Henry Stevens finally joins the 18th NH volunteers, but he never makes it into battle…

SOURCE: HSCC Monadnock Moment No. 029: Stoddard’s Unknown Soldier

Originally published in Monadnock History Comics (Keene Sentinel, 2005)

Discussion questions: 

• This episode mentions the names of several historical figures. Which names do you recognize? Why are they famous?
  • Abraham Lincoln
  • William Tecumseh Sherman
  • Jefferson “Jeff” Davis
  • Nurse (Dorothea) Dix
• Many of the 18th New Hampshire Volunteers fall victim to Typhus before they even reached the battlefields in the south. Why did so many soldiers get sick during the Civil War? What helped to spread the diseases? (Look for clues in the military hospital scene.)
• Henry Stevens volunteers for the Union Army. What other states made up the Union during the Civil War? What states composed the Confederate States of America? What were the main differences between the two countries?
• When did the Civil War end? If Henry Stevens had survived, how long might he have served in the Union Army?  What important events did he not live to witness?