Mr. Marshall reenacts the Civil War

Mr. Marshall, a new teacher at Calvary, is a Civil War re-enactor. This weekend, he invited his class to come to Van Raalte Farm in Holland to see the re-enactment of the life of a Civil War soldier or civilian at the time.

            The day started off with rain. Everything was damp, dreary, and muddy. If you weren’t careful, you could slip and fall or get your shoes wet and dirty. Originally, there was a battle between the north and south planned, but was cancelled because of the rain. To make things worse, Mr. Marshall was nowhere to be found.

            As a few confused students, including me, trudged through the woods, we ran into a few men from the infantry. We asked them if they knew where the third Michigan unit was, and they directed us to it. The third Michigan unit was the largest in the Union camp, and also what Mr. Marshall was part of. Unfortunately, when we arrived, he wasn’t there.

            We continued asking around until a friendly Union soldier directed us to the civilian camps where Mr. Marshall was “hiding”. He gave us extra credit for finding him. He led us back to the third Michigan camp where we learned about where they slept, how they set up their tents, and how to use a gun.

            After that, we continued to explore the area. We returned to the civilian area, where we saw old fashioned cooking fires, old fashioned dresses and uniforms, and re-enactors trying to hide the iPad they were using but not doing a very good job. We talked to a re-enactor named Cheri and learned about what little kids wore and what civilians did during the Civil War era.

            As the rain began to clear up, we headed out to the battlefield where there would be a mini-battle because the original one was cancelled. The soldiers, including Mr. Marshall, shot at each other and “died” whenever they wanted.

            All in all, it was a really fun experience and the students who went learned about the Civil War, and may get a few extra credit points for writing a paper on what they learned.

            -Gabrielle Kuszewski, Sophomore