Entertainment

My topic is the Entertainment during the Civil War. Who?//** Citizens of America during the civil war. //**What?**// The entertainment that citizens of America had**//. Where?//** America //**When?**// During the 1800s //**Why?**// People needed things to distract them from the war and comfort them. //**How?**// People organized plays, magic shows and other things to entertain people
 * //What i already know:

//**What I want to know: Who?**// Who was very famous for their entertainment? Who was a famous actor? //**What?**// What was the most Popular play? Were there many traveling shows? //**When?**// None //**Why?**// Why did some people decide to put on plays? //**How?**// How did they set things like this up?

My reseach strategy: Who? I will ask my teachers, my parents, and some students. What? I will use websites with legitamite information and books When? During class Where? At Cross Timbers library How? I will concentrate and use my info to help me

Key words for searching: Civil war entertainment, shows in the civil war.

Civil War Entertainment The entertainment of the Civil War soldiers provided leisure time during a tense conflict in American history. Their entertainmen was important because it gave them the chance to cool down and let of steam after a battle or in camps at night.

The soldiers liked the evenings after long battles or long marches so they could relax. "The best times came in the evenings, when all the drill was done." (Davis) They liked the evening after battles where they could just sit and talk. "They wrote prodigiously, literally millions of letters and tens of thousands of diaries. Even the illiterate could pass the time by dictating a letter home to a more lettered comrade. Those who could read did so, devouring whatever they could find: newspapers, cheap novels, the Bible, political tracts, and sometimes even camp newspapers prepared and printed by fellow soldiers." (Davis) At the end of the day, when all was calm, the soldiers liked to sit around fires at and write letters, read and occasionally sing.

They would do many things to entertain themselves, like making tools or other various things. "Soldiers whittled sticks, carved pipes from soapstone, mended their garments, stared at the evening skies and daydreamed, and most of all just sat around the coffee boiler and talked, fighting their old battles over and over again, and boasting of what they would do when they got their next crack at Reb or Yank." (Davis) Soldiers made things from soapstone or sticks, made repairs to clothes and usually just sat around and talked. "One Kentucky Confederate brigade had its own debating society. Hundreds of songs enjoyed popularity North and South, but one outshone them all, signifying the longing of the boys to return to their "Home, Sweet Home." The rest of the time they took their fun where they could find it. In winter, a fresh snowfall was sure to produce snowball battles, some of epic proportions, like the one in the Army of Tennessee in March 1864, when whole divisions battled each other, taking prisoners and inflicting not a few wounds, all in the name of fun." (Davis) The soldiers favorite song to hear is "Home Sweet Home" and they liked to do different things in different seasons like snowball fights during the winter.

They were very smart and good at making things out of little. "The soldiers put on races and bet their meager pay on anything that would move, from cockroaches dropped onto heated plates, to men riding razorback hogs, or others pushing comrades seated in wheelbarrows. They played baseball - already an old game by the time of the war - used cannon balls for bowling at ten-pins, and even dabbled in a rude variant of cricket."(David) They didnt have much to do and were always coming up with new things. (Explain more!)" Almost every mess had at least one boy who could strum a guitar or banjo, or play a fiddle. Music echoed about the camps every night, and if most of it was not very good, still it lifted the hearts of the listeners. A few regiments even fielded small bands to entertain, often augmented by groups of amateur actors and glee clubs." (Davis) Soldiers put on races, played sports with makeshift equipment and music was very important.

In conclusion, one of the most important things they did was make friends. " Above everything else, they made friends, the kind of friendships that lasted for lifetimes, as they spent their youth and risked their lives on the battlefields of North and South."(Davis) Entertainment was very important during the civil war in order to help the soldiers in times of distress or loneliness. code code Works Cited code Davis, William C. //Soldiers of the Civil War//. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print. code code "Encyclopedia Britannica." //Encyclopedia Britannica//. N.p., 2010. Web. 26 Mar. 2010. code code //howstuffworks.com//. Discovery, n.d. Web. 8 Apr. 2010. . code code Shaara, Michael. //The Killer Angels//. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print. code

Paraphrase || No quotes or paraphrasing used. || Very few quotes or paraphrases included, no parenthetical references. || Some errors in quoting or paraphrasing and/or a few missing parenthetical references. || Several quotes and paraphrased pieces of information in each body paragraph, all with parenthetical references. || 3 ||
 * || 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || Score ||
 * Thesis || No thesis. || Thesis is present in introductory paragraph but is not well-written. || Thesis included in introductory paragraph is satisfactory if a bit obvious. || Thesis included in introductory paragraph is well-written and interesting. || 4 ||
 * Flow || Paper is difficult to read and understand. || Paper is full of short, choppy sentences and topic shifts with no transitions. || Some use of transitional words and phrases but the paper is a bit choppy at times. || Use of transitional words and phrases as well as topic sentences makes the paper easy to read from start to finish. || 2 ||
 * Quotes/
 * Commentary / “My Ideas” || No commentary. || Commentary lacking in a few places. || Commentary included with each quote or paraphrase, but it is a bit obvious or repetitive. || Thoughtful commentary included with each quote or paraphrase. || 1 ||
 * Works Cited || No works cited page included. || Works cited page is included but there are several errors. || Works cited page is included but there are a few formatting errors. || Works cited page is included and is correctly formatted. || 4 ||
 * Conventions || Difficult to understand. || Several errors. || A few errors. || Little to no errors in grammar, spelling or punctuation. (2)-> ||

First of all, the paper was really repetative and choppy at times. I didn't really get a sense of commentary at all. There we times when I felt like I wanted to know more. I put those in green. Also, I put mispelled word(s) in red, and sentences that didn't make sense, and/ or were choppy in orange. The other mistake was in blue, and I'm assuming that it was just a typing mistake. I also wanted to read more transition sentences. Overall, I felt as if there wasn't enough commentary and ideas, and too many quotes used.Try using some of your own paraphrashing at times. I would give you either a 2 or a 3. The paper is good, but it does need some work still. I hope this helped!