Cannon blasts from the past as Civil War reenactors visit Lakes Middle School
Civil War reenactor Gene Black walks students through cannon firing safety procedures and etiquette.From left: Soren Swingrover, Gage Marmon, Maximus Lilley, Lillian Dirks, Gene Black and Asynn Gentry.
CAROLYN BOSTICK/Press
Lakes Middle School student Francis Daniels used to do archery in the woods while living in Montana and was excited to try it again when Civil War reenactors came to the school to teach about life in the 1800s.
Gage Marmon pushes in a ramrod into the barrel of a cannon under the supervision of Civil War reenactor Gene Black.
Cassandra Fawcett watches as Aohdan Creighton offers chicken feed to Kumquat the chicken at Lakes Middle School on Thursday.
COEUR d’ALENE — Explosions could be heard throughout the day near Lakes Middle School on Thursday, but rather than being a cause for alarm, they were cannon blasts from the past.
For two days, Civil War reenactors from the Washington Civil War Association brought the 1800s vividly to life for students. They learned about the era's technological advances in weaponry, medical practices on the battlefield, and even some 19th-century games.
Reenactors demonstrated muskets, swords, sabers and other artifacts as pupils grabbed wooden toy guns, hoops, sticks and tug-of-war ropes at interactive stations. "Those are loaded up with 100% lethal imagination," quipped reenactor Logan Creighton of the make-believe dueling pistols.
The hands-on activities capped a classroom unit on the Civil War. Students Maximus Lilley and Lillian Dirks took on roles as Union and Confederate generals, learning the precise drill for loading and firing a cannon under reenactor Gene Black's tutelage.
Zachary Fitch was able to assist as reenactor Mike Inman talked the students through battle wounds, field surgeries and how modern medicine has advanced.
Francis Daniels was most fascinated by how they did surgery at the time and got in some archery practice after warming up to the wooden design of the bow and arrow.
“I used to shoot arrows at the trees when I lived in the woods in Montana,” Daniels said.
The end of the student session was capped off by the majority of students play-acting an advance on a Civil War battlefield. Some even operated the cannon as it fired black powder.
A cloud of smoke and the boom of the cannon spread across the “battlefield” as the mock battle ended.
Lakes Middle School student Francis Daniels used to do archery in the woods while living in Montana and was excited to try it again when Civil War reenactors came to the school to teach about life in the 1800s.
Civil War reenactor Gene Black walks students through cannon firing safety procedures and etiquette.
Cassandra Fawcett watches as Aohdan Creighton offers chicken feed to Kumquat the chicken at Lakes Middle School on Thursday.