Correspondents Round 1

Due Monday, typed

Round 1

Letters will look authentic if they are on white stationary.  Each letter should be headed with a date and the place from which the letter is written.  They will be “mailed” in envelopes with the name and address of the fictitious person receiving the letter.  The envelopes from this area that have been archived in the national archives, measure approximately 3 x 5 1/2 inches and are printed or embossed with caricatures, allegories, slogans, portraits, etc. relating to Civil War events and personalities. To view samples of Civil War envelopes, visit http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpcoop.nhihtml/cwnyhsarcpp.html#env.  Letters can be tea-stained to make them look old. 

Topics:  January 1, 1863

·       Your wishes for the coming New Year.  (from January 1 forward, your wishes)

·       Your predictions about the prospects for the end of the war.

·       Your response to the Emancipation Proclamation.

·       Your response to the enlistment of freed slaves and free Negroes in the northern army.

·       The Confederate army commandeering male slaves and free Negroes in the northern army.  (slaves that are seized or taken for personal use)

·       Northern factories boom, but discontent with slow progress of the war rises.

·       Confederate economic woes:  prices rise 10% in a month.

·       Your comments about not so favorable conditions within the camps or at home.

·       Your comments about what you are being told on the Warfield/home.

·       Describe life at home/battlefield.

Enclosure:  Send a political cartoon, a clipping from a Civil War newspaper, and/or a casualty list from a recent battle.

Rubric

Name______________________    Date___________________   Period___________

1.  Letter is dated                                                                                5 pts.

2.  Letter has place from where is was written below the date              5 pts                                                           

3.  Letter is written in personal style, not an essay                                5 pts 

4.  Letter makes mention of wishes for the New Year                          10 pts

5.  Letter makes predictions about the prospects for ending war          10 pts

6.  Letter includes reaction of Emancipation Proclamation and           

          enlistment of freed slaves and Negroes in the Northern Army    10 pts

7.  Letter includes at least 3 supportive facts  for #6                                      10 pts

8. Letter mentions the Confederate army commandeering male slaves,

    laborers, and factory workers                                                           10 pts

9.  Letter mentions Confederate economic woes; prices rice 10%

     monthly                                                                                         10 pts

10.  Letter mentions the writer’s efforts in the war                               10 pts

11.  Letter gives personal news, news from relatives, and friends          10 pts

12.  Letter makes mention of the enclosure                                         5 pts 

*  Grammar/mechanics:

______________Letter of an educated character:  misspellings or wrong word

forms and missing punctuation

_____________Letter of an uneducated person:  too many misspelled words

words or use of “large” words

                                                                   FINAL GRADE  ___________      

 

 

 

 

 

Citation

Burns, Ken.  The Civil War by Ken Burns.  PBS.org.       

http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/classroom/lesson_letters.html.  2002.  Web.  March 14, 2012.