I was invited to speak to the 7th and 8th grade students at York Catholic's annual Civil War Reenactment Weekend, which has been a staple for more than a decade and a half. Students study history in a very creative way - becoming Civil War reenactors for a weekend. Trained and taught by living historians and adult reenactors (some of whom are school teachers themselves from other districts), the students are immersed for two days into a small glimpse of what military life in the 1860s may have been like. It's a very effective teaching method, one that surely brings more interest than the average lecture from a teacher reciting boring dates, people, and events. Bringing history to life in this creative fashion most certainly is a better way to educate, and I commend the good folks at York Catholic for supporting and sustaining this methodology for so long.
Yankees: April 2008 Archives
The 51st Penna. left their wooden winter quarters behind as they embarked on trains after being reassigned from Virginia to duty in Ohio. The soldiers were herded into wooden boxcars with rude benches to sit on for the long ride to the West.
Scores of Civil War regiments passed through York on the Northern Central Railway, particularly early in the war as they were being shuttled from training sites to the South to their designated assignments. Some trains steamed through town without stopping, making the run from Harrisburg to Baltimore as an express route. Others paused in York, but the men had to stay in the railcars. In other cases, the soldiers were allowed off the train to stretch their legs, use the depot's facilities, and perhaps grab quick bite to eat.
Some took the opportunity to tour the prosperous and attractive town of some 8,600 people. For a few soldiers, that sojourn made them AWOL.
I love listening to Civil War music - both period pieces, as well as contemporary works. I listen to my CDs and tapes at home while painting miniature Civil War figurines or building and finishing model terrain for my Civil War miniature wargaming hobby. I also like to pop a disk into my CD player while I cruise around the Antietam and Gettysburg battlefields.
My favorite group (by far) is the 2nd South Carolina String Band, and my favorite single artist is Bobby Horton. Recently, I received for review a copy of a new contemporary collection of songs that is simply outstanding -- a collection that grows on me every time I listen. With vestiges of country, folk music, the blues, and a little rock thrown in, Al Grund's Two Soldiers is simply pure entertainment, while at times stirring up some interesting social questions.
Have a look at my review of this new CD on my wargaming blog, Charge!
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