Let’s talk about the Civil War in Texas and how it relates to Texas History!Our Civil Warunit is always a big hit in the classroom. It may be because it is one of the points in history that students have heard of, and remember, so they have a connection with it.
Beginning the Civil War in Texas Unit
I choose to begin this unit with a KWL chart, because my students always have misconceptions about the Civil War era, and I want to be sure of what they are from the very beginning of the unit.
- The enslavement of people
- States’ rights
- Industrial society v. Agricultural society
- Abraham Lincoln
While forced enslavement of people is the largest cause of the Civil War and is related to the other three cases, it is not the only one. The three additional causes all found their roots in slavery as well.
Next, we talk about the word secession and which states chose to secede from the United States. We refer back to the causes we talked about previously in relation to each state.
After we establish which states belonged to the North and the South we learn about the differences in the two government and how that affected the people.
Through all of this discussion we complete the interactive notebook activities you can find here with the aid of this PowerPoint.
Civil War Battles in Texas
Then we move onto the timeline of battles of the Civil War In Texas, especially for 4th grade, it is tough, because everything we learn is from the scope of how it affected Texas, but I think that it is important to have an overview of the war as a whole. We complete a timeline of battles and learn more about the specific groups who fought the battles in Texas.
Reviewing the Civil War in Texas

Another GREAT thing about this unit is the amazing read alouds that come with it. There are many, many fantastic books for this time of history, but my favorites are below.
Books to Support this Unit:
Civil War
I hope that you and your students learn just as much with this unit as our class has!