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TRAVELING BACKPACKS – THE CIVIL WAR! Activity Sheets Go to archives.alabama.gov for more information about Alabama!

Civil War Scramble

Unscramble the Civil War military words below. Then complete the bottom blocks to find out where these soldiers belong.

United States Flag and Confederate Flag

Alabama State Flag

Alabama’s Civil War Industry Tannehill Ironworks

• Tannehill Ironworks is one of the oldest industrial sites in Birmingham’s Iron and Steel District. During the Civil War, it expanded from a small plant to a very large and important facility that contributed greatly to the Confederate war effort.

• Iron was first made on the site of the Tannehill Ironworks in the 1820s. It was first called the Hillman Bloomery. A bloomery makes iron in small amounts for tools, plows, and cooking utensils.

• The Ironworks was made up of three furnaces. The first was built in the late 1850s, and the other two were built in 1862. They were thirty feet high and made out of 400-pound sandstone blocks. They created temperatures as high as 2,700˚F!

• Some of the iron produced at Tannehill was used to make eating utensils, pots, and skillets for Confederate soldiers, but most of it was sent to the Selma Arsenal and Gun Works to be made into weapons.

• The Ironworks was raided by Union Gen. James H. Wilson and was attacked on March 31, 1865. This operation involved 14,000 troops and burned every Alabama iron-making furnace except one. Tannehill was abandoned after the war, though many other ironworks were rebuilt.

• Tannehill is now preserved as a state historic site by the Alabama Historic Ironworks Commission and it attracts more than 425,000 visitors a year.

Brierfield Ironworks • Furnace produced high grade iron for the Confederacy. Located near Brierfield in

Bibb County.

Cornwall Furnace • This iron furnace was located near Centre in Cherokee County. Union Gen. Sherman

ordered the furnace destroyed twice in 1864, but it survived the war.

TRAVELING BACKPACKS – THE CIVIL WAR! Information Sheets Go to archives.alabama.gov for more information about Alabama!

Alabama’s Civil War Industry Selma Arsenal and Gun Works

• The Selma Arsenal and Gun Works was an important manufacturer during the Civil War. It made iron weapons for the Confederate forces, and it employed up to 10,000 workers in 100 buildings at its peak in1863-64.

• The Arsenal was the only facility in the Deep South capable of manufacturing Brooke rifles, which were types of cannons. There were many different types of cannons, which weighed from 10,000 to 20,000 pounds each. • The first cannon was made in 1863, and the last one was probably made in December 1864. These weapons took six to seven weeks to complete, and most of them were shipped to Mobile to be used on ships. • Union Gen. James H. Wilson completely destroyed the entire facility and its products and supplies in the spring of 1865 as part of his raid across the state.

Lower, Central, and Upper Salt Works • The Upper Salt Works were located along

the Tombigbee River near Jackson in Clarke County. They were first mined in the early 1800s, and, before that, Native Americans used salt from the site as well.

• Salt from this area was shipped all over the South during the Civil War. It was a very important site because of a salt shortage due to the Union blockade in the Gulf of Mexico.

• Salt was extracted by collecting salt water from wells or pumping it from the ground and boiling away the water, which left salt to be collected. This process produced one gallon of salt for every seven gallons of water.

• More than 5,000 men, mostly slaves, worked in the salt works from 1862-1865. • Two other counties, Washington and Mobile, also had small salt facilities.

TRAVELING BACKPACKS – THE CIVIL WAR! Information Sheets

Go to archives.alabama.gov for more information about Alabama!

Math: Civil War Industry and Production

Under direction of the Confederate Chief of Ordnance, Josiah Gorgas, Alabama played an important industrial and economic role during the Civil War. Iron furnaces, arsenals, and salt works all contributed to the war effort. Products were made at the factories and then shipped throughout Alabama by railroad or to the rest of the Confederacy by ships which left from Alabama’s Port of Mobile. Read and answer the math questions below about the war’s industry and production.

1. Selma Arsenal and Gun Works made and shipped 10 Brooke rifles (cannons) to the Port of Mobile. The total shipment weighed 100,000 pounds. How much did each cannon weigh?

(hint: 100,000/10 = ____)

2. Tannehill Ironworks shipped 22 tons of iron to Selma Arsenal and Gun Works. If 1 ton = 2000 pounds, how many pounds of iron were shipped to Selma’s arsenal?

(hint: 2000 x 22=____)

3. The Upper Salt Works in Clarke County shipped 600 bushels of salt to Montgomery. If 1 bushel cost $5.00 (five dollars), how much did the total shipment cost? Write the money amount out in dollars and cents.

(hint: $5.00 x 600=_____)

4. Selma Arsenal and Gun Works completed and shipped 8 Brooke smoothbore guns. The guns weighed 20,000 pounds each. How much did the entire shipment weigh?

(hint: 20,000 x 8 = ____)

5. Tannehill Ironworks produced 22 tons of iron daily for the Confederate military. The Ironworks used 3 furnaces to produce the iron. How many tons of iron could each furnace produce in one day?

(hint: 22/3 = _____)


Cotton State Alabama: Planter, Yeoman, Slave Look at the artifacts below to compare how these three groups of people lived in antebellum Alabama.

Draw a line from the object to the people group: Planter, Slave, or Yeoman, who would have used them the most. Some objects might be used by people of more than one group.


Wooden Shoe

Candelabra

Brick Mold

Glasses

Carpenter's Hatchet

Cotton Cards Lace

Ambrotype

Pottery

Butter Churn

Spinning Wheel

Shotgun

Cotton State Alabama: Planter, Yeoman, Slave

Planter The planters were wealthy and influential but they were the smallest group in Alabama. They owned large plots of land, called plantations, and slaves who worked the land. Many planters in Alabama grew cotton.

Ambrotype – An ambrotype is a kind of photo. Only wealthy people could afford photographs.

Lace – Lace was important part of a wealthy lady’s wardrobe.

Glasses – These gold eyeglasses have adjustable earpieces. Eyeglasses were a luxury item in the 1800s.

Candelabra – People who owned silver or gold items, such as silverware or candelabras, were very wealthy.

Yeoman The yeomen were the largest group living in Alabama during this period. They lived on smaller plots of land, which they farmed. Yeoman were not wealthy and made or grew most of what they needed.

Cotton Cards – These were used to separate and straighten fibers of cotton so it could be spun into thread.

Spinning Wheel – Yeoman farmers used the spinning wheel to make yarn for clothing.

Pottery – Pottery like this might also be home-made by the Yeoman farmers so they could store goods.

Butter Churn – Yeoman farmers would use butter churns to make their own butter.

Shotgun – Yeoman farmers would use a shotgun like this to protect their land and hunt.

Slave Slaves were African Americans, owned by other people. They did most of the work on a plantation. Even in many hardships, African Americans formed their own traditions and ways of life.

Carpenter’s Hatchet – Many of the items used by slaves from day to day were tools, such as this hatchet.

Brick Mold – This brick mold, a tool for creating bricks, was used by slaves to make bricks from on Chantilly Plantation, near Montgomery.

Cotton Cards – Like the yeomen, slaves used these to begin the process of turning cotton into fabric.

Wooden Shoe – These shoes were made by slaves on a plantation near Montgomery. Slaves often had to make their own personal items.


From Fie ld to Fash ion: Cotton in 1850s Alabama On the lines below, write these phrases in order to show cotton’s life cycle from raw material to fabric.

Shipping to northern factories

Removing seeds with a cotton gin

Creating the finished product

Weaving cloth at a textile mill

Growing/picking cotton in the field

Packing cotton into cotton bales

1. ___________________________ 2. ___________________________ 3. ___________________________

4. ___________________________ 5. ___________________________ 6. ___________________________


From Fie ld to Fash ion: Cotton in 1850s Alabama Shipping to

northern factories Removing seeds with a cotton gin

Creating the finished product

Weaving cloth at a textile mill

Growing/picking cotton in the field

Packing cotton into cotton bales

1. Growing/picking cotton in the field 2. Removing seeds with a cotton gin 3. Packing cotton into cotton bales

4. Shipping to northern factories 5. Weaving cloth at a textile mill 6. Creating the finished product


From the War – Writing a Civil War Letter Many soldiers wrote letters home during the Civil War.

Letters might describe conditions of battle and camp life.

“This morning we had our first government ration in five days. It consisted of a small pone of cornbread without grease or salt….War is no fun. The stench of the battlefield is

awful.” - Lewis E. Parsons, April 22, 1864

They might also request supplies, such as clothes.

“Please send me a pair of gloves, 2 pair of pants, a coat, 2 shirts, 3 undershirts, 3 pair drawers, and all the socks

possible. Also a good pair of boots.”

- Lewis E. Parsons, September 11, 1864

They may also instruct loved ones on what to do while the soldier was away.

“Boys, I am gone from home and do not know when I can come home and depend on you Boys to make a living for Lou and the children. You must work well and make plenty of corn to feed every thing. Plant your corn early and work it well. Plough deep and

close.”

- Washington Pickens Nance, March

5, 186 4

Imagine you are a Civil War soldier! Write a letter home on the back of this page. Be sure to: describe camp life or battle, ask for supplies, and provide an instruction for someone back at home.


Envelope of a letter from Lieutenant Thomas S. Taylor to his wife in Mulberry Alabama,

ADAH Digital Collections

Incomplete letter from James A Hall to one of his sisters, ADAH Digital Collections

From the War – Writing a Civil War Letter (Read the other side of this page for instructions!) June 12, 1864

Dear ___________________________________ ,

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Signed Your Loved One,


History of Hardtack “Tis the song that is uttered in camp by night and day,

‘Tis the wail that is mingled with each snore; ‘Tis the sighing of the soul for spring chickens far away,

‘Oh hard crackers, come again no more!’

‘Tis the song of the soldier, weary, hungry and faint, Hard crackers, hard crackers, come again no more;

Many days have I chewed you and uttered no complaint, Hard crackers, hard cracker, come again no more!”

-from a soldier’s poem called “Hard Times”

During the Civil War, the food given to soldiers was called rations. These rations usually consisted of salt pork, hardtack, coffee and sugar. Salt pork is made from pig bellies preserved with salt, which prevents it from rotting or molding. Hardtack is a type of hard cracker. The ingredients for making hardtack are flour, salt, water, and a bit of fat. Hardtack became a very important ration because the food could last for years. Soldiers could put the hardtack in their haversack (a bag carried over the shoulder to hold food) and not have to worry that the hardtack would spoil. Sometimes, hardtack became infested with weevils. Weevils were a small bug that enjoyed eating the tough biscuit. Due to the frequent weevil infestations, soldiers called the hardtack “worm castles.” Other names soldiers used for the hardtack were “tooth dullers” and “sheet iron crackers.” Soldiers invented these names because hardtack was so hard it could break the soldier’s teeth! Since hardtack was a food central to almost every meal, they invented a variety of ways to prepare and soften the biscuit. Soldiers could crumble the hardtack into coffee or water. This would soften the hardtack enough to eat and also drove the weevils out of the hardtack. After the weevils came out, soldiers could remove the bugs and eat their hardtack. Soldiers also liked to fry the hardtack in bacon grease to give it more flavor. They would also fry salt pork and then crumble hardtack into the dish to make “skillygallee,” a favorite wartime meal. Look on the back of this sheet for a hardtack recipe to try out at home!


Hardtack Recipe Ingredients

• 6 pinches of salt

• 2 c. of flour

• ½ to ¾ c. water

• 1 tbs. of Crisco or vegetable fat

Instructions • Mix the ingredients together into a stiff batter, knead several times, and spread the

dough out flat to a thickness of ½ inch on a non-greased cookie sheet.

• Bake for one-half an hour at 400 degrees.

• Remove from oven, cut dough into 3-inch squares, and punch four rows of holes, four holes per row into the dough.

• Turn dough over, return to the oven and bake another one-half hour.

• Turn oven off and leave the door closed.

• Leave the hardtack in the oven until cool.

• Remove and enjoy!


The Emancipation Proclamation On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln signed the presidential decree, called the Emancipation Proclamation. This document stated that, within the “rebellious areas:”

“…all persons held as

slaves…are,

and henceforward shall

be free.”

However, it took time for the information to travel throughout the Confederacy. As the Union Army advanced through the South, slaves were given the news about their new freedom.


Some former slaves followed the troops. They joined the army or navy to fight for their freedom. Most enslaved African Americans in Alabama did not gain their freedom until the end of the Civil War when the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1865.

Fifth and final page of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Choosing a Name To learn about the Emancipation Proclamation, read the other side of this activity sheet!

Once they were freed, many slaves chose a last name because they did not usually have one. Sometimes, they chose their former master’s name or they chose the name of a person of respect, like a president or a person from the Bible.

What do you think? If you did not have a name, what name would you choose? Write your chosen name below, and in a paragraph offer three reasons for choosing that name.

My name is ________________________________________________________________

I chose this name because: ________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

TRAVELING BACKPACKS – THE CIVIL WAR! Activity Sheets

Go to archives.alabama.gov for more information about Alabama!

civil war scramble - alexalex.state.al.us/alabamadlm/sites/alex.state.al.us.alabamadlm/... · civil...

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