Writing Contest for Young Historians

The Tennessee Valley Civil War Round Table is holding a writing contest for young historians.  The TVCWRT is based in Huntsville, Alabama, but entry is open to kids in the Tennessee Valley which encompasses most of North Alabama and Southern Tennessee.  (see rules below.)

There are three age categories from first to twelfth grade.  If you know a budding historian who is interested in American Civil War history, please pass this on to them. 

This contest is being held as part of the TVCWRT's Sesquicentennial celebration and a prelude to our November Civil War Symposium.    

 

 

Tennessee Valley Civil War Round Table 2013 Writing Contest

Contest Rules

 

 

Topic:  Why Is Learning about the American Civil War Important to America and Americans?

Qualified Entries:  To be qualified for the Contest, an entry must answer the question in 200 words or less:  Why is learning about the American Civil War important to America and Americans? (hereinafter referred to as “the Contest”).

Eligibility:  The Contest is open to all (and only) students in grades 1-12 enrolled as of the time of the Contest in public, private and parochial elementary, middle, and high schools, and respective home-schooled youth, in the 2013-2014 school year in the Tennessee Valley area.  No purchase necessary. 

Entry Categories:  There are three entry categories:  elementary school students (grades 1-6), middle school students (grades 7-9), and high school students (grades 10-12).

Entry Period:  The Contest begins at 12:00 a.m. Central Time on August 15, 2013, and entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. Central Time on September 30, 2013.

How to Enter:  Submit your entry via email to tnvalleycivilwarrt@gmail.com. 

Your entry may be included in the body of your email or as an attached MicroSoft Word (and only M/S Word) document. 

If you prefer, your parent or guardian may email your entry for you. 

Include the following information in your email:          

Full name and telephone number of student.

Name of school and grade level (e.g., third grade, ninth grade, etc.)

Questions may be submitted via email to the same address, or you may call 256-541-2483 (if no answer, please leave a message).

Only one (1) entry per person.  Any attempts to submit more than one (1) entry by using multiple/different email addresses, identities, registrations and logins, or any other methods, may result in disqualification of that student’s entries. 

Entries exceeding maximum word limit will not be judged.

There is no fee to submit an entry. 

By submitting an entry to the Contest, each entrant agrees to comply with and be bound by these Official Rules, and acknowledges that the decisions of the TVCWRT shall be final and binding in all matters relating to the Contest.

There will be a limit of fifty (50) entries per student category, on a first-come basis.  Entries received in excess of that limitation in each student category will be retained by the TVCWRT, but not judged.

 

Winner Selections: 

Judging will commence at the time the Contest begins and continue until all entries submitted prior to the Contest end time have been reviewed.

All valid entries will be screened by one or more persons appointed by the TVCWRT Board of Directors in its sole discretion.  The screening panel will submit its findings and recommendations to the Board.  The Board will select the winner in each of the three student categories, subject to the following limitation

 There must be a minimum of three entries in a student category (elementary, middle, and high school) for judging and determination of a winner in that category.  Any category in which a minimum of three entries is not received will not be judged and no winner will be determined.  In this case, the TVCWRT will recognize each entrant in that category at the awards announcement on November 2.

The Board of Directors will select one Contest Winner in each of the three student categories, based on the following criteria, weighted equally: (a) originality, (b) creativity, (c) quality of expression, and (d) usefulness in understanding why the study of the ACW is important to America and Americans today.

The Contest Winner in each category will be notified via email no later than Saturday, October 26, 2013. [This is one week before the symposium.]

 

PRIZE:  The Contest Winner in each category will –

Be introduced and allowed to publicly read his/her winning entry at the TVCWRT Civil War Symposium currently scheduled to be held November 2, 2013, at the main library facility of the Huntsville/Madison County Public Library in Huntsville, Alabama.  If for some reason the Symposium is not held on that date or at that location, the TVCWRT will notify each Contest Winner of alternate arrangements,

Receive a TVCWRT Symposium tee shirt.

Receive a complimentary family membership to the TVCWRT for one year (2014).

 

GRANT OF RIGHTS:    All entries become the property of TVCWRT.

By submitting an entry, the entrant grants to the TVCWRT (a) the right to edit the entry for grammar and spelling; and (b) a non-exclusive, assignable, perpetual, license to produce, publish, distribute, transmit, exhibit, exploit, and license the entry and any portions thereof in any format (collectively "distribute" or "distribution," as applicable) by any and all means, uses and media, whether audio, print, audiovisual or otherwise, now or hereafter known, in all languages.

Entrant further agrees that TVCWRT shall have the first right to distribute the entry unless TVCWRT waives that right, in writing; provided that, TVCWRT’s first right to distribute shall automatically expire on September 30, 2014.

Entrant retains the copyright and all other rights in the work.

 

 

 

The Carnage Was Dreadful

It began with the largest massacre of non-combatants by Native Americans in United States history, and ended with the greatest number of Native Americans killed in one day by the United States military.  The Creek Indian War raged through 1813 and 1814, but is now largely forgotten outside of Alabama.

In early 1813, war broke out between  two factions of the Creek Nation in eastern Mississippi Territory, what would eventually become the State of Alabama.  One faction was made up of mixed and full blood Creeks who had began to adopt a more European way of living, trading and farming.  The other faction, known as the "Red Sticks" wanted a full return to the ways of their forefathers before the coming of the white men.  This disagreement boiled into civil war among the Creeks, with both sides winning and losing skirmishes in lower Alabama.

On August 30, 1813 a large band of Red Sticks attacked a ramshackle stockade post called Fort Mims.  By the end of the day, approximately 500 men, women and children; whites, mixed bloods, full bloods and black slaves, lay dead with the fort reduced to ashes. 

Massacre at Fort Mims

Panic ensued through the white settlements in northern Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee.  For the first time, the United States became involved in a Native American civil war.  The Tennessee militia marched into Alabama to subjugate the Red Sticks.  The column under General Andrew Jackson was the most active and successful of the American forces who marched against the Red Sticks.  Several defeats, and inadequate supply lines plagued Jackson and his men.  In the Spring of 1814 he was reinforced with a regiment of United States Regulars and marched again towards the Red Stick strong hold on the Tallapoosa River.   199 years ago today, Jackson and his mixed force of Tennessee Militia, US Regulars, friendly Creek Indians and Cherokee allies attacked the Red Sticks at Horseshoe Bend. 

Andrew Jackson

By the end of the day, as many as 1,000 Red Stick warriors lay dead. 350 Red Stick women and children were handed over to the Cherokee allies as slaves.   Red Stick resistance ceased and the "Creek War" was over.    One of Jackson's biographers described Horseshoe Bend as "slow, laborious slaughter." Jackson, in a letter to a fellow officer reported, "The carnage was dreadful."  In contrast, Jackson's army suffered only 50 killed and 154 wounded. 

The victory at the Horseshoe won promotion of Jackson to Major General of Volunteers in the United States Army.  He later commanded US troops at the Battle of New Orleans in a stunning one-sided defeat of a British invasion force.  Jackson was catapulted to national Fame and was elected President in 1828.  His rise as a national leader had its beginnings at Horseshoe Bend,  Alabama.

 

The 39th US Infantry scales the palisades.  From a diorama at the  Horseshoe Bend NPS visitor's center.

 

The sword of Major Lemuel Montgomery, 39th US Infantry. Montgomery was the highest ranking American officer killed at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. He had been an attorney in Nashville before the War of 1812.  The city of Montgomery, Alabama was named for him.  Courtesy Myers Brown, Tennessee State Museum

 

Twenty Five years after the victory at Horseshoe Bend, President Andrew Jackson would betray those Creek and Cherokee allies who helped him win the Red Stick War, when he evicted them from their homes in Alabama and Georgia and sent them on the Trail of Tears to the Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River.

For more on Horseshoe Bend, I suggest this National Park Service video.  This is shown at the NPS visitor center at the battlefield.  I had the honor to help make this video (that's my cannon you will see in some scenes.)  The film is narrated by Native American Hollywood actor, Wes Studie. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOtFw748u7s

 

A three minute video on the battle produced by PBS.

http://www.pbs.org/kcet/andrewjackson/video/video_pop.html?id=57