Story originally printed in the Coulee News or online at www.couleenews.com
Published - Thursday, May 29, 2008
It was a sight to watch as nearly 150 new recruits split by their loyalty to the United States or their desire to secede took the field prepared to settle their conflict with arms.
Battle drums filled the air amid the frequent firing of weapons, only broken up by the intermittent barking of orders by commanders. It was a deadly game of strategy as companies wheeled left or right, faced and fired. Sometimes groups just charged forward.
The casualties were high that day as many soldiers, so new to battle, had to be carried off the field, and the hospital was rushing with blood from cuts, gashes and amputated limbs.
And that was just four hours into the school day for West Salem eighth-graders.
In what has become an annual tradition at West Salem Middle School, the eighth-grade class took part in Civil War Day on May 16. Now in its 13th year, the event aims to give students a real-life account of The War Between the States n taking them out of the classroom and textbooks and physically immersing them into the life of a soldier.
The day is filled with drilling new recruits, actually eating a Civil War soldier’s meal and taking part in a re-enactment of the Battle of Gettysburg.
“I thought it was kind of a way for students to live a little bit of the life of a soldier and actively learn about it instead of just learning about it in the classroom,” said eighth-grade social studies teacher Jenny Morgan, who organizes the event. “I always try to present the bigger picture of history, of Wisconsin. And this is a really good way to do that.”
The idea for a Civil War Day came to Morgan 14 years ago when she attended a social studies convention. A group of Civil War re-enactors had been annually putting on a re-enactment for another school district, and Morgan thought something similar could be fashioned for West Salem.
So she contacted Company B of the 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, a La Crosse-based group of re-enactors. And, well, the rest is history.
Pete Seielstad, who re-enacts a private in the Confederate Army, said the group of re-enactors has been around for 20 years. Ten years ago, the group joined with the Boy Scouts’ Venture Crew II, whose members also take part in re-enacting events.
The actual Company B of the 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry was one of the first companies to enlist during the call for troops in 1861, and they eventually formed the Iron Brigade and fought at Gettysburg. Seielstad said the re-enactors are volunteers who simply have the common goal of preserving history; in addition to re-enacting Civil War battles, they also are active in preserving historic sites, such as the Campbell Cemetery Mortar.
“We try to promote and preserve the remembrance of the soldier of the Civil War era,” said Seielstad, 52, who lives in Sparta. “We are volunteers who just have a common goal and interest in the Civil War. We don’t want what history there is to go until it’s lost.”
Re-enactors of Company B take part in a number of local, state and national events throughout the year. However, the event at WSMS is by far the most involved they not only become re-enactors, they become teachers.
“There our main focus is to have the kids get a taste for what it was like,” Seielstad said.
At the beginning of the day, the eighth-graders are split into four companies two companies of Union soldiers and two companies of Confederate soldiers. The “recruits” are sworn in and undergo drills, learning basic combat techniques such as loading and firing a rifle and line movements that actual Civil War soldiers would have known.
The students then attend breakout sessions where the re-enactors give them a first-person view of life as a soldier and life during the Civil War. Some talk about being a prisoner of war, while other topics include Wisconsin’s role in the war, uniforms and medical treatments.
Then it’s time for lunch, but it’s not your typical school lunch. Food services help prepare a meal that actual soldiers would have eaten during the Civil War: vegetable soup, hard rolls, fruit, milk and hardtack a hard and dry but long-lasting biscuit.
Then it’s onto the Battle of Gettysburg, where this year’s class re-enacted the second day of the battle. During lunch, students receive a “fate card” that tells them if live, “die” or get “wounded” during battle. The wounded need to be treated at the field hospital, complete with bandages and fake blood, and then go back onto the field. Morgan said the fate cards only work for a short period of time because everyone wants to see what the field hospital is like.
“I think we have 100-percent casualties,” Morgan said. “After the first person gets shot’ and taken to the hospital, they all have to go. Eventually we have to close the hospital.
“They do have fun, though.”
The battle concludes with “Taps,” a musical piece commonly heard at military funerals. Students attend a ceremony where the band plays Civil War-era music, and forensics students read the Gettysburg Address and perform other similar readings.
The day ends with a game of rounders, a makeshift game of baseball that soldiers would play during breaks. Twine or rolled-up socks are used for balls and clubs are used for bats; batters are out if the “ball” is caught on one bounce.
In the years he’s re-enacted at WSMS, Seielstad said he sees the students are having fun but he also sees they’re learning.
“They like battling with each other and marching,” he said. “It’s fun, but the hardest lesson to teach is the result of war. They laugh and are having fun and everything, but we still try to make them understand.
“When they play Taps,’ I think the kids kind of feel some emotion, and they understand. We want them to learn about the sacrifices that were made. We want them to remember those sacrifices because sacrifices without remembering is meaningless.”
At the middle school, the Civil War is taught as an interdisciplinary lesson and different departments are involved. In addition to social studies, English class students read “Across Five Aprils” a story set in the Civil War era and rounders is taught in physical education class. Band teaches the songs performed during Civil War Day, and students in math class analyze soldier lists and draft dodgers and then create charts.
Students like eighth-grader Parker Holey said bridging a topic across different classes creates a better learning atmosphere. He said actually taking part in Civil War Day gives a better perspective of the historical event.
“Doing all the (battle) motions, it’s a lot harder than they make it sound. And with the meal the watered-down soup I have an actual respect for the soldier now,” said Holey, 14. “I think the whole day for this teaches you a lot more than just the regular textbook could. It lets you get more in-depth.”
Fellow classmate Dan Stoehr, 14, agreed. He said his favorite part of Civil War Day was rounders, and he learned interesting facts like U.S. Marines actually dress in Union-style uniforms during some presentations.
“It’s pretty fun, especially because I’m interested in the Civil War,” Stoehr said.
The event is so fun and so meaningful that some former eighth-graders actually have joined the ranks of Company B though Venture Crew. West Salem graduate Joseph Anderson, who currently attends the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, is now a re-enactor, as are West Salem High School junior Chris Ryan and sophomore Ben Cullen.
Seielstad said the group knows they’re accomplishing goals beyond their mission when former students want to carry on the history.
“We’ve done our job,” Seielstad said. “Everyone has an interest in something. It’d be pretty much like going to a class and telling them what it’s like to be a writer, and the next thing you know a kid is writing a story. I like to say we mentor them.”
Whether or not students go on to be Civil War re-enactors, Morgan hopes they all go on having learned a little more about the Civil War.
“I hope they come away with an appreciation of what it was like to live at that time and the destruction that this war caused; it was a terrible time in our history,” Morgan said. “I think they gain a little bit of a personal story behind the war.”
ABOUT THE RE-ENACTORS
Re-enactors of Company B of the 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry formed 20 years ago and are based in La Crosse. Re-enactors are from the Coulee Region and average membership is about 24 people, whose ages range from 25 to 56. In addition to re-enacting Civil War battles around the state and nation, the group of volunteers is also active in preserving historic sites.
Company B also consists of about 12 additional members from Venture Crew II, who are members of the Boys Scouts.
The group meets at 7 p.m. every second Friday of the month at the Wesley United Methodist Church Library at the corner of Eighth and King streets in La Crosse.
For more information on the group or how to join, visit www.lacrosselightguard.com or call Pete Seielstad at (608) 343-8429
All stories copyright 2006 Coulee News and other attributed sources.