February 28, 2013 (week 8)

Devotional

We continue to work on Battle Cry of Freedom. Since Bro. Casalegno is setting up a diorama next week and taking almost the entire time to explain Gettysburg, we will not sing during class next week.  You will need to work on memorizing this at home.

Congrats to Lamoni and Nadya for passing of verse 3 memorization! Again, we encourage you to finish memorizing verse 3. You can pass it off before or after class next week.

Memorization 

Keep up with what we are doing in class. We got to the phrase, "add or detract." Several of you looked like you almost have it memorized. Keep working at home!

Presentations

Mathew Brady
Kensington gave a great presentation on Mathew Brady, one of the most celebrated 19th century photographers. He was known for his portraits of celebrities and his documentation of the American Civil War. Most people would recognize some of this photographs.

 

Two of his portaits of Abraham Lincoln were used for the $5 bill and the Lincoln penny.

 

Some of his other famous photo are shown below.

Clara Barton

Dead Soldier at Devil's Den (Gettysburg)

 General Grant

Dead Soldiers at Antietam

 

Maddie also gave a terrific presentation on uniforms and dress of the time. One of the most interesting things we learned is that women's clothing was pretty dangerous. It was not uncommon for women's hooped skirts to catch on fire and they burned to death!

(Bonus ?: Does anyone know what famous poet's wife died in this manner?)

 

The Mathew Brady portraits show some of the styles. I have listed additional examples below.

 



 

Document Study: Gettysburg Address

 

General Baker led the document study on the Gettysburg Address. Since speeches were usually so long, President Lincoln finished delivering the address before many people in the crowd even realized he had started. It was praised and critized by people throughout the country, but few realized how famous it would become.

 

One of the most interesting aspects of the language he used was that he didn't reference the North or the South, but  referred to the dead in general. We talked about what audience he might've been targeting  and how he focused on certain events (the founding of the country) to make his audience feel united.

It would've been great to have more time to study this amazing document. Great job, General Baker! 

 

Across Five Aprils Colloquium

 

The scholars did a great job discussing this book. Everyone spoke at least once!!

The following are some of the questions we discussed:

1. Jethro didn't expect to feel comfortable very often, but in fact, expected to suffer at the hands of the elements. Today, we expect to be comfortable almost all of the time. How has this change in our society changed us as a people?
2. Bill joined the South "according to what he thought was right." It seems like he thought through this issue pretty much on his own, without much discussion with others. General Baker mentioned she'd like to know what his thought process was, but it isn't described. How might Bill's conclusion of what was right have been different if he'd discussed this issue with a variety of people he trusted? Are there times when what it is not clear what is right? How can we know? What were some of the unintended consequences of Bill's fighting for the South? Would he have made the same decision even if he had known what those consequences might be?
3. What do you think about the amount of work and responsibilities Jethro had? Could you do it? What were the benefits of it? What were the negative things about it?
4. Sherman became famous for his march through the South, burning and pillaging the civilian property. It was one of the events that helped end the war. In the book, Ed Turner's 18-year-old son was a new soldier who took part in this experience. Ed Turner wondered what kind of effect this would have on his young son. What kind of long-lasting effect do you think this would have on a young person?

Of course, we didn't have a chance to discuss all the issues brought up by the book. One ? I wish we would've had time to discuss is the following:

• At one point, Jethro talked to his dog about the North's weak generals compared to the South's awesome generals. He asked, "Ain't we in the right? And how does it happen, if we're in the right, that the Lord lets Jeff Davis get men like Lee and Jackson and gives us ones like Halleck and McClellan?" Why does it sometimes seem that the Lord doen't intervene when we are in the right?

Paper

 

No paper this week. Use the time to catch up on any papers you haven't written.

 

Reminders/Announcements

1. You have 3 weeks to read the Life of Abraham Lincoln.
2. Everyone, but Nadya and Lamoni - Finish memorizing verse 3 and pass it off next week.
3. Start working on hero report.
4. Arrive on time next week. General Cory Casalegno will be explaining Gettysburg through diorama and video clips.