★★★ · Standard
Name
Period
Date
Civil War Simulation
Battle Journal
Pay attention to · while you play Historical Mode
- After each battle, write your choice, check whether it matched history, and sum up the key idea in your own words (don't just copy it).
- After each Act review screen, answer that act's reflection question in the box.
- Your final job: How was the Union able to defeat the Confederacy? Build evidence as you play, then answer on the back.
Act I · The War Begins · 1861-1862
Fort Sumter
My choiceMatched history?YesNo
Why it mattered (sum up the key idea in your own words)
Bull Run
My choiceMatched history?YesNo
Why it mattered (sum up the key idea in your own words)
Shiloh
My choiceMatched history?YesNo
Why it mattered (sum up the key idea in your own words)
Act I reflection · answer after the Act I review screen
After Shiloh, Grant wrote that he gave up all hope of saving the Union except by 'complete conquest.' Why do you think such a terrible battle changed his thinking about how the war needed to be fought?
Evidence for the big question
One way this act helped the Union win:
Act II · A New Kind of War · 1862-1863
Antietam
My choiceMatched history?YesNo
Why it mattered (sum up the key idea in your own words)
Fredericksburg
My choiceMatched history?YesNo
Why it mattered (sum up the key idea in your own words)
Chancellorsville
My choiceMatched history?YesNo
Why it mattered (sum up the key idea in your own words)
Act II reflection · answer after the Act II review screen
Lee's greatest victory cost him Stonewall Jackson. When is a victory not worth the price?
Evidence for the big question
One way this act helped the Union win:
Act III · The Tide Turns · 1863
Vicksburg
My choiceMatched history?YesNo
Why it mattered (sum up the key idea in your own words)
Gettysburg
My choiceMatched history?YesNo
Why it mattered (sum up the key idea in your own words)
Chickamauga
My choiceMatched history?YesNo
Why it mattered (sum up the key idea in your own words)
Act III reflection · answer after the Act III review screen
A simple miscommunication created the gap that lost the battle. How much of war depends on luck versus skill?
Evidence for the big question
One way this act helped the Union win:
Act IV · The War's Legacy · 1864-1865
Wilderness
My choiceMatched history?YesNo
Why it mattered (sum up the key idea in your own words)
Atlanta
My choiceMatched history?YesNo
Why it mattered (sum up the key idea in your own words)
Sherman's March
My choiceMatched history?YesNo
Why it mattered (sum up the key idea in your own words)
Appomattox
My choiceMatched history?YesNo
Why it mattered (sum up the key idea in your own words)
Act IV reflection · answer after the Act IV review screen
Grant offered generous surrender terms: Confederates could go home and would not be prosecuted. Five days later, Lincoln was assassinated. How might Reconstruction have been different if Lincoln had lived? What responsibilities does a nation have to its people when a war ends?
Evidence for the big question
One way this act helped the Union win:
Part 2 · Build Your Answer
How Did the Union Win?
Look back at your four "One way this act helped the Union win" lines. You already have your evidence. Use them to build your answer below.
Word Bank · circle each term when you find it in the game
Anaconda Plan: the Union strategy to blockade Southern ports and take the Mississippi River, squeezing the South like a snake.
Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln's 1863 order freeing enslaved people in Confederate states; turned the war into a fight against slavery.
total war: destroying not just enemy armies but the farms, factories, and railroads that support them.
Battle of Gettysburg: July 1863 battle in Pennsylvania; Lee's invasion failed and the Confederacy never went on offense again.
Siege of Vicksburg: 47-day siege ending July 4, 1863; the Union won the entire Mississippi River and split the Confederacy in two.
Ulysses S. Grant: Union general who refused to retreat after hard battles; promoted to lead all Union armies in 1864.
William T. Sherman: Union general whose 1864 march from Atlanta to Savannah pioneered total war in the South.
54th Massachusetts: Black Union regiment that fought heroically at Fort Wagner in 1863, proving Black soldiers would fight for their freedom.
Prompt How was the Union able to defeat the Confederacy? Use at least three specific advantages or events from the game.
Q1 Build your thesis. Fill in three reasons.
The Union defeated the Confederacy because
,
, and
.
Q2 Evidence from your journal. For each reason, give one specific battle, person, or event that proves it.
Q3 Of the 8 Word Bank terms, which one was most important to the Union's victory? Pick one and explain in one sentence why.
My pick: ____________________________________
Q4 The South had brave soldiers and skilled generals too. Write one sentence explaining why bravery and leadership were not enough for the Confederacy to win.