8G History Week 14 Assignment

In this week’s assignment, I will cover 2 of the biggest battles in the American Civil War.

First Battle of Bull Run

The First Battle of Bull Run was the first major battle in the civil war. It was fought on July 12, 1861, near Manassas, Virginia. The battle got its name because it was fought by a stream called Bull Run. Irvin McDowell was put in charge of a section of the Union army located in northeastern Virginia. General P.G.T. Beauregard commanded a part of the Confederate army that was camped nearby.

The battle started with McDowell marching his army right past the Confederates. Beauregard didn’t expect them to attack, but got their army ready anyway. At 6:00 A.M. both sides started firing. McDowell’s men forced the Confederates to retreat to Henry House Hill. The Union army made multiple attempts to attack, but they failed. The battle resulted in almost 5,000 casualties and a Confederate victory.

The Battle of Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg was fought from July 1-3, 1863, around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Union forces were commanded by General George G. Meade, while the Confederates were led by Robert E. Lee.

The battle started when Lee marched his troops from Northern Virginia to Pennsylvania. His goal was to completely destroy the entire Union forces there. They met the Union troops, who were camped out in Gettysburg. Both sides clashed with each other near the Potomac river.

On the second day, the Confederates moved to the offensive side, with multiple attacks to the Union’s right flank. Lee’s men were looking very strong, and he expected to win that day. But he was wrong! His men tried diversionary tactics, but Meade’s men held out against their attacks. One of the Major Generals under Lee disobeyed his orders and his whole division was wiped out by the Union line.

The third day was brutal for the Confederates. Lee knew he had no shot at a coordinated attack, so he gave orders to General Longstreet to attack with about 140 cannons towards the main Union line. Meanwhile, there was another attack happening. A section of the Confederates, led by General Pickett and General Longstreet was marching toward the Union army. This was a bad idea! The army was under attack by the union the whole way, which was about 1 mile. Half of the men involved in the charge were killed, wounded or captured. This was called Pickett’s charge, and it was a disastrous moment for the Confederates.

After Pickett’s charge, the whole battle fell apart. This was a major turning point for the Union, and it filled them with courage to face the rest of the war.

8G History Week 12

In 1848, a man named John Sutter built a sawmill along the American River. It was located about 50 miles away from modern-day Sacramento. On January 24th, James W. Marshall, who was Sutter’s carpenter, found gold flakes in the river! Both men promised to keep it a secret, but eventually the secret got out.

Thousands of people rushed to California, due to the news of the gold. John Sutter went bankrupt because of the large amount of people that flooded the area.

People came by sailing around Cape Horn or by taking the 2,000 mile journey across the U.S. Many people died before they even reached California.

By 1853, over a quarter of a million people had arrived in California to try their luck at finding gold. Most people were not very lucky! The working conditions were poor, and prices were very high.

The Gold Rush made lots of boom towns, or towns that sprang up very quickly. Some of those towns are still around today, like San Francisco.

The California Gold Rush fizzled out by the end of the decade, but the impact that it had on our country is still visible today. The gold rush helped California gain its statehood in 1850.

In this assignment, I will be summarizing the events of the Trail of Tears.

The Trail of Tears was when multiple Native American tribes were forced to relocate from their homeland. Some of these tribes were the Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole. They were forced to move to Indian Territory, which is modern-day Oklahoma.

The reason for the Trail of Tears was because settlers wanted more land. There was a gold rush in Georgia, where the Cherokees made their home. The U.S. government forced the tribes out.

The settlers were happy, because they didn’t have to do much to the land, because the Native Americans had already done a lot of the land work.

Most of the tribes agreed to it, but some tribes like the Seminole, fought to stay in their homeland.

It was called the Trail of Tears because many Native Americans died along the way, so it was a very sad time. It is estimated that over 15,000 died on their trip west.

The physical trail was about 5,000 miles long.

In this assignment, I will be summarizing the life and career of our 5th president, James Monroe.

James Monroe was born on April 28, 1758. His father, Spence Monroe, and his mother, Elizabeth Monroe owned 600 acres in rural Virginia. He started going to William and Mary College, but he left in 1776 to fight in the Revolutionary war as a lieutenant. He was one of the men who crossed the Delaware River with Washington. He advanced through the ranks to major, but later resigned his commission.

Monroe then started studying law with Thomas Jefferson. He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. His law career continued, as he served in congress from 1783 to 1786. He then retired and was elected to the senate in 1790. He was nominated as minister to France in 1794. In 1786, Monroe married Elizabeth Kortright. They had two daughters together.

Monroe was chosen to become secretary of state in 1811, and continued until he was president.

Monroe’s presidency was called the era of good feelings. Some of the major events included the Seminole wars, the addition of Florida, and the Missouri compromise.

After Monroe’s presidency, he retired to his estate. He felt like Congress owed him money, so Congress payed him 60,000 dollars in total. James Monroe died on July 4, 1831.