Name:__________
Date Issued:______
Due Date:_____
CIVIL WAR DINNER PARTY PROJECT
What if you could select people from each side of the American Civil War and invite them to dine with
you in your home? Who would you invite from the Union, and who would you select from the
Confederacy? Any particular reasons why?
DIRECTIONS: It’s party time! You now have the opportunity to throw the biggest party of the year and to
invite some of your favorite “Road to Civil War” and “Civil War” friends. Follow the directions below to hold
your very own “Civil War Dinner Party”!
1. Select EIGHT individuals associated with the Civil War to attend your party from the list. YOU MUST
INCLUDE ONE MINORITY GROUP (African American and/or female)
Road To Civil War People:
Civil War/Reconstruction People:
1. William Lloyd Garrison
2. Fredrick Douglas
3. Harriett Tubman
4. Senator Henry Clay
5. Senator John C. Calhoun
6. Senator Daniel Webster
7. Representative David Wilmont
8. Senator Lewis Cass
9. President Zack Taylor
10. Senator William Seward
11. President Millard Fillmore
12. President Franklin Pierce
13. Harriett Beecher Stowe
14. Senator Steven Douglas
15. John Brown
16. Senator Charles Sumner
17. President James Buchanan
18. Dred Scott
19. Chief Justice Rodger B. Taney
20. President Abraham Lincoln
21. John Bell
22. John Breckinridge
23. President Jefferson Davis
24. General Pierre G. Beauegard
25. Major John Anderson
26. Stephen Douglas
27. Sojourner Truth
28. Harriet Tubman
29. Nat Turner
1. Clara Barton
2. General Robert E. Lee
3. Blanche K. Bruce
4. Matthew Brady
5. Andrew Johnson
6. General Irvine McDowell
7. General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson
8. Hiram Revels
9. Captain Abner Doubleday
10. General U.S. Grant
11. General William T. Sherman
12. Dorothea Dix
13. General Albert Sydney Johnson
14. General Benjamin Prentiss
15. Samuel Tilden
16. Benjamin Wade
17. General George C. McClellan
18. Edwin M. Stanton
19. General Ambrose Burnside
20. Thaddeus Stevens
21. John Wilkes Booth
22. General George Meade
23. Henry Winter Davis
24. General James Longstreet
25. Colonel Joshua Chamberlain
26. Major George Pickett
27. General Daniel E. Sickles
28. General John Bell Hood
29. Rutherford B. Hayes
2. You will want to get the word out that you are having a party by creating an invitation to send out to your
guests informing them of the festivities. Your invitation must include times, dates, and other important
information. Your invitation should be creative and should have at least one graphic on it.
3. Every good party has a theme. You will want to create a theme for your party such as “Peace”, “Reunion”,
or “Blue and Gray”. The type of food served at the party is also very important. Describe the menu for your
dinner in the form of a well written paragraph. You will also want to explain how the room will be for the
dinner party will be decorated and explain why you choose that decor. You must also include the location of
the party with an explanation of why you chose that particular location. Your theme, menu, and décor should
be discussed in at least THREE paragraphs.
4. For your high quality party RSVP’s are a must in order to plan the best fiesta. Unfortunately, only FIVE of
the EIGHT individuals invited will be able come to the party. The THREE that do not must RSVP back to
you with a HISTORICAL reason why they cannot make attend the festivities. These RSVP’s should consist of
at least TWO paragraphs including a short biography of the individual and a good HISTORICAL reason why
they cannot attend.
5. You will want to discuss why you invited each of the FIVE guests that are attending the party. Using
historical facts, you will want to discuss why you decided to invite that particular individual. This section of the
project should consist of at least TWO paragraphs including a short biography and a good HISTORICAL
reason for inviting them.
6. Assigned seats are a must at any good social event. You will want to draw a seating chart indicating where
each individual will sit during dinner. You must explain in at least TWO paragraphs why you assigned those
particular seats.
7. Finally it is time to eat the high quality food that has been prepared. During the dinner of course, your guests
will be talking and interacting. You will need to write a summary of at least THREE interactions describing
how your guests interacted during the meal based on real HISTORICAL relationships and personalities. Some
good questions to answer for this part include: What was talked about? Who got along? Who did not? Why?
How should I display my high quality “Civil War Dinner Party” project?
There are three ways for you to display the information associated with your high quality dinner party project.
Choose ONE of the ways from the list below:
1. Your work may be placed in a bound stack of neatly typed and clean paper.
2. Your work may be neatly typed and placed on a small sheet of poster board.
3. Your work may be displayed in a PowerPoint presentation.
Where do I find information about these people?
There are many resources on the Internet and in the public library with “Civil War” biographies. Try the sites
listed below and search for others.
http://www.multied.com/CivilWar/
http://www.civilwarhome.com/biograph.htm
http://webpages.marshall.edu/~hughes11/biographies.htm
Examples of each part of the project are listed below. The project below is based on a “Cold War Dinner
Party”.