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In the fall of 1865, Sidney Andrews, a northern-Illinois-based journalist, set out to take stock of the post-war South, traveling extensively in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia-attending state constitutional conventions and speaking with people from a variety of backgrounds. His scathing assessment gave ammunition to those advocating a more aggressive Northern hand in Reconstruction: he wrote disparagingly of a widespread lack of education and culture, an undemocratic caste system, festering racial tensions, and entrenched anti-Union sentiment.  His reports were published in The Atlantic and elsewhere, and the topic proved to be of such interest to Northern readers that some of his writings were gathered in an 1866 book, The South Since the War.  In the congressional elections that year, advocates of much harsher policies toward the South swept to power, and for the following decade-known as the years of "Radical Reconstruction"-the South would be subjected to firm rules imposed by Congress.

This is a well prepared unit on Reconstruction by a middle school teacher including many significant websites and photos.

Topics include: Slavery and African Americans in Antebellum America, Causes of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, Literature of the Civil War, Reconstruction and After in Art and Culture

A list of Civil War books and authors for middle school students

This is a unit designed by the NYC Dept. of Education and includes the study of the novel "With Every Drop of Blood."

In "Late Scenes in Richmond," the war reporter Charles Carleton Coffin explained how the Union had come to shift its aims, especially after General Grant took command. Coffin, who has been called the Ernie Pyle of the Civil War, witnessed and wrote about many of the war's key battles and was close friends with Grant. In this excerpt, he recounted a late-night conversation he'd had with Grant about the general's endgame, and chronicled not only the Confederates' chaotic flight from Richmond on April 2, but also President Lincoln's triumphant visit two days later. 

The museum's objective is to "[use] object of intolerance to teach tolerance and promote social justice".