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America's Civil War Class Sessions

History 393
Advent Semester 2026
Professor John C. Willis

August 27

Re-Imagining North and South 

September 1

American Contexts

September 3

Disputes and Compromises

September 8

Unexpected Tensions

September 10

A House Dividing

 

September 15

Elections of 1860

September 17

The First Wave of Secession

 

September 22

Complications of the Secession Winter and Spring 

September 24

The Realities of Division

September 29

First mid–term examination 

October 1

Amateurs Go To War

October 6

U. S. Grant and the War in the West 
  • Battle Cry of Freedom, pp. 392-422 

 

October 8

Lee's Second Chance
  • Battle Cry of Freedom, pp. 423-427; 454-489  

October 13 

The Lessons of Antietam 
  • Battle Cry of Freedom, pp. 533-545; 557-567 

October 15

Along Three Rivers in the Winter of 1862-1863  
  • Battle Cry of Freedom, pp. 568-590 

 

October 20

Internal Resistance 
  • Battle Cry of Freedom, pp. 591-625 

 

October 22

Fall Break

 

October 27

The Vicksburg Campaign

 

October 29

At the Height of the Offensive-Defensive

 

November 3

​​Gettysburg's Planned Battles and Aftermath

November 5

​Middle Tennessee & the Battles for Chattanooga

  • Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address ​

November 10

Second mid–term examination ​

November 12

Grant and Lee, 1864

 

November 17

The Atlanta Campaign & Elections of 1864​

November 19

In "Union Territory"

November 24 & 26

Thanksgiving holiday

December 1

Confederate Collapse

December 3

The South's War at Home​
  • Mothers of Invention  

 

December 8

Concluding Complications

December 10

War's Remembrance

December 13

Final examination, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
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