In School Scavenger Hunt

While learning about the battles of the Civil War in history class, we went on a scavenger hunt around the school to find notes on each battle.  There were many steps to create and carry out the scavenger hunt.  First, each person was assigned a battle to research. We found basic information on the battle, like its location and victor, and then we organized this information into a google doc.  After linking the google doc to a QR code, we printed out the code and hung it somewhere in the school.  We then collaborated with the battles that came before and after ours and wrote the location of the next battle in the google doc so that our classmates could find each battle in the correct order and location.  Then, we started the scavenger hunt.  We started at our battle and copied the notes from the QR code document, and then followed the directions to the next battle.  After we finished, we used the information we took down to create a Padlet (below), and to answer the essential questions.

Created with Padlet

The first essential question asked who the ultimate victor was in each of the theaters of war.  Using the information from each battle that was recorded during the scavenger hunt, we were able to determine that the Union dominated in the Western and Naval Theaters throughout the war, and in the Eastern Theater later in the war.  However, the Confederacy dominated in the Eastern Theater early on in the war.  The Union won the most battles in the Western and Naval Theaters, like the Battle of East Baton Rouge Parish and the Battle of Gettysburg, because they had more ships and supplies, which they used to help bring down the Confederacy.  The Confederacy won most of the battles at the beginning of the war in the Eastern Theater, like the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861, because there was a lack of leadership and control in the Union, but later on, as control in the Union improved they began to win these battles as well.  The Union was the ultimate victor overall, and they eventually won the war.

This image shows the Battle of Shiloh, which was located in the Western Theater.  The Union was the victor for this battle.
http://www.history.army.mil/news/2013/130401a_shiloh.html

The second question asked what the commonalities were between the results of the battles.  The reasons for the results of each battle were all fairly similar.  In the battles where the Union was the victor, such as the Battle of Shiloh, the Battle of Fort Henry, and the Siege of Vicksburg, the Confederacy ran out supplies, was outnumbered, or just wasn't prepared enough.  The Union won most of the total battles, but the Confederacy did win some in the Eastern Theater.  This is because the Union was slow in positioning their troops, like in the First Battle of Bull Run, and because they had lack of leadership early in the War.  However, as their leadership improved, they went on to win almost every battle later on in the war.  There were commonalities between most battles, and the results and victors of them were consistent in the Western and Naval Theaters throughout the entire war.  This scavenger hunt my history class completed in school worked well with this lesson in particular because there were many different battles to find and research. This lesson was educational but it was also a fun, creative way to learn about the Battles of the Civil War.