Press Conference on the Peninsular Campaign and the Seven Days Battles

On Thursday, February 13, we will be staging press conferences concerning these two military campaigns. Each student will play two roles: a political or military leader AND a journalist. Your job will be to prepare to answer questions on your person’s role in these campaigns. You should defend your decisions at the time, take credit for successes, and be prepared to cast blame on the others that you feel were more responsible for failures. As a journalist, you should be prepared, in your role as either a Union or a Confederate reporter with the indicated biases to direct questions each at the people on your side. Feel free to be accusatory or defensive in your approach to the people you are interviewing if you have that sort of bias. Your questions and answers should display a knowledge of the battles.

The two moderators will have a different task. First of all, you will give a short summary of what happened in the campaigns you’ve been assigned to so we can be sure that everyone is on the same page. Then, you will be responsible for calling on the journalists and getting them to direct their questions to all the historical figures. You can ask follow-up questions if you feel that something has been missed by either the respondent or the questioner. You will also summarize the press conference after about 18-20 minutes: Who answered accusations well and who was a weasel?

These sites may be of use to you to find out more about these battles.

The American Civil War Online History – Check out sections 12.1, 15.1, 15.5, 17.1, 17.2, 18.1, 20.1 - http://www.vectorsite.net/twcw.html

The Peninsula Campaign - http://www.peninsulacampaign.org/

The Peninsula Campaign Overview - http://www.civilwarhome.com/peninsul.htm

Seven Days Battles - http://www.civilwarhome.com/sevendays.htm

Peninsular Campaign – through the Battle of Seven Pines or Fair Oaks

Moderator: Brennan
Union		Confederate
General McClellan	Robbie	General Johnston	Philip
President Lincoln	Naomi	General Magruder	Chester
		President Davis	James R.

Journalists for the Peninsular Campaign Press Conference

(Write at least two questions for the people on your side)

Union Reporters – will question Union leaders		Confederate Reporters – will question Confederate leaders
Pro-Administration bias	Katie	Anti-Johnston bias	Justin
Pro-Administration bias	Melissa	Anti-Johnston bias	Will
Pro-McClellan bias	James P.	Pro-Johnston bias	Jack
Pro-McClellan bias	Michael	Pro-Johnston bias	Emily

The Seven Days Battles

Moderator: Michael
Union		Confederate
General McClellan	James P.	General Lee	Jack
President Lincoln	Katie	General Jackson	Will
General Porter	Melissa	General A. P. Hill	Justin
		General Longstreet	Emily

Journalists for the Seven Days Campaign Press Conference

(Write at least three questions for the people on your side)

Union Reporters – will question Union leaders		Confederate Reporters – will question Confederate leaders
Pro-McClellan bias	Robbie	Skeptical of Lee	James R.
Anti-McClellan bias	Naomi	Supporter of Lee	Brennan
Anti-McClellan bias	Chester	Skeptical of Jackson and Longstreet	Philip