Appleseeds articles from April 2003

Appleseeds archives from April 2003

Hard times, sad times.
April 1, 2003... How would you feel if your mother or your father went away from home for three or four years? What if there were no telephones or e-mail that allowed you to talk with your missing parent? That's how life was for many American kids during the...

Twice-turned dresses and whirligigs.
April 1, 2003... In a one-room schoolhouse, eager students sit on crates. Their desks are long boards nailed to the walls. They write their lessons on slates and sometimes even in the dirt with sticks! There are no books. What kind of a school is this? It's a...

Make a cornhusk doll. (Fun Stuff).
April 1, 2003... Place cotton balls in the middle of one husk. Fold over, twist, and tie to make the head. For arms, fold another husk and tie near the ends to make hands. Slip arms between husks below head; tie waist. Overlap husks around doll's middle,...

Growing up African American.
April 1, 2003... The Civil War changed life for African American children more than for any other American kids. Before the Civil War, very young African Americans lived much as other children did. They entertained themselves with make-believe games. They...

Brother Against Brother. (Reading Corner).
April 1, 2003... Brother Against Brother It was... North against South... Brother against Brother... Blue against Gray... One against another... Loyal soldiers... Marching into battle... Standing tall... ...

Man with a camera. (The Artist's Eye).
April 1, 2003... In the 1860s, cameras were a new invention. They were large and heavy. Before the war, the artist Mathew Brady had become famous for his skill with a camera. He took pictures of famous people in his Washington, D.C., studio and was the first to...

Sailor boys.
April 1, 2003... What if you could ask the boy in the photograph below about his life as a Civil War "sailor boy"? This is what he might remember: "Run, Powder Boy! Carry this bag to the forward gun!" With both hands, I seized the tin can with the...

Reliving the Civil War.
April 1, 2003... My name is Brighid. My family and I have an unusual hobby. We are Civil War reenactors. We learn as much as we can about life in the 1860s. We teach others about life during the Civil War. To look and act like people who lived in the 1860s, we...

A nation divided. (Where in the World?).
April 1, 2003... Between 1861 and 1865, the "united states" were not united. This map shows the nation in 1865, divided into free states (the Union) in the North and slave states (the Confederacy) in the South. Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland had divided...

Civil War mascots.
April 1, 2003... During the Civil War, many army regiments had an animal mascot. These animals were faithful friends to the men. They shared the life of a soldier in the camp and on the battlefield. Many regiments had dogs. Several had badgers. Others had...

Underground at Vicksburg.
April 1, 2003... A report by Corey Spondent of the Time Travel Bureau/Wherintime News Today, the time-warp chair took me to Vicksburg, Mississippi, on July 4, 1863. I had come to watch the Confederates surrender to the northern forces. While there, I found...

First kids.
April 1, 2003... While the country was busy fighting the Civil War, these kids busy growing up. Their playgrounds were the White House in Washington, D.C., and the White House of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia. These were the divided country's "First...

Caroline and Carrie in the Civil War: Caroline Richards and Carrie Berry were real girls who grew up in the 1860s. Each kept a diary during the Civil War.
April 1, 2003... Girls growing up in the time of the Civil War had different experiences depending upon where they lived. Most northern girls lived far away from the actual battlegrounds of the war. For southern girls, the war was often fought in their own...

Mess time. (Fun Stuff).
April 1, 2003... Whether you were a Union soldier or a Confederate soldier, mess time--mealtime--was usually on your mind. A soldier's haversack (pack) usually contained salt pork, coffee beans, and hardtack--crackers baked so long that they were hard and would...

Bugle boys and more.
April 1, 2003... The small boy looked out at the rows of tents in the dark. Raising his bugle, he called the sleeping soldiers into a new day of war. From reveille in the morning to the tattoo at night, bugles, fifes (an instrument like a small flute), and...

Branching out.
April 1, 2003... The Civil War for Kids: A History 21 Activities, by Janis Herbert (Chicago Review Press), is a good place to start finding out more about the Civil War. So is Fields of Fury: The American Civil War, by Pulitzer Prize-winning author James M....

Clara Barton. (Apple Corps).
April 1, 2003... Imagine, You're alone on a battlefield, Dodging shells and bullets. That's what Clara Barton did. Finding soldiers, Curing disease. That's what Clara Barton did. You have to ride in a horse cart, and risk getting sick. That's what Clara Barton...

Mystery photo.
April 1, 2003... Why do these girls know so much about the Civil War? Find out in this issue of AppleSeeds.