Veteran's Day 2012: 1862 – First Lesssons of the Civil War

Eli Whitney Museum

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Vacation Program

  • Monday, November 12, 2012
  • 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
  • Designed for ages 6 to 12

The American Civil War began 150 years ago…in the time of your great, great, great great grandparents. Why do we stop so often to look at it? Because it influenced every family and every institution in our country. Because it is a big story that takes a long time to understand.

This workshop will look just at the Fall of 1862 at some details that will help you begin to picture the story.

~ Construct a micro Monitor, the first ironclad, built by New Haven's Cornelius Bushnell. The Monitor survived its first battle but sank in a December storm.

~ Build a small telegraph whose code New Haven's Samuel Morse (age 70 in 1962) had created. See how Morse Code's t-mails changed the pace of the war.

~ Contruct a monument to New Haven's Andrew Hull Foote (no relation to Foote School), commander of the Union's gunboats on the Mississippi River. Attacking Fort Henry (earlier in 1862), Foote was seriously wounded in the foot. (You'll remember that.)

~ Build a (cap) cannon and Union artillary crew.

~ Meet Tom Hines, the curator of our Whitney Arms Collection. He will show pieces from our collection and his, made here, that saw action in the Civil War.


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