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History Comes Alive at Mt. Abraham High School

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Tuesday June 5, 2007

By Ann Kensek

    If you think history is boring, you’ve probably never been in Jim Ross, Kristen Farrell or Chrissie Burg’s 10th and 11th grade American History Classes at Mt. Abe. Over 12 years ago Ross and Farrell asked themselves what they could do to make history more alive for their students, and as a result, a tradition was born. For the last 12 years the Friday before Memorial Day has found students and educator’s alike taking a step back in time through historical re-enactment at the high school. Burg joined the program four years ago.   This year, May 26th found at Mt. Abe a variety of re-enactors in uniform representing almost 150 years of U.S. History, from the French-Indian War through the Civil War. Among the re-enactors were Wight Manning representing a member of the Royal French Artillery; Mike Blakeslee as a French Officer of the Troops de la Point Chevelure; Whitney Maxfield representing a soldier from A Co. 1st Vermont Calvary, Civil War; Roland Gagne as a Confederate soldier, Civil War; Julie Magnon, Cannoneer, Civil War, and camp follower;

   Stephan Gunlock as Josiah Buck, Union soldier, Civil War; and Emily Stringham as a camp follower, portraying an officer’s wife. Each of the re-enactors was dressed    for the part and many brought museum quality artifacts, such as tents, guns, bullets, flags, etc. New to this year, Jim Ross had a display of typical foods a Civil War soldier might eat, such as soldier beans, rice, salted cod, salt pork and venison. Students visited the various stations to explore the artifacts and listen to the re-enactors teach about their character and time period. Julie Magnon stressed that they teach about the wars not to glorify them, but so the students can see how cruel war is.

   In the classroom, the history students have been studying conflict. They learn U.S. History not just as a time line with dates, but comparatively and thematically. They look at how the different wars began, what factors influenced them, how they were fought and resolved. Each student is asked to write a paper as if they were a soldier using the information from both the classroom learning and living history.

   Some students have found a love of history through this living lesson. Ross reports that about six students have become re-enactors themselves over the years. Among them were sister and Brother Erin and Devin Thurber. Even though she is a woman, Erin, who began about nine years ago, has been a Sergeant in the 20th Foot as well as a camp follower. It wasn’t common for women to serve as soldiers, but re-enactors are free to do as they will as long as they are able to “talk the talk and walk the walk.”

   Devin has been a re-enactor for about a year. He said it is “Awesome. I get to hang out with the guys and go to amazing sites. It is great to get in to history this way. Before, I paid attention, but it didn’t do much for me. This learning has really helped me with my portrayal.”

   Ross, a re-enactor himself for over 30 years, said, “Living history is about smelling the smells, tasting the tastes, putting on that wool coat. Life was a lot different than today. I can’t think of a better way to help the kids think about Memorial Day than to have them see the lives of the soldiers.”

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