Course Description
The origin, conduct, and legacy of the war and the impact of the conflict upon peoples and institutions.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Research paper.
Athena Title
U.S. Civil War
Prerequisite
Any HIST course or ENGL 1101 or ENGL 1101E or ENGL 1101S or ENGL 1102 or ENGL 1102E or ENGL 1102S or POLS 1101 or POLS 1101E or POLS 1101H or POLS 1101S
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
- By the end of this course, students will be able to arrive at conclusions about how the Civil War shaped America by gathering and weighing evidence, logical argument, and listening to counter argument.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to write stylistically appropriate papers and essays. Students will be able to analyze ideas and evidence, organize their thoughts, and revise and edit their finished essays.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to identify how the history of the Civil War shaped diverse social and cultural attitudes toward race and slavery, labor and class, and war and peace, encouraging them to understand diverse worldviews and experiences.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to apply appropriate methodological approaches to their analysis of primary sources, using such sources to support their own original analysis of the history of the Civil War and organizing their evidence to show historical continuities and discontinuities pre- and post-war.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to generate their own research question or topic, locate suitable primary and secondary sources, and synthesize their ideas in novel ways.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to initiate, manage, complete, and evaluate their independent research projects in stages and to give and receive constructive feedback through the peer review process.
Topical Outline
- The “New” North
- The “Old” South
- The Antislavery Narrative
- Acclimating a Nation to Violence
- Secession and Sumter
- Amateurs Go to War
- Bull Run and the Border States
- The River War in the West
- The Peninsula
- Second Manassas, Antietam, and Fredericksburg
- The Face of Battle
- Soldier Motivation
- The African Americans’ War
- War’s Irregularities
- The War at Home
- Gettysburg
- Vicksburg, Port Hudson, and Tullahoma
- Grant and the Overland Campaign
- Sherman vs. Johnston in Georgia
- Endgames
- Abraham Lincoln and Belonging to the Ages
- A Miserable End (the Math of After)
- Reconstruction in the North
- Reconstruction in the South
- Reconstruction Rolling Back
- Cinematic Memory
- Fictional Memory
- Living Memory
Institutional Competencies Learning Outcomes
Analytical Thinking
The ability to reason, interpret, analyze, and solve problems from a wide array of authentic contexts.
Communication
The ability to effectively develop, express, and exchange ideas in written, oral, interpersonal, or visual form.
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
