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8th grade · Social Studies · Unit 10 of 10

The Civil War

Causes, leaders, battles and turning points

What your child practices

The central role of slavery in causing the Civil War, its leaders, its major battles and turning points, the Emancipation Proclamation, and Lincoln's ideas in his inaugural addresses and the Gettysburg Address. Told factually.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 8.8(A); 8.8(B); 8.8(C); 8.8(D) · the people, causes, events and ideas of the Civil War

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Slavery was the main cause of the Civil War (1861–1865). Lincoln led the Union; Jefferson Davis led the Confederacy.
  2. Turning points: Gettysburg and Vicksburg in 1863. About 200,000 Black soldiers served the Union.
  3. The war ended when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, in April 1865.

Example: Where did Lee surrender to Grant? It was in April 1865. The place was in Virginia. It was Appomattox Court House. Answer: Appomattox Court House, Virginia

The Civil War in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 10 of 10 in 8th grade Social Studies, after A Nation Divided.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which Union general led the army to victory and later became president?

    • Stonewall Jackson
    • Robert E. Lee
    • Ulysses S. Grant
    • Jefferson Davis

  2. Question 2

    The last land battle of the Civil War was fought in 1865 at Palmito Ranch, near…

    • Boston, Massachusetts
    • Atlanta, Georgia
    • Brownsville, Texas
    • Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

  3. Question 3

    Why did the Emancipation Proclamation not free enslaved people in border states like Kentucky?

    • There was no slavery there
    • Kentucky was in Canada
    • Lincoln forgot
    • It applied only to areas in rebellion

  4. Question 4

    Robert Smalls, an enslaved ship pilot, freed himself and others by…

    • Writing a novel
    • Digging a tunnel
    • Sailing a Confederate ship to the Union navy
    • Running for president

  5. Question 5

    "Bleeding Kansas" refers to…

    • A gold rush
    • Violence between proslavery and antislavery settlers
    • A flood
    • A Civil War hospital

  6. Question 6

    At the start of the Civil War, the North had more…

    • enslaved workers
    • factories, railroads and people
    • warm farmland
    • cotton plantations

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