Invented just before the Civil War, the telegraph played a key role in the conflict by allowing news to travel faster than at any previous point in history. Generally, people transmitted news by using a series of dots and dashes known as Morse code. Explain to your students the impact the telegraph had, and then give them each a piece of paper that shows the Morse code for each letter of the alphabet. Encourage students to develop their own Morse code messages, which can carry information about the Civil War in them.
Civil War soldiers had to eat special rations, including a biscuit-like food called hardtack. Encourage your students to relate to the soldiers' experiences by helping them make and eat hardtack of their own. To do so, mix 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of water and a quarter-teaspoon of salt. Flatten the dough with a rolling pin and cut it into 3-inch squares. Poke holes in the dough to ventilate it, then bake it at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 60 minutes, flipping it halfway through.
The Civil War took place across a large area of the United States. Encourage your students to find a site of historical significance to the Civil War and prepare a presentation about it. The presentations can include pictures, facts about the place, its relevance to the Civil War and even relics from the site. This project is especially valuable if the school is based near one or more Civil War landmarks.
During the Civil War, mapmakers contributed significantly to generals' successes. Battle strategies often depended on knowledge of an area's terrain, and inaccurate information could be disastrous. Teach your students about the challenges of map-making by instructing them to create maps of their own of places familiar to them. This project can be easily combined with a math unit on distances by instructing students to measure the area they are mapping and to create a map that is drawn to scale.