The Civil War

The Civil War went from 1861 to 1865, and it was the bloodiest war in American history. It was also the saddest since brothers were killing brothers and father killing son, because the war was between the North and the South. Over 600,000 men died during the war, and many were wounded. The reason why the war started was because, when Abraham Lincoln was elected as president, South Carolina decided to secede from the United States. They wrote a long letter to the federal government, about the reason why they were seceding. The letter included the Constitution and how only the North voted for Lincoln. The South wanted slavery to continue but they thought that Lincoln would abolish slavery and ruin their culture and economy.

The war did not officially begin until April, 1861 with the battle of Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. It was not actually called a battle since it only lasted for a very short time. The Confederates won and Lincoln declares war on the Confederates. Lincoln gets 75,000 volunteers for the war and the Union, led by General Grant, wins the battle of First Bull Run, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and much more. The Confederate General was Lee. He won the battle of Second Bull Run, Fredricksburg, Chancellorsville, and much more.

The Union would set up blockades so Confederates could not trade or sell their to the foreign land. This was a big problem since the Confederates had no way of trading with France and England, so they could not make any money. Hence making the Blockade was the most useful tool the North used.

Confederate General Stonewall Jackson was called Stonewall since he was a strong fighter and held his ground. The Union army could not get past him, however he was shot by Confederate soliders by accident.

The Blind Side

The book called “The Blind Side,” by Michael Lewis (also a movie) is about a boy named Michael Oher. who is a black teenager that weights about 330 pounds. He attended a private school in Memphis, but grew up in the poorest part of Memphis. He was a talented athlete, and he enjoys playing sports. As a child he always wanted to become a professional basketball player.
Michael had big dreams, but he was a quiet child so no one knew him well. Michael was homeless, and had nowhere to go. He would sometimes go to the school gym because it was warm, or stay at people’s houses. However, Michael soon meets Leigh Anne Tuohy, a rich married woman, who’s son goes to the same school. She cares for him, buys him clothes and feeds him. Leigh Anne helped people like Michael, but for some reason she felt a connection with him. Later she adopts Michael as her son and cares for him as if she gave birth to him. She helps him get his grades up and even hires a tutor for him. Even though Leigh Anne was his adoptive mother she did not really know anything about him. She asks him about his life but Michael refuses to answer, and Memphis lost all of his records. Leigh Anne does start to discover the truth a little by little.
This was a GREAT book, because it was very interesting. It talked about Michael Oher’s life and how he became a child of a rich white family from being a poor black child who’s mom was addicted to crack. I recommend this to everybody because it doesn’t just talk about sports but it talks about much deeper things like family, and caring for others.