Question of the Week: 7/15-7/21/19
American Battlefield Trust’s Teacher Institute was last weekend! If you could take a class to tour any battlefield or historical site and teach them about what happened there, where would you take them? Why?
American Battlefield Trust’s Teacher Institute was last weekend! If you could take a class to tour any battlefield or historical site and teach them about what happened there, where would you take them? Why?
I would take them to Five Forks, which might lead to a general discussion about jumping to conclusions (Sheridan), what to do if wrongfully accused (Warren), how to handle it when wrongfully accused by a boss or manager; how to avoid being “ganged up on” by the powers that be (Grant/Sheridan); how to admit it if you’ve made a mistake deeply affecting somebody (Sheridan); how appearances don’t always mirror reality (Chamberlin/Sheridan/Griffin/Warren); and how not to get involved in partying (Shad) when there is work to be done (Pickett).
Yorktown. What transpired there in 1781 proved to be seismic.
Independence Hall in Philadelphia. What happened there in both 1776 and 1787 is still impacting the world we live in today. The idea that all men are created equal and can govern themselves was and is earth shattering.
Annapolis, Maryland. Begin with how Benjamin Butler secured the National Capital. Proceed to the establishment of expansive Civil War hospitals taking advantage of Butler’s railroad (concurrent with the establishment of a series of Parole camps.) Conclude with the role of Clara Barton in picking up the pieces after the war ended.
I would take them to Gettysburg were most historians believe the war was won on that battlefield.
Manassas Battlefield–the ground where the federal army first shed blood to save the Union.
Gettysburg – I already did it. My 50th high school class reunion was five years ago and I offered to take anyone who wanted to come along to tour the battlefield only 45 minutes from the town where I went to high school. I concentrated on the Pennsylvania counties where most of my classmates lived: Lebanon, Lancaster, Dauphin and Berks, and took them to the monuments to the regiments from those counties, and to monuments of all PA officers. Sallie the dog behind the 11th PA monument near Oak Hill was a hit. When I told hem to stand between the flank markers of the 93 PA Infantry along Plumb Run near the northern slope of Little Round Top where their ancestors from Lebanon and Dauphin County stood on those exact spot 151 years ago, I couldn’t get them to move to the next sight for some time. They appeared to be in a trance realizing that they stood exactly where their ancestor fathers’ brothers, uncles, cousins, friends and neighbors stood. I deviated from PA monuments to have them stand in front of the mural of the 154th NY on Coster Avenue and imagine themselves confronting a line of infantry firing a volley at them. We had lunch at the Dobbins House. Later at Alonzo Cushing’s Battery on Cemetery ridge, I divided the group in to boys and girls and had each pantomime servicing a peace, getting rounds from the limbers, loading the canons and firing them. The ladies won the day by getting off two rounds in less time than the gentlemen.
I’d want to tour Hampton Roads, with all its many layers of history and critical events in America’s past.
A close second is downtown Richmond to discuss the evacuation in terms of legacy, identity, and the end of an era.