will have gained a greater understanding of this momentous battle that so many gave their lives in fighting for their causes. Through this assignment, I hope that you were able to put yourselves in the place of those involved and feel a fraction of what these people must have felt as they were involved in this battle. I hope that this project has opened your eyes and let you see the effects and consequences that the Battle of Gettysburg had on this country.