Explore images of the city, Confederate defenses, and ruins from the battle that took place in Atlanta, Georgia. The City of Atlanta fell to Union forces, commanded by William Tecumseh Sherman, in July of 1864. The fall of Atlanta was a blow to the Confederate Army and a critical victory for the North and Abraham Lincoln, who used the momentum of the win to fuel his reelection campaign.

Explore images taken in Charleston, South Carolina during the Civil War. The first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, on April 12, 1861. Many battles took place in South Carolina during the war, but Charleston suffered particularly, when the Union Army, under commander General William T. Sherman, passed through on its March to the Sea.

View images of the battle of Fort Sumter and ruins of the Fort, which Confederate forces took. The Battle of Fort Sumter took place on April 12, 1861, in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. Fort Sumter is considered to be the site of the first shots fired during the war. After Abraham Lincoln was elected to the presidency, southern states attempted to secede from the Union in protest over what they saw as a threat to states’ rights, particularly in the opposition the new president and northern states had to slavery.

Explore images of the fallen city of Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. General Ulysses S. Grant tried unsuccessfully to capture Richmond for nearly a year before he took the city on April 2, 1865. The battle would be a crippling defeat for the South, and led to Robert E. Lee's surrender to Grant one week later on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House.

Explore images taken from Civil War-era hospitals. The sheer number of wounded and ill soldiers tested the medical community during the Civil War and challenged doctors and nurses to find ways to treat the thousands of injured, sick, and maimed. Homes, churches, and any viable structure near battlefields would be converted into field hospitals. Many soldiers died of diseases during the war, such as dysentery, pneumonia, typhoid and more. Hospitals began to assess and separate the injured into categories, from mortally wounded to treatable and needing surgery. This form of triage is still used today.

View a gallery of images of Confederate and Union Army regiments, troops, and infantry from Pennsylvania to Georgia, Virginia to Massachusetts. From 1861-1865, more than three million men fought in the American Civil War, and over 600,000 lost their lives in battle.

Learn how journalists reported on slavery and military conflict during the Civil War. We'll look at six primary sources from the Civil War and explore the techniques journalists on both sides used to spread the news and their opinions: What role did cartoons and photography play in swaying public sentiment? Who got to report on the news and how did their perspective affect their reporting?

This inquiry kit features Library of Congress sources, including songs and photographs, focusing on the music of the American Civil War.

Women played a significant role in the Civil War. They served in a variety of capacities, as trained professional nurses giving direct medical care, as hospital administrators or as attendants offering comfort. Although the exact number is not known, between 5,000 and 10,000 women offered their services. For more resources from Mercy Street, check out the collection page.

Students will be engaged in learning about American history prior and during the Civil War. They will be exploring historical documents and learning about the stories of people involved. They will then create a digitial story of what they learned to share with the class. Image attribution: Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

 A set of lessons teaching classical appeals strategies (ethos, pathos, logos) and their use. Utilizes exemplar speeches by President Roosevelt ("Day of Infamy," December 8, 1941) and Sir Winston Churchill ("Be Ye Men of Valour" May 13, 1940).Image credit: © National Archives

This resource is a free, downloadable audio file of short music clips to use for instruction.

This resource is a free, downloadable audio file of short music clips to use for instruction.

This inquiry kit features Library of Congress sources relating to the major political parties in colonial America.

Thomas Paine published Common Sense in January 1776 support of the Patriot cause. Using clear, plain language, Paine rallied the colonists to support the break from Britain. He explained, "I am not induced by motives of pride, party, or resentment to espouse the doctrine of separation and independence; I am clearly, positively, and conscientiously persuaded that it is the true interest of this continent to be so."

Students compare military recruitment posters for African Americans used for both the Union and Confederate armies. They analyze how the language reflects differences is attitude and perspective.

Students analyze two photographs and make a T-chart to list characteristics of urban and rural life in the early 1900s in New York.

Using primary resources, students analyze WW1 era posters and infer the audience, purpose, and effectiveness of trying to get Americans to conserve food during this time. Online resource. Offers discussion questions.

In small groups, students analyze the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th amendment, and General Order #3 in terms of tone, audience, and message, focusing on similarities and differences.

This resource is a facsimile of Henry Clay's handwritten draft of the Compromise of 1850. The Compromise consisted of a series of bills designed to alleviate growing sectional divisions in the country. Specifically, the bills provided for slavery to be decided by popular sovereignty in the admission of new states, prohibited the slave trade in the District of Columbia, and established a stricter fugitive slave act.