Teaching Materials
Timothy Donovan's Story
by Carolyn Reeder

Before starting the book:

Print out the Historical Notes for background material that will help answer students' questions.

Discuss words with multiple meanings. Have the students look up the following words in the dictionary and chose the meaning(s) that would be most likely in a book set during the Civil War: quarters, company, battery, salute, magazine, and steamer.

Have students read the blurb on the back cover and make sure they understand 1) that "fire-eaters" were extremist pro-slavery politicians who wanted the south to secede and 2) that "bugle calls" like reveille and the mess call that announced meals organized the soldiers' day.

Using the map opposite page 1, point out that unlike the island where Castle Pinckney is located, many of the islands in the South Carolina low country are separated from the mainland only by narrow waterways, as is Sullivan's Island. Have students estimate the distance between Fort Moultrie and Charleston; between Fort Moultrie and Fort Sumter; between Fort Sumter and Castle Pinckney. ("Castle" is an old-fashioned word for fortress.) Show the two pictures of Fort Moultrie from Timothy Donovan's World (PowerPoint®).

After Chapter Two:

Show the rest of the pictures from Timothy Donovan's World.

Possible activities as the students read:

1. From www.fmaalumni.org/bugle_calls.html record the calls Timothy sounded. (Tell students that the call "Taps" hadn't yet come into use.)
2. Make a simple display showing the following flags in use at this time:
1. The 34-star U.S. flag that flew over Forts Moultrie and Sumter
2. South Carolina's palmetto tree state flag
3. The seven-star national flag of the Confederacy (Note: This is NOT the controversial battle flag.)
3. Find photographs of Major Robert Anderson and Captain Doubleday, Union officers who were in command at Forts Moultrie and Sumter, and of General Pierre Beauregard, who commanded the Confederate artillerists. Write brief but informative captions for the photos.
4. Draw a scene from each chapter. Write a caption that describes what is happening.

After finishing the book:

Class Activity:

Meeting in small groups, students will brainstorm a list of adjectives to describe each of the following characters: Timothy, Norris, Evans, Major Anderson, O'Brian (the drummer), Captain Doubleday, Corporal Rice. Then members of each group will decide which three adjectives on their list are the most descriptive and can be supported with incidents from the story. (This activity could be continued in a whole-class session in which the group lists are combined and discussed.)

Suggested Discussion Questions:

What incidents in the story show the importance of the flag as a national symbol? How do you think this compares with attitudes toward the flag today?

In what ways was the beginning of the Civil war like the beginnings of 20th century wars? In what ways was it different? (Students would need to prepare for this discussion by finding out how the 20th century wars began.)

How might you paraphrase Anderson's instructions to his artillerists: "Indiscretion is not valor."

Why were two officers allowed to endanger themselves by going onto the barbette to replace the flag on a makeshift pole after it had been shot down even though soldiers weren't allowed to fire the barbette guns because of the danger?

Suggested Writing Exercises:

1. Write a character sketch on one of the following fictional characters: Timothy, Norris, Pvt. Hanson, Pvt. Evans, Mrs. Reilly, or Cpl. Rice. (For this assignment, students might find Page 2 of www.stemnet.nf.ca/CITE/twisters_character_sketch_help.pdf useful.)
2. Write an essay discussing what might have happened if Major Anderson had not moved the garrison to Fort Sumter or if he had surrendered the fort before the bombardment as demanded by Beauregard.
3. Choose one:
1. Write four or five journal entries from the point of view of either Mrs. Reilly (the cook's wife), Corporal Rice, or a character you imagine: the son or daughter of an officer at the fort.
2. Write a letter from Norris to his grandfather.
3. Write a memoir that Timothy might have written as an old man, looking back on the boy he had been.