D is for Davis (Blogging Through the Alphabet)

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Jefferson Davis is a man who is more infamous than famous. What do you know about him from your history books and history classes? One of the most-told stories is probably that of his capture. Rumors spread and entered into the American conscience regarding what Davis was wearing at the time of his arrest: It was said that he was arrested wearing women's clothing, but in fact he was only wearing his wife's rain cape. This isn't quite the picture that is depicted as him in a dress, bloomers, and bonnet. Shouldn't we be as truthful about those we consider to be enemies as we are about our American heroes? So who was Jefferson Davis?

Early Life 

Jefferson Davis was born on June 3, 1808, the youngest of ten children. Two years after his birth, his family moved to the frontier. The oldest son, Joseph, stayed in Hopkinsville, Kentucky to study law while the rest of the family joined their father Samuel Davis as they moved and settled for the last time. Samuel and his wife, Jane Davis, would live on several hundred acres where he would grow cotton and name it Poplar Grove. Davis had little memories of those early years but he did remember the "unparalleled devotion" of his brothers to America as they went off to fight in the War of 1812.

Schooling 

Samuel Davis imparted to his children that "knowledge is power" and sought to provide educations for their children. Jefferson Davis attended St. Thomas, a Catholic boys' school, for two terms starting in 1816. He learned Latin and Greek which would stick with him all his life. After returning home at his mother's request, Davis was sent to Jefferson College briefly and then Wilkinson County Academy.  He was educated at Wilkinson Academy until 1823 when his father arranged for him to attend Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. While Davis attending school, his father died.

After the death of his father, Davis' older brother, Joseph, succeeded in getting an appointment to West Point. On March 11, 1824, Secretary of War John C. Calhoun issued Jefferson Davis a commission as a cadet. By leaving Transylvania University, he would no longer be an incoming senior but would instead be a freshmen at West Point.

West Point 

In the first year, Davis studied mathematics which included algebra, calculus, geometry, trigonometry, analytic geometry, French with grammar and vocabulary, reading French military manuals, and being drilled on the field. In addition to studying, Davis also found himself getting into trouble. He missed guard mounting, disobeyed orders, did not keep his room clean, and even had his hair too long for which he earned a demerit. While he spent the majority of his four years at West Point getting in trouble, he felt the experience had changed him and convinced him that West Point had made him a soldier. He graduated twenty-third in a class of thirty-two students in 1828.

Frontier Posting 

After his graduation, Jefferson Davis served at outposts in the frontier territories of Wisconsin and Michigan. In the 1800s, there were problems in the area between the United States government and the Indians who lived in the territory stemming back to a disputed 1804 Treaty. In the 1830s, part of the Sauk tribe that lived in the area wanted to resist American expansion. Black Hawk emerged as a leader. He would lead raids and battles in what would come to be known as the Black Hawk War. Lieutenant Davis would escort Black Hawk and other Indian prisoners during the war.

While at Fort Crawford in the Michigan Territory, Davis met Sarah Knox Taylor – daughter of Colonel Zachary Taylor. Jefferson and Sarah were married on June 17, 1835. Davis resigned his army commission and planned, with the help of his brother, to become a Mississippi planter.

Zachary Taylor (image from WPClipart.com)

Life as a Planter 

Joseph Davis gave his brother eight hundred acres twenty miles south of Vicksburg, MS. Davis named his plantation "Brierfield." Shortly after their marriage, both Davis and his wife fell ill to malaria. Davis survived but just three short months after their marriage, Sarah died on September 15, 1835. For the next seven years, he visited his brother's library and read books about law, philosophy, and history.

During the Christmas season of 1843, Varina Howell visited Hurricane (Joseph Davis' plantation). Varina and Davis quickly fell in love and on February 26, 1845 the two were married. It was during their courtship that Davis began showing more and more of an interest in politics. In 1845, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives for Mississippi.

War with Mexico

With the start of the Mexican-American War in 1846, things changed again for Davis. He was elected colonel of a volunteer regiment organised at Vicksburg called The Mississippi Rifles. Colonel Davis led his soldiers at Monterrey on September 21, 1846. They continued south under the command of General Zachary Taylor, his former father-in-law, to Buena Vista. Early on February 21, 1847, Davis was shot in the right foot but he remained in his saddle until sunset and the American victory. He returned home a hero and was appointed to finish the term of a Senator who had died. He served in the Senate after winning his own election until 1850.

Battle of Buena Vista

Secretary of War 

In 1853, President Franklin Pierce named Davis the United States Secretary of War. He held himself responsible for all that occurred in his department and did not delegate. He did not promote the spoils system nor foster sectional favoritism during his time as Secretary of War. He oversaw the increase in the size of the army from ten thousand to fifteen thousand men. Improvements were made in uniforms and equipment. New arsenals and forts were constructed.

Final Term as U.S. Senator

Davis was elected again to the United States Senate in 1857 from Mississippi. The topic of slavery was at the forefront. People took sides and Davis argued in defense of the constitutional right of states to choose their own institutions which included slavery. With the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, many feared that slavery would be abolished. South Carolina seceded from the United States and one by one other states followed. On January 21, 1861, Davis resigned from the Senate.

A New Government 

After the secession, delegates from the states met in Montgomery, Alabama. A constitution was drafted and on February 9, 1861, Jefferson Davis was unanimously elected as the president of the Confederate States of America. He would lead the new nation through its entire existence as the Civil War was fought until it ended at Appomattox.

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Literature Study Guides with a Christian Perspective: A Review of The Long Way to a New Land Study Guide

Using study guides for literature happens to be one of my favorite ways to approach reading lessons for our homeschooled children. So when we had the opportunity to review another product from Progeny Press, I was very happy to pick The Long Way to a New Land Study Guide which is geared for grades 1-3. (Last year we used and reviewed the Perelandra Study Guide with our teen.) This year, our first grader and I are reading through the book The Long Way to a New Land and use the study guide from Progeny Press.

What is Progeny Press?

Their mission: "To teach our children to think clearly, to understand literature, and to rely on the scripture for truth and values, and enjoy themselves while they do it!"

There are so many great products offered by Progeny Press. They offer their study guides in a variety of ways including printed workbooks, CDs, and e-Guides that you can download right to your computer. You can also purchase books to go along with your study guide on their site.

What Did We Receive?

For this review, we downloaded the 49-page study guide written by Colleen Schreurs for the book written by Joan Sandin. We purchased the book separately but you could also pick it up at a library or purchase it through Progeny Press. The story, The Long Way to a New Land is set in both Sweden and in Ellis Island, New York in 1868. It is an I Can Read book level 3 (for children reading alone). The family is struggling in Sweden and decides to travel to America for a new opportunity.

As you and your children read the story, you can easily incorporate the study guide activities into your homeschooling day. The study guide contains a number of activities to complete with your child before, during, and after reading the book. For example, my husband and I helped our son complete a family tree prior to reading the story. We also worked on creating the different flags to represent where his ancestors originated in Europe. (Both he and his sister really enjoyed this activity!)

Those activities that relate directly to the chapters in the book contain the following parts:

• Vocabulary 

• Questions regarding the content of the chapter 

This was a fun exercise asking why the family packed different items into their trunk for America

• Literary Techniques and Grammar (such as cause & effect, prediction, synonyms, action verbs, etc.) 
• Comparing past and present 
• A section entitled Dig Deeper that consisted of Bible quotations and questions for reflection such as read Matthew 4:4 "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'" with a question asking children why the Bible was an important item for the family to take with them to the New Land

There were also a number of activities for when we were finished reading the book including writing letters to grandparents to learn more about ancestry of the family, the creation of a family booklet with photos, and a cooking center (the study guide contains a recipe for Quick Whole Wheat Bread).

There is also an answer key to help you correct the objective questions.

Note: All the units are written from a Christian perspective. The study guide contains references to Bible quotes using the NIV translation.

How Did We Use the Study Guide?

During the course of the review period, we set aside our other language arts work to focus solely upon reading The Long Way to a New Land and using the study guide. Our son read through the entire book as soon as it arrived. We then completed the before-you-read activities together. When we started working on the sections of the study guide that were specifically geared towards the chapters, I would read the chapter aloud to both our children before our son worked on the questions.

Referencing the book to answer the questions

I only required our son to complete one part for each chapter each day. If he were older, he could probably complete the entire work for each chapter during one day. So the way we worked through the study guide, it will take us about five to six weeks to complete. If you were working at a faster pace, it would probably take you about four to five weeks to complete.

What Did We Think?

I am very pleased with The Long Way to a New Land Study Guide. The variety of the activities means we had something new to work on each day. All the activities were closely connected to the book which I appreciated. This was a perfect fit for our homeschool day.

I also like how you could tie in social studies and history to this study guide. In fact, we were able to talk about the Statue of Liberty (which our son had studied a bit earlier in the year) and examine some stamps from Czechoslovakia as some members of my own family were from Slovakia.

I think the study guide would be perfect for a second grader. I found some of the work to be a bit more challenging for my first grader but as we are homeschooling, we have the flexibility to work through the questions together. Some of the ways we adapted the study guide was taking turns writing out the answers to the questions, reviewing the book as we answered each question, and I gave our son clues as to where to find the vocabulary words in the word search.

Our son's favorite activity from the study guide was creating the flags. He said, "It was so much fun."

He also enjoyed the vocabulary activity where he had to define the word in his own words and then look it up in the dictionary. Some of the words he had to define included homespun, copper, and seaport. From the vocabulary activities, he also really liked completing the crossword puzzle and the word search.

He also enjoyed being able to draw objects from the present that related to objects from the past and coloring in his pictures. For example, he drew a fancy tower (floor) lamp since we no longer use oil lamps like the family used in the story.

I would recommend the study guides from Progeny Press. They are excellent for focusing upon one story or book with your child and allow for tons of learning opportunities.

P.S. Progeny Press has a lot of fun activities and ideas pinned to a board just for The Long Way to a New Land Study Guide! We can expand our time studying about Ellis Island, Immigration, and the Statue of Liberty using their board.

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Progeny Press offered four different study guides for review. Please visit the other reviews to see how they incorporated the study guides into their homeschooling day.

C is for Chamberlain (Blogging Through the Alphabet)

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Joshua L. Chamberlain gained fame and notoriety to non-Civil War enthusiasts and history buffs thanks to the book The Killer Angels and the movie based upon it, Gettysburg. At the Battle of Gettysburg, Chamberlain and his regiment, the 20th Maine Infantry, charged down Little Round Top with bayonets drawn to meet the Confederate soldiers. If you have read either the book or seen the movie, it is a truly amazing decision during a difficult battle. However, he did not just serve in one battle. He served in over 20 engagements including participating in the official surrender at Appomattox.

Early Life

The eldest of five children, Joshua Chamberlain was born in Maine on September 8, 1828. His family made their livelihood through farming and logging. As a young adult, Chamberlain worked on the family farm. He attend Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine and graduated in 1852. He would return to join the staff in 1855. He was a professor of rhetoric, oratory, and modern languages at Bowdoin College.

The Civil War Breaks Out

After offering his services to the governor of Maine, Chamberlain was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the newly formed 20th Maine Infantry. The 20th Maine was created from the surplus volunteers after Maine outfitted four other regiments at the request of President Lincoln.

Involvement in Battles Prior to Gettysburg

After training and drilling, the 20th Maine made it to the front for the battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862 but they were held in reserve. Their first real action would be at Fredericksburg in December 1862.  The 20th Maine was involved in the failed attempt on Marye's Heights at Fredericksburg.

The Confederates held the high ground at Marye's Height which forced the Union to go uphill towards a "death-delivering stone wall" to quote Chamberlain. He witnessed five charges of the Union up the hill. The "tears ran down the cheeks of stern men, waiting, and almost wishing to be summoned to the same futile, glorious work." The 20th Maine did not lose many men but Chamberlain was one of the men forced to spend a cold night among the dead and dying, taking cover from Confederate fire during the night after the attack on Marye's Height.

Most Famous Moments

The 20th Maine was posted on the extreme left of the Union line at Little Round Top. The need to seize and keep Little Round Top was made clear by General Warren. As Chamberlain's men moved to take the hill, Confederate General Longstreet's batteries turned their entire force upon them. The Confederates wanted to take that spot. Shells burst overhead. Tree-tops were destroyed and rocks splintered around the 20th Maine.

Colonel Strong Vincent told Chamberlain that as this was the left of the Union line: "you are to hold this ground at all costs!" If they couldn't, the Union army could be flanked. They fought for nearly two hours to defend the small, rocky slope of Little Round Top. During lulls, they collected their wounded, dying, and dead and planned the next steps.

The 47th Alabama rallied and things were dire for the 20th Maine. After losing a third of the men and running out of ammunition, the 20th Maine was going to have face another assault by the Confederates who were under General John B. Hood. They needed to take the offensive.

Chamberlain ordered his men to fix bayonets and charge. Two hundred men ran downhill to meet the surprised Confederates from Alabama. After fighting uphill for hours (and probably also due to the shock of the charge by the 20th Maine), the Confederates surrendered. The 20th Maine broke the Confederate ranks and the men threw down their muskets. Chamberlain and his men took in a great number of prisoners. This would led to Little Round Top remaining in Union hands.

The monument to the 20th Maine.

Experiences After Gettysburg

During his service, Chamberlain was wounded six times. After his wounding at the Battle of Petersburg, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General.

After Grant and Lee met at Appomattox to sign the surrender and end the Civil War, Chamberlain was in charge of the formal ceremony in which the Confederate troops stacked up their arms and surrendered their flags. Grant and Lee had already left and the ceremony was held on April 12, 1865. The southerners were led by General John B. Gordon who approached with his head held down and dejected. Chamberlain gave a brief order and the Union soldiers shifted to carry arms, a salute of honor. The southerners surrendered their arms not in shame but with mutual respect from both sides – after all they were all Americans.

Life After the Civil War

He served as a Republican governor of Maine for four terms during which people said it was an 'era of good feeling.' After those four terms, he was named the president of Bowdoin College. Chamberlain was later appointed by President Hayes as the Commissioner of Education to the World's Exposition in Paris.

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Book Club: Joan Procter, Dragon Doctor: The Woman Who Loved Reptiles

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When seeing the title of the book, Joan Procter, Dragon Doctor, on the shelf at the library, I was very intrigued. Having worked at a metropolitan zoo, I have helped provide care for their education reptiles and amphibians. So, I thought this would allow me to share some of that experience with our children.

The story is set in England and starts probably in the early 1900s, when Joan was a young girl. From her early days, she was interested in reading about lizards and crocodiles and even had a small crocodile as a pet as a teen (I do NOT recommend keeping alligators or crocodiles as pets. Please see my notes below.)

Unfortunately, the life of Joan Procter was not an easy one as she suffered from chronic intestinal illnesses which limited her attendance at school. She did not allow that to hinder her pursuit of her interests as she sought out Dr. George Boulenger, curator of the reptiles and fish at the Natural History Museum. She impressed him, became his assistant, and eventually took over when Boulenger retired.

In 1923, Procter was appointed the curator of Reptiles at the London Zoo. She designed the new Reptile House with many features that are still used in zoos today—like heated rocks to appeal to the cold-blooded reptiles.

Probably the most exciting adventure in her lifetime was the arrival of two Komodo Dragons to the London Zoo. The two dragons, named Sumba and Sumbawa (after Indonesian islands near Komodo Island), had a special exhibit designed by Proctor with a large cave, swimming pool, and heated rocks.

The children's story book does not provide too much information about the Komodo Dragons other than bringing to light the way that Procter interacted with Sumbawa. She would bring him to public meetings, to walks around the zoo, and to children's tea parties. (As I was reading the book to my kids, I could not help but think of how dangerous this could be.)

Komodo Dragon Facts

• Carnivore – eat almost anything 
• Lives up to 30 years 
• 10 feet in length 
• 330 pounds 
• Native to the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia 
• Heaviest lizard on Earth 

Komodo Dragons have venom glands. They use camouflage and wait patiently to bite their victim. They will then bite with their serrated teeth and leave huge wounds that allow the venom to work its poison on their prey: usually deer, pig, smaller Komodo Dragon, or water buffalo. The venom causes massive bleeding and eventually shock which leads to death. The Komodo Dragon can then enjoy its meal. 

Reptiles As Pets

Research - Research - Research!

There are many ways to keep reptiles safely as pets. I have several friends and family members who keep and breed snakes, lizards, and other reptiles but they have done years of research to ensure that they maintain a safe environment for not only their family members and friends but also their animals. You should never get a pet without checking local, state, and national laws as well as researching the habits, diet, and requirements of keeping a specific animal. It is also recommended that you find a veterinarian who will be able to treat your pet before you make any purchase. In addition to reading (both online and in books), you can find out more information about keeping reptiles as pets by visiting a local reptile show.

Komodo Dragon Painting 

One of our two Komodo Dragons before they were painted.

Materials 

• Brown wrapping paper 
• Paint
• Paint brushes 

I used some brown wrapping paper and drew out line drawings of Komodo Dragons for our children to paint. This painting activity will work well with any animal that you can sketch.

I created paint palettes for the kids with paper plates.

It took about an hour for each of them to paint their entire Komodo Dragon.

I didn't worry if our children were coloring the pictures the 'right' colors.

B is for Barton (Blogging Through the Alphabet)

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One of the very first volunteers to help care for wounded American Civil War soldiers was Clarissa "Clara" Harlowe Barton. When the Civil War broke out, she was working as a clerk in the United States Patent Office in Washington D.C.. She would go out to gather medical supplies and then arrive on the battlefield or at field hospitals with her materials to help. She would become known as the "Angel of the Battlefield" due to her nursing during many of the major battles as well as for the comfort she would provide the wounded men. Some of these battles included the battles of Cedar Mountain, Fairfax Station, Harpers Ferry, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Charleston, and Cold Harbor.

Second Battle of Manassas

After the second battle of Manassas in Maryland, the casualties of the Union army were high. Over five days, they had suffered 16,000 casualties out of 65,000. The wounded were left to a world of confusion behind Union lines. Secretary of War Stanton requested volunteer nurses to help but a great number of them were not helpful at all. They were drunk or accepted bribes to take healthy ambulance drivers back to D.C. rather than the wounded. Women nurses led by Clara Barton assisted in making sure the wounded men had a place to rest before boarding trains that would take them back to D.C. The nurses laid out hay on the ground for bedding: "by midnight there must have been three thousand helpless men lying in that hay" Barton wrote on September 4, 1862.

Moving the wounded after the Second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas)

Battle of Antietam 

At the battle at Antietam, Clara Barton arrived with three wagons filled with supplies. She actually arrived ahead of the military medical units. She and her associates worked during the battle to help bring comfort and aid to the wounded. She would help train men to perform basic first aid as well as carry water and prepare food for the wounded at the battle.

Working in the Coastal Regions of South Carolina 

Barton worked on both Hilton Head Island and later Morris Island to help the wounded soldiers. After the battle of Fort Wagner, she would look to help relieve sickness that was occurring on the island by distributing fresh food to the men.

New Position 

Abraham Lincoln appointed Barton the General Correspondent for the Friends of Paroled Prisoners. This position required her to answer inquiries from friends and family looking for their missing loved ones. She would assist in looking on the prison rolls, parole rolls, and casualty lists. To assist in this enormous task, Barton established the Bureau of Records of Missing Men of the Armies of the United States. Barton and her staff received over 63,000 requests for help and were able to find 22,000 men (some were still alive).

Helping to Bury the Union Dead at Andersonville 

Unfortunately, of the 22,000 men found, there were 13,000 men who were in one place: Andersonville. Another task that Clara Barton took on with the aid of others was that of identifying and ensuring that the Union men who had died at the Andersonville Prison were buried in a cemetery. Dorence Atwater, who was imprisoned at Andersonville, kept a list of the dead and helped Barton and a team of 30 military men to help lay to rest 13,000 men in the national cemetery at Andersonville. Each of those 13,000 men's graves were marked.

American Red Cross

American Red Cross

After the American Civil War, Barton visited Europe and became involved in the International Red Cross. She would help during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Even though she wasn't officially associated with the Red Cross, she would fashion a representative of the Red Cross symbol with a ribbon so that she could help distribute relief resources in France.

In 1880, the American Red Cross was founded and Clara Barton worked as its first president. For the first 20 years, the American Red Cross acted as a disaster relief organization. They would help with the forest fires in Michigan in 1881 and again in 1884 at the Johnstown flood in Pennsylvania. Towards the end of her presidency, the American Red Cross would begin to provide help to the American military and civilians during wartime. They aided American armed forces and refugees from the Spanish-American War.

Drayton Hall at Charleson, SC

Looking for more History Posts? 

In the previous Blogging through the Alphabet series, I wrote about Florence Nightingale (who is also well known for nursing) as well as Antietam and Charleston.

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