The Field of Lost Shoes....and lucky for us, not lost tempers.

Ahhhh, field trips are always fun and this one was no exception. We headed north on I81 towards the Civil War Battlefield of New Market last Friday and had a wonderful time with our friends. Our history group is studying the time period of 1850's to the present this year. Our first projects focus time period is the Civil War.
When we first got to the musuem site our tour guide, Stacey, immediately inlisted the kids into the army and got them in formation for the days activities. From there they were divided into 5 teams and were given a sheeet of questions for a scavenger hunt. They were given about 20 minutes to go through the museum displayes and find the answers to 10 questions. They weren't very easy and required the kids to spend time searching and reading the information to find the answers. I loved this approach for time spent in the museum. I've never been on a tour that presented the information this way before. I especially liked it on behalf of Connor, because he hates to go on tours because he finds all the stop and go of the tour director with the information s/he gives rather dull, boring and long winded. I think he really liked this approach too.
Here the kids read the information of the museum displayes, worked at their own pace, learned to work as a team, all the while having fun doing it!
Afterwards the kids presented their findings and discussed aspects of the time and war.
Stacey then spent time with the kids talking about the life of the soldier. What he would have worn and what it was like for them in training.
Here are some of the troops wearing the different types of uniforms that were worn. Stacey also talked about what each garment item was for, the fabric (wool, because it was more resistent to water and wear) and what a haversack was for. ("Solider, you better have-your-sack or starve")
The battle of New Market, sadly took place on the farm of the Bushong Family, a 2nd generation farm owner. The family took refuge in the basement of their home while the battle raged about them. I'm sure that they were scared, but also dismayed at how their gardens, orchard, outdoor rooms (ie kitchen, chicken coops, ice house etc) and fields would be runined after so many years of work. Mr Bushong had recently plowed his fields for a crop of wheat to be planted. The freshly plowed soil, along with 3-4 day worth of rain caused the field to become a mud pit. Many soldiers lost their shoes during the battle in this field, thus it became known as the 'field of lost shoes' (Connor, Liam and Amber are in the ice house of the Bushong farm)
The Bushong family were considered upper middle class, here is their sitting room. We must've been very hungry because that cake looked temptingly yummy!
Here are Connor with Liam and Delaney in the outdoor kitchen.
Ahhh, finally some food for us to eat. We break for lunch and then go watch a film called "The Field of Lost Shoes" in the museum theatre. The movie is about the troops that came from VMI, a military school a few miles southwest of New Market and how the battle was won due to thier support, courage, honor and bravery. One notable student/soldier was Moses Ezekiel, although wounded, he pulled his friend, the grandson of Thomas Jefferson, to safety. He found him medical help in the home of a near by citizen and stayed with him till he died who later. He always wanted to study art and at the encouragement of Robert E. Lee he did indeed become a famous artist and sculptor. He's statues grace the battle field, UVA, and other places (one statue was of George Washington) He studied in Italy and was knighted by the Italian King.

(The Bushong Family farm is in the background of the group photo.) Last year, when we spent 4 days touring Jamestown, Yorktown and Williamsburg we learned how much Connor dispised tours, so before we left for the trip I had to remind him that this was indeed a tour and he needed to find a way to enjoy himself even though he dosen't like "tours". After a while, I had to remind Ryan that we just drove 3 hours to get there, we weren't going to leave till we saw all that we had come to see. So although, the time spent there wasn't without gripes, we didn't have any lost tempers. yea!! We had a great time and now we're on to studying about the war and developing our individual presentations to share with the group.