Lesson 5
OVERVIEW:
During this lesson students will learn when the Battle of Plattsburgh took place during the War of 1812, its place in the history of the United States and how long the battle lasted.
OBJECTIVES:
1. Students will understand when the Battle of Plattsburgh took place within the War of 1812 and the history of the United States.
2. Students will interpret a timeline to answer questions about the Battle of Plattsburgh.
3. Students will create their own timeline of the events that occurred in the Battle of Plattsburgh.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: On Lake Champlain in the summer of 1814, military activities increased. The British were gathering their troops just north of the border. They were under the command of General Sir George Prevost. Build up of the British troops was made possible because of the victory over Napoleon. These veteran troops were shipped to Canada; by August 1814 approximately 16,000 soldiers had landed.
The Americans were also building their defenses. Lieutenant Thomas Macdonough and a work crew were building their naval fleet in Vergennes, VT. An army of 5000 soldiers was located in Plattsburgh under the command of Gen. George Izard. They began to build fortifications on Cumberland Head and on the peninsula between the Lake Champlain and the Saranac River south of Plattsburgh.
In August, the War Dept. in Washington sent Gen. Izard to Sackets Harbor with 4000 of his best men. They felt this was where the main British attack would be. However, Gen. Izard knew the British were building up their troops just north of Plattsburgh and tried to delay his departure from Plattsburgh. On Aug. 29 th, Gen. Izard departed with 4000 of his best men for Sackets Harbor. He left Gen. Alexander Macomb in command with 3400 soldiers, only 1500 of whom were effective fighting men.
Gen. Prevost and the British troops began to gather in Champlain on September 1st. Macomb ordered all American forces to delay the British advance in order to prepare Plattsburgh.
For
additional information review other lesson plans.
ACTIVITIES:
1. In pairs or groups, the students will be given a date for the time periods on the time line. Then they will do research to create a picture of the event that occurred on that day. They also need to write a paragraph that explains their picture and what is happening that day in history. After they have completed this part of the activity, the class will then create a large timeline with their pictures in the hall.
2. Students will be given a timeline (attached) and will have to answer questions based on the information on the timeline.
3. Journal Activity – students will create an authentic looking journal entry based on an event on the timeline of the Battle of Plattsburgh. They will choose a historical character (Prevost, Macdonough, Macomb, Aiken’s volunteer) and write a journal entry as that person would have during that time in history.
Biographical information available in Lesson Plan 3
4. For the eleven areas on the timeline, students will create dioramas of the event that occurred on that day in history. The dioramas will be displayed in chronological order.
5. Students will create a picture book on the Battle of Plattsburgh, Gen. Macdonough, or Gen. Macomb. They then will present the book to a primary class and include an activity sheet for follow –up (coloring sheet of the Saratoga).
6. Document Based Questions and Essay – constructed responses for primary resources.
C. Map of the Battle of Plattsburgh
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