Prisoners of Petersburg
Post-visit Lesson
Objectives
Materials
Relevance
Involvement of the Learners
Explanation / Activity
Closure
Set:
At the end of the lesson, each student:
Will view photographs of the trenches where the soldiers ate,
slept, and fought; and explain how a soldier's life in the trenches at Petersburg differed from normal camp life
in the Civil War.
Will describe how the trench warfare the soldiers experienced
at Petersburg contributed to the lengthy nine-and-a-half-month siege.
Will provide two reasons why soldiers from both the Union and
the Confederate armies might be prisoners of the city.
Will create a cartoon editorial about soldier life in the
trenches, with the theme "Prisoners of Petersburg."
Pictures of the trenches where soldiers lived.
Political or editorial cartoon examples
Paper and pencil
Soldier life was certainly difficult during the Civil War. Often, soldiers dined on hardtack, coffee, and salt pork, slept on the ground, and entertained the constant noise of cannon shells and minnieballs around them. So what was different about the siege of Petersburg? Fighting in the open field and camp life as they knew it, would change drastically for the soldiers who found themselves in the trenches of Petersburg with no quick victory in sight.
A soldier's feelings about the surrender
"It was not easy to adjust to the new order of things. All that we have suffered and fought for and almost died for,
at last consumated. Three years of suspense and horror were broken down in less than three minutes. Had every man in this army
been sentenced to death and now suddenly pardoned, I imagine the effect would be similar."
Civil War Journal of a Maine Volunteer
The Rebel Yell & the Yankee Hurrah
Transition to Explanation:
After reading these words, do you think the soldiers who participated in the siege were "Prisoners of Petersburg"?
Provide the students with photos of the trenches and fortifications
where the soldiers lived. Students will complete questions about how soldier life was different at Petersburg.
Many soldiers would use abatis (felled trees) to further
protect them in the trenches? Why would soldiers cut down trees and place them in front of their trenches?
Soldiers also used chevaux-de-frise to protect their earthworks.
These structures were made by sharpening the ends of trees and connecting them together to form a defense system.
How would chevaux-de-frise protect the soldiers behind the trenches? Do you think they were an effective defense?
While soldiers would often sleep under the stars, canvas
shelter halfs and tent flies were used to create a shelter from the weather. How have these soldiers used their shelters inside
the trenches? Do you think this photograph represents a temporary or a more permanent camp? Explain.
Soldiers from both armies spent much of their time behind
walls such as these. When a battle was not raging and shots were not being fired, what would the soldiers do behind these
earthen walls to pass the time? Do you think that they could move freely behind these walls?
Soldiers took advantage of the landscape around them, when
they constructed their fortifications. What did they use to build these trenches? After viewing these photographs, and the
amount of wood it took to create these trenches, how do you imagine the landscape around them looked after nine-and-a-half
months of the siege?
Students will use these photographs to discuss why
the soldiers might have been called "Prisoners of Petersburg." The class can discuss how the soldiers lived, where they
lived, and finally, why fighiting in the trenches may have drawn out the length of the siege.
Students will receive drawing paper. They will be asked
to create a cartoon illustrating soldier life in the trenches of Petersburg. The theme for their drawing will be "Prisoners
of Petersburg." Encourage students to be creative in their drawings, providing a strong viewpoint of trench life. Their cartoon
can be serious or comical in nature.
Collect the cartoons from the students and pass them out randomly to each student. Have the students study another's cartoon, and figure out what type of message the cartoonist is trying to give the audience.