Lesson Plan Template
Ivey Center for the Cultural Approach to History
Lesson Name: US Civil War: Sherman’s march to the Sea, in 1864.
SS8H6 The student will analyze the impact of the Civil War and Reconstruction on
Georgia.
b. State the importance of key events of the Civil War; include Antietam, Emancipation
Proclamation, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, the Union blockade of Georgia's coast,
Sherman's Atlanta Campaign, Sherman's March to the Sea, and Andersonville.
SS8E1 The student will give examples of the kinds of goods and services produced in
Georgia in different historical periods.
SS8E2 The student will explain the benefits of free trade.
a. Describe how Georgians have engaged in trade in different historical time periods.
Author(s)
Colin Morgan and Anthony Shelton
Grades
8th
Subject
History
Topic
US Civil War
Overview/Summary:
Students discover the importance of Sherman’s march to the sea, using the Cultural Approach to
History (CAH).
Unit Name
Sherman’s march through Georgia to the sea,
1864.
Estimated Time Needed for Lesson
60 minutes
State/Common Core Standard, Grade Level & Description
Standard Number
Detailed description of each standard.
Common Core Standards SS8H6 Students will analyze the importance of the Civil War
and Reconstruction: b. State the importance of key
8th Grade
events in the Civil War.
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NCSS Theme
Theme Number
POWER,
AUTHORITY, AND
GOVERNANCE
INDIVIDUAL
DEVELOPMENT
AND IDENTITY
TIME,
CONTINUITY, AND
CHANGE
CULTURE
The Cultural
Description
Detailed description of each NCSS theme
The development of civic competence requires an understanding
of the foundations of political thought, and the historical
development of various structures of power, authority, and
governance. It also requires knowledge of the evolving functions of
these structures in contemporary U.S. society, as well as in other
parts of the world. Learning the basic ideals and values of a
constitutional democracy is crucial to understanding our system of
government. By examining the purposes and characteristics of various
governance systems, learners develop an understanding of how
different groups and nations attempt to resolve conflicts and seek to
establish order and security.
Personal identity is shaped by an individual’s culture, by groups,
by institutional influences, and by lived experiences shared with
people inside and outside the individual’s own culture throughout
her or his development. Given the nature of individual development
in a social and cultural context, students need to be aware of the
processes of learning, growth, and interaction at every level of their
own school experiences. The examination of various forms of human
behavior enhances an understanding of the relationships between
social norms and emerging personal identities, the social processes
that influence identity formation, and the ethical principles underlying
individual action.
Studying the past makes it possible for us to understand the
human story across time. The historical experiences of societies,
peoples and nations reveal patterns of continuity and change.
Historical analysis enables us to identify continuities over time in core
institutions, values, ideals, and traditions, as well as processes that
lead to change within societies and institutions, and that result in
innovation and the development of new ideas, values and ways of life.
Human beings create, learn, share, and adapt to culture. The study
of culture examines the socially transmitted beliefs, values,
institutions, behaviors, traditions and way of life of a group of people;
it also encompasses other cultural attributes and products, such as
language, literature, music, arts and artifacts, and foods. Students
come to understand that human cultures exhibit both similarities and
differences, and they learn to see themselves both as individuals and
as members of a particular culture that shares similarities with other
cultural groups, but is also distinctive. In a multicultural, democratic
society and globally connected world, students need to understand the
multiple perspectives that derive from different cultural vantage
points.
Description
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Approach
Category
Category
Political
Economic
Intellectual
Social
Aesthetic
Religious
Detailed description of each Category that is a focus of this lesson.
The ‘big picture’ is that Confederate States have seceded from the Union; the
war has been ongoing since 1861. The Union decides to take the war to a new
level, by attacking civilian targets. President Lincoln waits until after his reelection before ordering the campaign to proceed. General Sherman operates
under Lincoln’s Presidential authority.
The campaign is intended to break the will of the Southern people, to remove
their will to continue fighting, and demonstrate that the Confederacy could not
protect its own rear areas.
The Union decides to undermine the ability of the South to wage war, by
destroying civilian infrastructure and agriculture in the heart of the
Confederacy, the so-called a ‘scorched earth’ policy. The destruction of crops
and livestock removes vital foodstuffs; the denial of railways removes the
South’s ability to transport goods and move its forces.
To this point in the war fighting has been between soldiers, where protagonists
avoid collateral damage, usually not infringing directly on the civilian
population. However, General Sherman attacks the infrastructure, farms,
dwellings and livelihoods, which had hitherto been ‘off-limits’ to combatants.
The scorched earth policy causes an outrage among people of the South,
causing a great offence. It helps to break the will of the people of the South, to
discourage them from continuing the war.
General Sherman’s march to the sea inspires a Union song. Also,
contemporary art records the horrors of the ‘scorched earth’ campaign.
Dolly Sumner Lunt thanks God for her deliverance from marauding Union
forces. Southern religious sentiments consider Sherman’s campaign to be
unrighteous and outrageous, a most ungodly act. They believe that the civilian
population should be protected from the full evil of war.
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Lesson Plan Template
Lesson Planning and Analysis:
Objectives /
Outcomes:
How will this be checked?
In addition some
students will be able
to:
How will this be
checked?
Orally after a Complete
Guided Reading Activity
Justify which CAH
institution the key
event belongs in.
Assign each group a
major and two minor
institutions to look for.
After discussion with
group write down your
findings and your
explanations and share
with the class.
All students will be
able to:
State the key events
of Gen Sherman’s
march to the sea.
Evaluate the
importance of Gen
Sherman’s march to
the sea.
Pages 272-274 in textbook
Orally.
Written task – write a
letter.
Evaluate which 2-3 CAH
institutions are
dominant.
Written task – letter.
Known group profile – note how you intend to meet individuals’ needs e.g. Identify those with learning
difficulties, any known behavioral issues, additional work to challenge more able learners and issues
relating to Equality and Diversity.
This will determined by the profile of the student group being taught.
Handouts/Materials/Textbook Pages/Web Links
List all of the materials in the lesson. List pages in textbooks and online links.
8th Grade:

Pages 272-274 in textbook

Guided Reading Assignment
Additional Sources:
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Lesson Plan Template
Image
Description
Campaign
map: Atlanta
to Savannah,
1864.
Citation
URL
http://www.ducksters.com/history/
shermans_march_to_the_sea.php
Sherman’s
men destroy
a railroad in
Atlanta.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman's_March_t
o_the_Sea
Plunder and
pillage.
Sherman http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/
’s march articles/history-archaeology/shermans-marchto the sea sea
by Anne
J Bailey
http://civilwarinvirginia.wordpress.com/2011/04
/06/november-15-1864-after-the-destruction-ofatlantas-railroad-yards-sherman-begins-hismarch-to-the-sea-through-george/
Atlanta rail
depot.
Sherman’s
neckties
http://emergingcivilwar.com/2013/05/17/fatefullightning-was-shermans-march-to-the-sea-awar-crime-part-ii/
"War is
http://people.cohums.ohiostate.edu/grimsley1/dialogue/long_shadow.htm
Hell," by
Mort
Kunstler
Destroying
the railroad.
http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/gastudiesimag
es/Sherman's%20March%20to%20the%20Sea%
208.htm
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Lesson Plan Template
Diary of
Dolly
Sumner
Lunt.
http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/burge/lunt.html
Sherman’s
telegram to
Lincoln, Dec
1864.
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm208.ht
ml
Guiding Questions
What should students know or understand at the completion of the unit or lesson?
All Grade Levels:
 What are the key events in General Sherman’s march to the sea?
 Evaluate the importance of General Sherman’s march to the sea.
Additional Questions: Explain your answers with evidence from the reading.
1.What were the attitudes to Sherman’s battle tactic of Total War from:
a.The Northerners perspective?
b.The Southerners (especially Southern Women) perspective?
2. Was Sherman a war hero or a terrorist? Give reasons for your view.
3. If blame is to be assigned for the actions of Sherman who should be blamed,
a. General Sherman himself?
b. Ulysses S. Grant?
c. President Lincoln?
d. The South?
Indicators of Achievement
List all of the important indicators of achievement (important people, places, and events) and
vocabulary that students will need to know at the conclusion of the lesson.

Key vocab: total war, scorched-earth, Emancipation Proclamation; Sherman’s Neckties



The battles in Georgia during the Chickamauga and Atlanta campaigns
People of concern: Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, Braxton Bragg, Joseph E.
Johnston, John B. Hood,
Chattanooga, Atlanta, Savannah, King Cotton
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Assessment Strategies
Describe the assessments that will be used during the unit.
Completion of a worksheet or worksheets.
Completion of a letter.
Teaching Strategies
5 min
Introduction
8.25%
of SAC,
including
warm-up
15 min
25%%
Primary
Sources and
Secondary
source
Analysis –
Position
20 min
33.3%
Consensus Building
10-min
16.5%
Development
10 min
16.5%
Conclusion/Summary
Organization
of Teams and
Groups
Position
Sharing
Describe all of the teaching strategies that you will be using in
this lesson. In the squares calculate the percentage of the lesson
that the strategy will take. For example in an hour lesson, lecture
should take no more than 25% (15 min) of the lesson.
Sparking Strategy/Warm-Up
Sparking Strategy (Lesson introduction)
Warm up: Ask-Why did Dolly Sumner Lunt sleep with her clothes on, on 19 Nov 1864? Then
ask student to list as many reasons people would go to bed with their clothes on in our time
period. Use responses to make predictions as to why Dolly Sumner Lunt did so.
Have discussion/review game to assess prior knowledge: Causes of the Civil War, War
Strategies of the North and South, Focus of the two leaders- Union Abraham Lincoln,
Confederate- Jefferson Davis
Lesson Procedures
In a numerical list provide a step by step outline of the lesson. Include questions you will ask the
students and material you will use.
Outline (Steps also clarified in Guide Sheet)
1.. Assess prior knowledge
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Lesson Plan Template
2. Introduce lesson and State standards/objectives to be achieved
3. Review institutions of the Cultural Approach and how to identify them within the context of
our lesson
4. Review Sherman’s battle strategy with maps and diagrams of path of destruction (what
highways would one travel to travel from Chattanooga to Atlanta to Savannah?
5. Analyze primary sources and identify CAH institutions (1major and two minor)
6. Revisit the initial question and the importance of Sherman’s march.
7. Write a letter to a relative or to yourself in a journal telling about the horror of General
Sherman’s campaign. Pretend to be one of the characters: a farm owner, a Union soldier, a
(literate) slave working on a farm, or someone else. Use all your senses. Make sure you say why
this campaign is different to anything you have seen before in the Civil War.
Differentiation
Think about students’ skill levels, intelligences, and learning styles.
Students will be divided into heterogeneous groups of 4 to five per group varying in gender, and
reading ability, and learning styles.
Computer, Internet, Smart Board, Digital and printed images, Audio book, and classroom
activities to include written and living history will be included in attempts to convey content
material.
Key vocab could be added to the resource sheets, as determined by the teacher.
Summarizing Strategies/Synthesizing Activity
The strategies to allow students to summarize what they learned in the lesson.
Students will engage in an active summarizing activity where their group acts out a written
summary of the lesson. This activity will cover the major events, people and places mentioned
within the lesson.
Evaluation

Pick a character: a Confederate soldier, a plantation owner, a literate plantation worker,
a railroad worker, a literate slave.
 Write a letter from your chosen character to a relative, about General Sherman’s march
to the sea.

In your letter, write about issues from 3 of the 6 institutions in the Cultural Approach:
Pol, Rel, Aesthetic, Int, Social, Econ.
Citations (as needed)
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Lesson Plan Template
None at this time.
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