Real Cool History Detectives – Part 12
Week 12:
His Name Was Mudd
Part 1
The Real Cool History for Kids team welcomes you to the next installment of the Real Cool History Detectives Exploring the American Civil War miniseries. The goal of this exploration is to bring your family an immersive learning experience that will walk with you through the years surrounding the American Civil War. Because this is a multi-part series, we recommend you start at the beginning.
Start at the beginning of the miniseries, go here.
If you haven’t already, please click on each of the links below to download and print the Miniseries Resources and the Parents’ Guide which contains the overview of the entire miniseries and the instructions for each of the recurring weekly activities.
Miniseries Resources and Parents’ Guide
Please download and print these FREE resources to be used throughout the Exploring the American Civil War unit.
Week 12 Episode, Resources, and Study Guide
Listen to this week’s episode from the archives!
Week 12 Resources
- The 3rd part of the Stonewall Jackson Character Project.(instructions)
- Activity Sheets
- Quote Clue Card (answer key)
- Free Printable Map to color*
- The American Battlefield Trust Civil War Animated Map Video* (please preview)
* These links will take you to other websites.
Discussion Questions for After Podcast Episode 4
- What does it mean when someone says “his name is mud”? (Their reputation is soiled – or ruined.)
- What are the two main reasons the Civil War took place? (The South wanted to separate from the United States and form their own country. 2. The North and South disagreed on whether slave ownership was acceptable.)
- The year that this story took place was in 1865. Was this at the beginning, middle, or end of the Civil War? (End. The war took place from 1861 to 1865.)
- Who was John Wilkes Booth and what was his motivation for his plot to assassinate the president and others? (John Wilkes Booth was a southern, Confederate, actor and he was very upset that the south had lost the war.)
- Did this team of conspirators accomplish what they set out to do? (Yes and no. They killed the President, but they only injured the Secretary of State and the attack on the Vice President never took place.)
- Explain the prior relationship between Dr. Samuel Mudd and John Wilkes Booth. (Booth had approached Dr. Mudd with a plan to kidnap the president previously.)
- Why do you think the news of the assassination was so upsetting for the people? (Answers can vary. Possible answers include: It was upsetting because the war was just about to end and everyone was already run ragged from years of civil war. This was a pivotal junction for the country and it desperately needed strong leadership to reunite the North and South. Lincoln was the first U.S. president to be assassinated; this news stunned the world. Lincoln’s death was definitely a test for the country and its strength.)
- What was the reason that Mudd was sentenced to life in prison and was this a fair sentence? (He was convicted of Treason. He had been sympathetic with Booth, operating on him after the assassination and that was unforgivable. Emotions were running very high in our country at this time and life in prison was probably not the most just punishment for Dr. Mudd’s association unfortunately.)
- Read Psalms 1 again. What lesson can you take away from this passage? Choose your favorite verse(s) and write it down to reflect on this week.
Don’t miss a thing…
America’s Story Connection
America’s Story 2 has several chapters about the time period surrounding the Civil War.
