Civil War Trails: Antietam Battlefield

On Monday  we continued our Civil War field trips and battlefield visits with a trip to Antietam Battlefield. This was part of our coop, so they had actual classes scheduled. I cannot believe that we hadn't been there yet and it was only 20min away!

Thanks to a friend, I have a few photos to post!

First, they were greeted by a Park Ranger who gave them an overview. Next they headed outside - in the very cold, wet weather to met a Union Calvary solider and Confederate Infantry solider. They learned about their uniforms and weapons.

Union Calvary Solider

Confederate Infantry Soldier showing how to load his musket

Interested, and very cold!

Here they are all preparing to watch them load, shoot, re-load and shoot again. Stressing how long it took to reload and how loud it was and smokey. Hard to imagine hundreds of thousands of soldiers doing this at once.

Next they worked through a timeline starting with 1000 yrs before the war and working to modern day. They had models they laid out and even staged the actual battle.

Practicing some games that children would have played during the 1860's.

We continued on after alone to Dunker church and the Union National Cemetery. Ben earned his Junior Ranger badge for this battlefield and was very excited.