Important people during the Civil War

I always like to build off of each of my lessons and have them connect with one another. So a week ago we did our mapping of the United States during 1861. Then I decided we should learn about important people and how they affected the war and where they came from. 

I took the map I created and then printed off pictures of people that affected the civil war minus Stonewall Jackson and John Wilkes Booth, those are still coming ;) I then used ribbon to show which state each person is from. Then I sat with my students and had a discussion about how where they came from affected their mind side and what side they would side with. I have 28 students so I rounded and divided students into groups of about 5. In their groups students researched the person using books from the inquiry cart and the computer. Then as a group and colloborating with one another they wrote up a small report to present to the class and teach the class about the person! This was such a fun lesson and to let students have the opportunity to work with one another and learn how to research on their own :) my students really enjoyed doing this lesson :)