8th grade ghouls

[Mrs. V]

I do a Living History presentation to the 8 th grade in my district. I appear and do a first person narrative based on my Great Grandma..then I drop out of character..I want to include more info on ballistics, subsonics and their bone shattering effects..my personna talks about helping with nursing instruction in Ohio..I have rubber leeches..looking for a good maggot simulcrum, but I digress...being a librarian, I like to read, so links to articles would be awesome sauce, as well as any info I can pick outta your brains. Engaging the guys in my presentation is very important to me. The girls I get with the split knickers.

 

[UCVRelics]

You might look at showing them an artillery shell, musket etc. I got hooked when I was 13 when my Grandfather took my brother and I to Shiloh and I found a minnie ball washed out of the dirt in the side of the Sunken Road and Ive hooked ever since.

 

[Mrs. V]

You might look at showing them an artillery shell, musket etc. I got hooked when I was 13 when my Grandfather took my brother and I to Shiloh and I found a minnie ball washed out of the dirt in the side of the Sunken Road and Ive hooked ever since.

I will look into that for sure. The kids really do like the " trunk show" aspects of my presentation. I need to read more about why the bullets were so destructive..because there will always be that one student who wants more..

 

[Jobe Holiday]

The bullets were so destructive because they were made out of soft lead, which expanded to 3X their normal size, or about one and a half inches in diameter when they hit soft tissue and bone. My group did a display/presentation for a grade school a couple of years ago. One of our presentations was of a Civil War Surgeon station. We used a shoulder of beef, some Halloween severed limbs, and the "Doctor" wore a blood stained apron. Unfortunately, it was so "real" one of the students passed out at the sight of our display!
J.

 

[captaindrew]

When they hit bone it just destroyed it leaving no choice but amputation. They also moved relatively slow compared to modern bullets picking up bits of uniform, dirt, grime and all kinds of nasty things and carrying it into the wound creating a high danger of infection.

 

[Nathanb1]

I obviously couldn't shoot in my classroom... but I did have an outstanding set of example ammunition made by our member @Tin cup quite a few years ago. I'd find a skinny kid and "tap" the .58 Cal into the joint of is shoulder. Then ask, "Did that hurt?" Of course, all the eyes would get really big, then we'd talk about shattered bones, all the nasty stuff in the wound....I had a boy from the class of '07 tell me today that was one of his favorite lessons. He just took a new job and will be teaching dual-credit history next year. (Proud former teacher here).

 

[Albert Sailhorst]

I just did a presentation for an 8th grade. We had Infantry and artillery reenactors for a Friday presentation and the students were invited to return Saturday (we camped at the school).
Before we got there, the students had made flags, researched local troops and portrayed them, as well as historical leaders. We then taught them artillery and infantry drill, divided them up into Federal/Confederate, and lead them through a "sham" battle with wooden rifles.

 

[Mike Serpa]

I will look into that for sure. The kids really do like the " trunk show" aspects of my presentation. I need to read more about why the bullets were so destructive..because there will always be that one student who wants more..

Some bullets were very large. More than a half-inch diameter. .54, .58., .69 calibers and others.

 

[huskerblitz]

I just did a presentation for an 8th grade. We had Infantry and artillery reenactors for a Friday presentation and the students were invited to return Saturday (we camped at the school).
Before we got there, the students had made flags, researched local troops and portrayed them, as well as historical leaders. We then taught them artillery and infantry drill, divided them up into Federal/Confederate, and lead them through a "sham" battle with wooden rifles.

We did this but I ended that this year. Just became too hard to schedule in spring time around testing and everything else going on. Unfortunate.

 

[WJC]

I obviously couldn't shoot in my classroom... but I did have an outstanding set of example ammunition made by our member @Tin cup quite a few years ago. I'd find a skinny kid and "tap" the .58 Cal into the joint of is shoulder. Then ask, "Did that hurt?" Of course, all the eyes would get really big, then we'd talk about shattered bones, all the nasty stuff in the wound....I had a boy from the class of '07 tell me today that was one of his favorite lessons. He just took a new job and will be teaching dual-credit history next year. (Proud former teacher here).

How i would have loved that!
Did you ever consider showing and firing an unloaded gun, but with a percussion cap in place? That would at least give some feel for the piece....

 

[Booner]

I did a presentation to my sons history class years ago. I had a great time and had their undivided attention for 2 1/2 hours. The two things that got the greatest attention was the guns & bullets ( I brought a selection of both) and explaining how diseases killed more men than bullets. Childhood diseases and unsanitary camps.

 

[WJC]

I do a Living History presentation to the 8 th grade in my district. I appear and do a first person narrative based on my Great Grandma..then I drop out of character..I want to include more info on ballistics, subsonics and their bone shattering effects..my personna talks about helping with nursing instruction in Ohio..I have rubber leeches..looking for a good maggot simulcrum, but I digress...being a librarian, I like to read, so links to articles would be awesome sauce, as well as any info I can pick outta your brains. Engaging the guys in my presentation is very important to me. The girls I get with the split knickers.

If the school will allow it (and these days....) you might try showing an unloaded piece, let them put a percussion cap on and fire....

 

[Nathanb1]

How i would have loved that!
Did you ever consider showing and firing an unloaded gun, but with a percussion cap in place? That would at least give some feel for the piece....

That is pretty much not happening at most schools; we did, however, have a real musket (Totally rusted) one teacher found among some items from an estate. She even had the original owner's discharge papers. The kids got to hold it... and of course couldn't even hold it steady while aiming. Great lesson.

 

[amweiner]

My daughter's school wasn't having it as far as muskets last year, although I'd guessed it when I asked. They did allow me to bring in the Minie balls I had on hand, along with percussion caps. I found that the students liked laying hands on things (belts, caps, uniform pieces, etc.), as well as the hardtack I baked. Decided to go easy on them and leave out the weevils, but next batch - look out!

 

[matthew mckeon]

No guns in school, generally speaking.

Pick one kid, hold his arm up. Take a CW bullet .58, draw around it on the kid's arm, with a washable marker. then on the other side, a circle 3x as big. The exit wound.

 

[johan_steele]

A good way of explaining the destructive potential of ACW era bullets is to explain that the low velocity had them stop when they hit something and all the energy that sent it stopped with it. It doesn't punch through like modern high velocity arms but shatters bone. Two of my .69 minnies will shatter a 4" x 4" fence post whereas a modern .30-30 or .223 will just punch through.

 

[huskerblitz]

We actually got to do just that. Fired off my pistols with caps and my reenactor's Springfield. We just called the sheriff's department and told them what was up and no issue. Great thing about being in a town of 300 or so.

 

[Mrs. V]

I just did a presentation for an 8th grade. We had Infantry and artillery reenactors for a Friday presentation and the students were invited to return Saturday (we camped at the school).
Before we got there, the students had made flags, researched local troops and portrayed them, as well as historical leaders. We then taught them artillery and infantry drill, divided them up into Federal/Confederate, and lead them through a "sham" battle with wooden rifles.

I bet those kids really enjoyed that. I wish we had that kind of budget.

 

[Jobe Holiday]

School Rules & Regulations......When we did the displays and presentations for the school I had referenced earlier we had actually done all periods of U.S. Military history up to and including WW2. We were told we had to use the Firemens Field across the street from the school because of the School's "Gun Free Zone" policy, and to them all muzzle loaders are "Guns". Then we were told the children were not allowed to touch anything with "lead" in it, nor any of the firearms or edged weapons. Also no food samples were allowed, such as Hardtack, etc. The students were grades 5-8 and came through our presentation stations in groups of 10-12 students each with the presentations lasting about 12-15 minutes each. The teaching staff was extremely impressed with the displays, history, and knowledge. The children were beyond excited....well, except for the poor kid who passed out at the Civil War Surgical Station!
J.

 

[Booner]

A good way of explaining the destructive potential of ACW era bullets is to explain that the low velocity had them stop when they hit something and all the energy that sent it stopped with it. It doesn't punch through like modern high velocity arms but shatters bone. Two of my .69 minnies will shatter a 4" x 4" fence post whereas a modern .30-30 or .223 will just punch through.

Make that into a math question using the formula for kinetic energy: 1/2M x V squared or something like that.