A Civil War Tale

We started this school year with a Unit Study on the Civil War. First off, we studied slavery and the Underground Railroad. The kids really enjoyed reading about real life heroes like Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Tubman. They especially enjoyed reading the book "Follow the Drinking Gourd" and making their own star maps and drinking gourds (made out of some over-sized squash from the garden). On Friday, the 11th we drove for 3 hours up to the New Market Battlefield for a field trip with our history group. The girls loved Miss Stacey's (our tour guide) period dress. The first thing Miss Stacey did was to organize the troops into battle formation and make them stand at attention while she explained the rules for the museum. Notice how straight Krystal is standing.

Once in the museum, Miss Stacey organized the groups by dividing families and age groups up so that everyone was with a new family. She then sent them on a scavenger hunt to find things in the museum that would answer the questions on the sheet. The kids really enjoyed this approach to looking at a museum. Jared and Krystal ended up in the same group, but are working with another Mom.

Next, Miss Stacey talked to the kids about what equipment was needed for soldiers before they could enter into battle. Some of the kids got to try on uniforms as we discussed the different types of unifoms and their fabric.

Next we took a tour of the battlefield and the Bushong farm on which it took place. Luckily, the farmhouse and outbuildings were not damaged in the battle. However one of the rooms had been used as a hospital for the wounded. This room was set up as a replica, complete with blood splattered on the walls.

Here is Krystal in the kitchen building (separate from the house), the kids were excited to find an actual drinking gourd hanging by the hearth.

After a picnic lunch and watching the film about the battle, we made the kids pose for a picture in front of the battlefield. The Bushong farm is in the background and the "field of shoes" is just to the left. Apparently, the day of the battle was rainy and the freshly plowed wheat field turned into thick mud and many of the soldiers lost their shoes. The most touching part of this battle was that a troop of 250 cadets from the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington (about 90 miles away) got called away from their studies to come help the Confederates in battle. They fought bravely, but 10 of them lost their lives in this battle. Jared was touched by this story and as we talked about how young the cadets were, we were reminded of the story in the Book of Mormon of the 2,000 stripling warriors. Jared wrote a compare and contrast between the two and presented it for Family Night on Monday. He also wrote a verse of song about the cadets to the tune of one of the Primary songs from church and he played it for us on the piano.

This is the verse he wrote (to the tune of Book of Mormon Stories):

Once there were some young cadets who fought for slavery.

They were asked to march and fight with lots of bravery.

Rains did fall into the field which made a lot of mud.

They fought hard, lost their shoes, but they won.

After the lesson we reenacted the battle through a game of tug of war.

On the 18th, I woke up with an itch for another field trip, so we packed a lunch and drove for 15 minutes to a little spot just outside of Dublin where another Civil War battle took place. There is no museum here, just a little wayside with a sign and a single grave. A Captian Cleburne was killed in this battle and buried here.

Jared is making a crayon rubbing of the engravings on the tombstone.

This is the sign that tells a little about the battle. Apparently there is also a farmhouse and barn nearby that is privately owned, but where you can still see the bullet holes and blood on the floor. I love that our nation's history runs so rich in Virginia.

After some time talking about the events that took place, we enjoyed our lunch and some play time on the lawn. Here is Amber enjoying the day with two of her friends.