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civil war re-enactment expanded show tell photos by steve snisky and mike tindall eight civil war re-enactors above fire muskets for a crowd of freshman center onlookers on oct 1 the soldiers pose below for a formal shot in their vintage uniforms by alyssa wiedemeier paw prints reporter a group of civil war re-enactors visited quakertown to spend the morning with all of the freshmen from quakertown high school the event was held on sept 24 on the high school football field the re-enactors a group of men ranging from a ninth grader to a senior citizen portrayed the 69 th regiment irish brigade they set up four stations for the students to visit one on the history of the war one on marching in battle one on camp life and one on a soldier s outfit to conclude the morning the men presented a demonstration in which they shot off muskets modeled after those of the civil war one of our freshmen kyle schaeffer is actually one of the re-enactors said karen shanton the principal of the quakertown freshman center i ve been a history buff since i was like a baby so my dad and i just decided to join [the group said schaeffer schaeffer spent the morning in various stations on the football field showing his passion to his fellow students when asked about his favorite part of the acting he said that he simply loved telling the people about the history for many quakertown freshmen that day history came to life in the marching station schaeffer and a few other re-enactors taught students how soldiers marched in the civil war schaeffer gave the students directions in the same fashion that the civil war commanders gave the soldiers their directions let s go get in the line now company forward march left right left see schaeffer p 2

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2 paw prints october 2010 photo by mike tindall civil war re-enactors organize supplies pitch tents and prepare camp schaeffer continued from p 1 the re-enacting showed students what daily life was like in the war julie newman a freshman learned from the re-enactors how hard the day-to-day activities were for soldiers they had a lot of stuff to carry she said and according to the re-enactors soldiers only got paid $3 a month for all of their troubles schaeffer and the rest of the re-enactors want to show the students the sacrifices the soldiers made during the war they want the students to see the importance of the war there s more to the civil war than a week in his tory class said mike hessler one of schaeffer s fellow re-enactors this era defines our country as schaeffer traveled through the stations on the football field teaching his classmates it was evident that he shared the same passion for the history of the war clothed in the outfit of the civil war soldiers he proudly portrayed a union soldier from the 1860s it gets you in the moment schaeffer said about re-enacting it feels like the real thing schaeffer has traveled with the group of reenactors to various places bringing the civil war back to life and sharing his love of history with people all around photo by mike tindall freshman kyle schaeffer left holds his musket as an officer offers instruction on the bloody war.

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october 2010 paw prints 3 ex-military time travelers by steve snisky paw prints reporter on sept 24 the quakertown community school district freshmen center started the day off with a civil war seven civil war re-enactors awaited in alumni field the re-enactors prepared for their various presentations and acts for when the ninth graders would arrive about an hour before the freshmen arrived the reenactors relaxed by the setup of tents which would later become a station for groups to attend these stations would be where the freshmen would learn what the basic civil war camp looked like and how it operated before the troop began to prepare two of the actors gave insight on the events about to talk place and the people there that day both actors served for the military in the past a lot of us here today used to be military ben peterson said it helps us mentally with knowing a little more about war peterson vet and re-enactor said being in an actual war i ve experienced things that they had in the civil war although not as extreme a major factor of the casualties in the civil war was disease and when i was in iraq i had one of those diseases so i know a little bit better what life was like he continued with saying that the station called a soldier s life would help explain that to the ninth graders a division of four equal groups was made of the freshman student body as they arrived each group went to a beginning station and cooperated with the designated activities at the drills station the re-enactors military background came out as they sternly barked orders at the freshmen having been though actual drills and being screamed at by a commander we know how to make the orders sound realistic said peterson kyle schaffer was the youngest member of the troop to work the event kyle a freshmen and civil war reenactor made arrangements with the freshmen center where he attends school for the troop to come kyle said i could get this troop because my dad is a member and i help to when asked about kyle s interest in the civil war he said i ve actually always liked the civil war so it was really convenient that my dad know these people photo by steven snisky and is a part of this program i get to learn more about the enormous group of freshmen gather in the stands the civil war and feel like i m a part the re-enactors went through hours of work and preparation for the freshmen they demonstrated their mastery of the civil war s history their military background was clearly presentable and gave the ninth-grade center a new look at the kind of life back then photo by steven snisky the re-enactors march towards the center of the alumni field in order to begin the firing line to end the show with a bang ready for the re-enactors to present.

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4 paw prints october 2010 photo by mike tindall a re-enactor teaches freshmen about camp life during the civil war history marching camp life equipment four stations educate freshmen about the civil war by mike tindall paw prints reporter alumni field was buzzing with activity as the entire ninth-grade class awaited its journey into the civil war a thin fog covered the field on the morning of sept 24 re-enactors who only do civil war reenactments set up the weapons tents clothes and other civil war-era equipment four stations were set up to represent different areas of the war equipment camp life marching and history kept them entertained camp life interested quakertown freshman tim korzeniowski the most the camp life station was my favorite because it helped me understand what life was like for the soldiers he said however when asked if the re-enactment could have been better tim korzeniowski said it could have i think they should have done a battle on the field that would have been awesome he said the equipment area consisted of looking at a battle-ready soldiers gear a soldier in battle carried all of their belongings with them this includes blan kets food water clothes their weapon and silverware all this equipment weighed anywhere from 15 to 20 pounds i would hate to have to carry all that gear into a battle said amanda hillagas quakertown freshman because that would weigh you down a lot the marching area seemed to be a crowd favorite groups of about 40 kids lined up and gave orders to march just as officers had in the civil war being yelled at and told to straighten up was part of the routine it brought looks of fear to some of the students faces the history area taught the students on how the civil war began and some of the battles that pennsylvania regiments participated in the irish who lived in pennsylvania at the time made up the majority of the troops that came out of this state the civil war is the deadliest war in united states history from 1861 to 1865 close to 700,000 soldiers died in battle this opportunity for the freshman of quakertown allowed them to learn information on one of the biggest historical happenings in the history of the united states.

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2 3 4 1 answers the total number of deaths is believed to be around 7,000 a musket sept 17 1862 hard bread that civil war soldiers commonly ate could you be a civil war re-enactor test your knowledge of the war 1 how many soldiers died in gettysburg 2 what was the most common weapon used in the civil war 3 when was the battle of antietam 4 what is hardtack civil war quiz answers

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