<< Thaddeus Lowe & Civil War Ballooning
Lesson Plan
Overview | Lesson 1 | Lesson 2 | Lesson 3 | Lesson 4 | Resources
Lesson 3: Encouraging a critical reading of historical documents
Show this video:
Meet Mary Henry and Thaddeus Lowe
(A discussion between Mary Henry and Thaddeus Lowe)
Mary Henry and Thaddeus Lowe discuss his accomplishments. These two reeanctors did a great deal of research. You can have your students read some of these original documents and come up with their own conversations. Note that there are two types of interpretation going on here. Both speak in the first person, however; Mary Henry is acting as though she is living in 1861, while Thaddeus Lowe is making reference to current technology (Twitter) and occurrence (Macy's Day parade).
Read this telegram:
Why do you think that President Lincoln might have thought using balloons for espionage would benefit the Union Army?
Read this note. Remembering that Abraham Lincoln met with Lowe on June 11, 1861 and was enthusiastic about the use of balloons in the war effort. Did General Scott meet with Lowe right away? Is there a clue in the note that this isn't the first time that Lowe has tried to meet with Scott?
