History Explorer Results (45)
Related Books (7)
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
This allegorical print displays hopes for reconciliation through the federal program of Reconstruction. The nation and government are symbolized by an enormous canopy-like structure, upon which is emblazoned with a map of the United States. An eagle holding a crest and American flag sits atop the ma
Resource Type(s):
Interactives & Media
Bestselling 39 Clues author David Baldacci takes students on a webcast field trip to meet renowned museum curators, go behind the scenes, and investigate some of the most fascinating mysteries of American history. Baldacci is the author of Day of Doom, the last bo
Resource Type(s):
Reference Materials
This online exhibition explore the role of the portable printing press in conveying information during the Civil War. The ability to communicate quickly in wartime can profoundly affect military actions and outcomes. The invention of portable tabletop printing presses at the time of the American
Resource Type(s):
Reference Materials, Primary Sources, Interactives & Media
This website features the diary of Civil War nurse, Amanda Akin. In April 1863, Akin left her home in Quaker Hill, NY, to serve as a nurse at Armory Square Hospital in Washington, D.C. During her 15 months at Armory Square, Akin wrote long letters to her sisters and recorded her daily activities
Resource Type(s):
Interactives & Media, Worksheets
In this episode of the History Explorer podcast series, Richard Doty, senior curator of the National Numismatics Collection, shares the story of the "Richmond Hoard," an enormous collection of Confederate currency obtained by the museum and explains what currency meant to life in the South a
Resource Type(s):
Primary Sources, Lessons & Activities
In lesson from the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies, students examine a primary source that might seem both familiar and strange: a yearbook from Rutgers in 1860, complete with farewell messages from classmates. On close study, the messages from reveal much about the
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
The United States National 34-Star flag was adopted with the admission of Kansas as the 34th state in January 1861. It was used until 1863 when West Virginia became a state. At no time did the national flag lose stars.
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
Until May 12, 1864, this shattered stump was a large oak tree in a rolling meadow just outside Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia. The same fury of rifle bullets that cut down 2,000 combatants tore away all but twenty-two inches of the tree's trunk. Several of the conical minie balls (bullets) ar
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
On February 16, 1862, General Buckner surrendered Fort Donelson. The unconditional surrender created jubilation throughout the North and shock in Dixie. It was the North’s first major victory of the Civil War, opening the way into the very heart of the Confederacy.
Resource Type(s):
Artifacts, Primary Sources
On May 22, 1863, Ulysses Grant sent brigades from three corps of the army to assault Vicksburg. While the assault showed some success, a long bitter struggle ensued and the Confederates quickly restored their original lines of defense. Realizing that the city could not be taken by assault, Grant
Reading Level:
Early Elementary School,Late Elementary School
Meet Robert Smalls, a man who was born a slave, but made a daring escape and went on to become a U.S. Congressman.
Reading Level:
Late Elementary School,Middle School
Fleishman's depiction of the first Civil War battle relies on individual voices to give a human face to history. The result is at once intimate and sweeping, a heartbreaking and remarkably vivid portrait of the Civil War and war itself.
Reading Level:
Late Elementary School
An emotional Civil War story about two soldiers who become friends.
Reading Level:
Late Elementary School,Middle School
Orphaned, angry, and bitter, twelve-year-old Will arrives in the Virginia Piedmont immediately after the Civil War to live with relatives he has never met. Now, Will lives with his uncle who didn't fight in the war that robbed him of his entire family and come to terms with his feelings regarding
Reading Level:
Late Elementary School,Middle School
Peck masterfully describes the female Civil War experience, the subtle and not-too-subtle ways the country was changing, and the split in loyalty that separated towns and even families.
Reading Level:
Late Elementary School
An African-American family moves to Kansas after the Civil War to create a new life.
Reading Level:
Middle School
Twelve-year-old Charley Quinn loves the excitement and the gang fighting that are part of his life in New York City's Bowery in 1864. When his sister's fiance threatens to send him to an orphanage, Charley runs off with Union army enlistees and is taken on in Virginia as a drummer boy.