FIFTH GRADERS at Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary held their last Civil War day Friday, ending a 20-year tradition that began at Jordan Acres School. Changes in curriculum will have next year’s students ending the school year on the American Revolution.
The Union Army claimed victory over the field at Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary for the last time Friday. The final Civil War reenactment day, following weeks of student study and staff preparation, marked the end of a 20-year tradition beginning at the former Jordan Acres School.
FACULTY MEMBERS at Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary dressed in Civil War-period garb during the school’s last reenactment Friday.
What’s more, the kids were running stations themselves. Students made topographic maps out of clay and told people all about various battles. Others discussed the underground railroad, naval vessels, or led drills with their troops.
As part of this educational immersion, some students spent the night in their encampment in the field. Fifth-grade teacher Holly Greene said she was running on about two hours of sleep after a failed attempt at an 8:30 p.m. bedtime for the kids.
Greene said two fiddle players and accordion player and a drummer accompanied the kids as they sang Civil War-era songs they learned as part of the unit.
Teachers and parents stood watch throughout the night to watch over the kids and attend to bathroom breaks.
Student Micah Poulin was working in the medical tent where students were amputating the leg of a wounded soldier.
“We take out the maggots in the wounds. The maggots actually prevent infection — they also eat the dead skin and all. They thought that puss in the wound was good — like a sign of clearing up, but it was actually a sign of infection,” Poulin said.
Poulin said surgeons of the time didn’t wash their hands when working with multiple patients and most of the wounded died of infections.
Over at the amputation, one of the kids called out for whiskey for their patient while another readied the chloroform to put him under.
At another station, Zach Stern-Hayes told people about the H.L. Hunley, the 39-foot Confederate submarine, credited with one sinking before going down with its crew as well.
For lunch, students lined up for stew to put in their cans that hung from their belts and hardtack — a kind of biscuit or cornbread. The kids ate in their encampments in circles, chatting.
When it came time for the reenactment of Pickett’s Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg, laughter and joking stopped as kids truly got into character. The reenactment was narrated and choreographed. Each student who didn’t survive knew when to fall.
Cannons in the background fired powder as did students’ rifles. Kids had to reach into their pouch and retrieve a new cartridge, simulating the time it took during a charge to reload between each round.
The Confederates advanced on the Union before a final bayonet charge. By this time the crowd had fallen silent — all that could be heard were the cries of the kids on the field and the narrator as the South was repelled.
Troops lined up and crosses raised to a moment of silence for the members of the 20th Maine who died in that battle. It was a short but poignant end to the day’s events — the end of the Civil War unit and the end to 20 years of reenacting Pickett’s Charge.
Next year the school year will end with the American Revolution instead.
dmcintire@timesrecord.com
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