Description:

This class will re-enact the great unseen intelligence battles of the Civil War- and learn about far more than spying in the process- using an RPG (role playing game).

The Civil War was America's deadliest conflict and was fought on all the fronts that existed at the time- on land, at sea, and underground. Knowing your enemy is the surest way to defeat them, and in the Civil War everyone did their part. This class will focus on the clandestine activities of one of America's most successful spies, Elizabeth Van Lew, leader of the Richmond Underground, a Union spy ring which operated under the nose of the highest levels of the Confederate government. The class will role play as Richmond high society, simulating the wartime economy of the Capitol of the South, while working to either support the war effort or undermine it. (Or the third option, war profiteering by playing both sides.)

The class will use a Role-Playing Game system, designed by the instructor for the Spy Games series of classes, to allow for "Dungeons and Dragons" style game play. Students will attempt to bluff, sneak, and steal their way into positions of power, completing secret objectives while trying to avoid detection and capture. Missions and information will have to be passed via historic methods, such as shift ciphers and code wheels, and as such, part of class will include lessons on basic cryptography. This will of course culminate in the Siege of Richmond, as the Union Army grinds its way into the South, and our student spies will be able to see and affect the scale of the outcomes of this (and other) major Civil War battles.

Note: This section will be held entirely ONLINE in a virtual classroom, providing synchronous online instruction via videoconferencing for the full year. Recordings will be made for students with schedule conflicts.

Topics in this Series: Early American Spying in The Civil War (Semester 1), Modern American Spying in the Cold War (Semester 2)

Workload: Students should expect to spend 0-1 hours per week outside of class.

Assignments: Period maps, photographs, and re-creations will be posted on a class Google Drive, and video links from YouTube will be e-mailed to parents and students for homework or supplemental investigation.

Assessments: Will not be given.

Credit: Homeschool families may wish to count this course as a component (partial) credit in History for purposes of a high school transcript