Running Around RMHS

This week we have been doing a scavenger hunt! Our history scavenger hunt was a clever way to gather information about 20 different civil war battles. Each person was assigned a battle to research. We needed to find the date and location of the battle, and the victor and theater that the battle was fought in. Then we found information that helped to explain the main reasons as to why the battle had the specific outcome that it had. We created a google doc with all of this information. Then we created a QR code and a bitly link so that people could easily get onto our google doc in order to gather information about our battle. After everyone placed their battle sheets around the school, we started to walk around, scan the signs, and put information about the battles into our notes. After the scavenger hunt, we analyzed and made conclusions based off of the information that we gathered and posted our conclusions on our class padlet.

We had two essential questions this unit. The first said: Who was the ultimate victor in each of the theaters of war: East, West, Naval? The Union was the ultimate victor in the western theater. They dominated in the Siege of Vicksburg and during the Battle of Shiloh when the Confederacy ran out of supplies. The Union also dominated in the Naval theater because they had more ships and were able to put ships on the Mississippi river, such as in the Battle of Fort Henry when Union ships obliterated Confederate defenses. The ships on the Mississippi helped them to dominate in the western theater too. Lastly, the Confederacy dominated in the eastern theater during the beginning of the war due to the Union’s lack of leadership. During the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861, the Union was slow to position themselves for the battle, and the Confederacy was able to rush in and defeat them. This disaster could have been easily avoided if the Union had a general who ordered the Union to move quickly. The Union dominated in the eastern theater during the end of the war when the Confederacy began to run out of supplies and moral. The Union also dominated because of their new leadership. During Sherman’s March to Sea, the Union was able to try a new military tactic which confused the Confederate army, gaining the Union another victory.

The Battle of Shiloh

The second essential question that we focused on this unit stated: What are some commonalities you can identify in the reasons for the results of the battles? One of the biggest commonalities I can identify in the battles of the Civil War is the fact that the Confederacy had a lack of supplies, which includes the number of men fighting in their troops. The Confederacy was outnumbered during the Battle of Shiloh and the Surrender of Fort Donelson. During the Siege of Vicksburg, the Confederacy had to surrender because they ran out of supplies. They also ran out of ammunition during the Battle of Hampton Roads.  I also noticed that many battles were won based on military strategy, not just pure strength of troops. The Battle of Gettysburg was won because of the Union’s solid defense positions, and during Sherman’s March to Sea, the Union won because of their military tactic to divide up their troops in order to confuse the Confederacy. Supplies and good military strategies were an important part of battle during the Civil War.