Tell the Story: Interpreting Language in Civil War Kentucky
Kentuckians in the nineteenth century spoke differently than today’s Kentuckians do. Think about how the evolution of language affects the way we communicate.
This lesson looks at the language of the 1860s to see this change over time. How individuals speak, read, and write reveal a tremendous amount of information about their background, political identity, etc. Consider how the skill of communication opened new doors for Kentuckians writing to their government during the Civil War and how it can do the same
Grade Levels & Kentucky Teaching Standards
5th Grade
5.I.UE.3
8th grade
8.I.UE.1
8.I.CC.1
High School
HS.UH.1.UE.1
Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
Video: Civil War Language (How did soldiers Talk?). American Battlefield Trust.
The Civil War Soldier and the Press, eds. Katrinia J. Quinn and David V Sachsman (Routledge, 2023).
James Dawes, The Language of War: Literature and Culture in the U.S. from the Civil War through World War II (Harvard University Press, 2005).
Michael P. Kramer, Imagining Language in America: From the Revolution to the Civil War (Princeton University Press, 1992).
Digital Humanities: Memorable Days: The Emilie Davis Diaries by Judith Giesberg.
Digital Humanities: Private Voices: The Corpus of American Civil War Letters by Michael Ellis, Michael Montgomery, and Stephen Berry.
Framing Questions
- How is language different today than it was during the Civil War? Think vocabulary, phrases, etc.
- How does this story change your perception of nineteenth-century Kentuckians?
- Who is not speaking? Whose voice is silenced? How is literacy essential for advocacy?
Terms for Discussion
Language: the words, their pronunciation, and the methods of combining them used and understood by a community.
Rhetoric: verbal communication.
Discourse: interchange of ideas in a formal, orderly, and extended expression of thought.
Communication: a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior
Lexicon: the vocabulary of a language, an individual speaker or group of speakers, or a subject.
Literacy: the ability to read and write.
Lettered: Learned, educated.
Activity
Tell the Story
Read the document. Imagine you’re the author. What does it say? Tell the story in your own words. Kentuckians in the nineteenth century spoke differently than Kentuckians do today, so your version will—and should—sound different than the original author’s.
Once you’ve finished writing your version of the story, trade with a partner and read each other’s work. You don’t need to grade the work on what’s right or wrong, but pay close attention to how the stories you’ve written today are different (and similar) to the ones from Civil War Kentucky. Discuss your findings.
A few things you might notice:
- Vocabulary: Over time, the English language has evolved. Some words change in meaning; some words fall out of use. Did you have to change any of the vocabulary? Were there words that you didn’t understand?
- Spelling and grammar: Literacy levels in the nineteenth century varied. Not everyone had access to education; not everyone could read and write. Many of these documents from Civil War Kentucky are inconsistent in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. What does that say about the era?
- Dialect: Dialects are peculiar to a specific region or group. Think about where the document was created. Can you deduce the dialect of the author from their writing?
Lastly, after reviewing and discussing each other’s work, answer the question, “Why?” Thinking about the language you’ve read and the language you’ve used, why might your version of the story be different from your nineteenth-century subject? Why might your writing be different from your classmate’s?