More than 400 students and their teachers learned something Friday about the War Between the States and North Carolina’s role in that bloody struggle.
On a cold, blustery day, junior high and high school students visited the grounds at the Mountain Gateway Museum in Old Fort. There, members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and re-enactors provided a living history demonstration about the War Between the States. The students got to visit an authentic recreation of a military camp and see how the muskets were loaded and fired by the soldiers.
They also saw how the boys in blue and gray ate and slept when they were not fighting. For example, re-enactor Vicki Hensley of Marion demonstrated what kinds of food were cooked over the campfire.
The students also visited a recreation of a field hospital and heard a presentation by re-enactor Robert “Doc” Halliday of Asheville about how the wounded men were treated by their surgeons. Halliday talked about how the surgeons worked under primitive and often grisly conditions but were able to make advances in medicine through the most horrendous conditions.
The students also heard a talk about how North Carolina was one of the last states to secede from the Union on May 20, 1861 and join the Confederacy. But the Old North State would provide more materials and suffer greater losses than any other Southern state. They also learned about North Carolina’s secession flag and the origin of the nickname “Tar Heel.”
All day Saturday, the living history event was also open to the general public at the Mountain Gateway Museum. Visitors to the museum got to see and hear the same things the students did.
The event also commemorated the Battle of Swannanoa Gap, which occurred not far from there during the last days of the war. A guided hike to the battle site was held that afternoon.
Last weekend’s living history event was held by SCV Camp 379, The McDowell Men and the Emma Rankin Chapter of the Order of the Confederate Rose. SCV members from Camp 15 in Asheville and Camp 70 in Hendersonville also took part. The museum’s staff, the town of Old Fort and Old Fort police helped out with this event.
Jeff Cordell, commander of Camp 379, said he and fellow SCV members are already looking forward to doing this again next year.
“It was the first big living history we have ever been involved with and I think it all went well,” he said.
The event also was held as part of the upcoming commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the War Between the States, which will take place over the next few years.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement