The Uncivil War: Battle in the Classroom

Morgan Huddleston and Jeremy Wiggins have shared a classroom for three years, disliking each other the whole time and always in constant competition. Then a fourth grade social studies assignment reveals they are directly connected by tragic events that occurred 150 years earlier. Morgan and Jeremy contact their relatives and learn they both had a great-great-great-grandfather at the Battle of Chickamauga - but on opposite sides. Morgan's distant grandfather fought for the Confederacy there, while Jeremy's distant grandfather was a Union soldier and was killed in the battle. So the big "What if...?" question is raised in the classroom. How the two students arrive at a resolution that ends their own uncivil war is the heartening conclusion to the story. Using contemporary settings, flashbacks based on historical characters and units, preserved family letters, and actual battlefield events at Chickamauga, The Uncivil War demonstrates how history can become magically alive when its students become personally involved. Author Nick K. Adams is a retired elementary school teacher who lives in Lakewood, Washington with his wife, Carolyn Stover Modarelli-Adams, who created the interior artwork and cover design for The Uncivil War. He continues to research and write about the Civil War, volunteers as a CASA at Juvenile Court, and enjoys performing professionally as a storyteller.