Reverse Pickett's Charge Field Trip

Ranger leads a Pickett's Charge Field Trip.

NPS Photo

Theme

Battle, as shown by "Pickett's Charge", was a sad, costly, and frightening experience during which soldiers exhibited many examples of courage, devotion, fighting ability and fear. Explore this event and understand how these emothions played into the historical memory of this event.

Goal

The Reverse Pickett's Charge student education program seeks to personalize the battle by having each student focus on the life and sacrifice of soldier both Confederate Soldiers and United States Soldiers. Explore cause and consequence of the Civil War by walking the fields of Pickett's Charge and discussing how the charge is remembered today.

Objectives

The students will:

• Describe some of the thoughts and feelings soldiers had before, during and after the charge concerning survival, being wounded, or dying
• Follow simple commands given for maneuvers in the Civil War tactics manual
• Explain the importance and difficulty of executing maneuvers during battle
• List some of the kinds of ammunition that the soldier used and faced
• Explain the major troop movements of the third day of the battle and the reasons why they were executed
• Paraphrase some quotes made by veterans of the charge who described their experience.

A Note to Teachers

Your students will gain the most benefit from this program if they are prepared for their visit. The preparatory information and activities in this booklet are necessary because students retain the most information when they are prepared for the field trip, knowing what to expect, what is expected of them, and with some base of knowledge upon which the program ranger can build. Otherwise the program leader is forced to waste your valuable program time building this basic foundation of knowledge. Section 4 includes all of the essential information and preparations that are an integral part of your program. These activities should be reviewed in the classroom prior to your visit. The Section 5 materials provide additional information and reinforcement exercises. Please keep in mind that the information within this packet has been generalized. The overall complexity of Civil War information is tremendous in scope. The grade level of enclosed information may not be appropriate to the level of understanding of your students. We leave the interpretation of this information in the hands of the teacher.

New pre-visit and post-visit activities will be posted soon as a simplification of the attached booklet.

Battlefield Footsteps Booklet

Grade Level and Program Options

This program can be tailored to grades 4-12. Please allow 90 minutes for this field trip option.

 

See curriculum standards on the NPS Education Portal

 

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