Gathering information on this topic was a monumental task but one which proved very rewarding! After brainstorming, mindmapping, and outlining general information on the Civil War, the students began to gather information on their specific Civil War veteran.

My first stop was to conduct some preliminary research to find out if there was even enough information on the topic. To my surprise, an entire company, Company F of the 125th Infantry, was raised from the townships that currently makeup our school district. Robert Behrens book, From Salt Fork to Chickamauga, Champaign County Soldiers in the Civil War, proved invaluable in this task.

My second stop was to visit the Champaign County Archives located in the Urbana Free Public Library. This later resulted in a field trip during which my students combed through probate records, wills, birth, death, and marriage certificates as well as books describing the history of Civil War units. Students used a Document Analysis worksheet that I developed with assistance from ...... to guide their research.

My third stop was to the Early American Museum in Mahomet Illinois. All of the students who were researching artifacts took digital images of artifacts which related to their veteran. These images were then used on their webpages.

In order to gather new information, I published a news release requesting community members to provide any information about their relatives connected to the Civil War. We had a limited response but each of them greatly contributed to the overall product. Community members read letters, shared pictures, and brought artifacts to the school.

Our last, "out of classroom experience," involved students visiting the local cemeteries to take digital images of the grave sites of the Civil War veteran whom they researched.

I would like to thank

• the librarians of the Urbana Free Public Library for their tremendous assistance.
• Trevor Jones of the Early American Museum for his cooperation and patience.
• Bob Crow for escorting us around to the local cemeteries.
• our special guest speakers for their time and efforts.

Rachel-

If you have additional information, a suggestion, a question, or see an error, please contact us!

• Glen Petersen (Social Studies)

• Jennifer Patterson (Language Arts)

• Kelly Joldersma (Science)