Civil War Kids Camp - Cross Keys

Frederick14Va

Sergeant Major
Joined
Oct 14, 2013
Location
Virginia
A few pics of the events of the Cross Keys (Va) annual Civil War Kids Camp... This is held on a private farm that is the original ground of the Battle of Cross Keys in 1862. Approx 40 kids ages 8-12 years old participate each year...

Checked in... Brief into... approved by the "surgeon" (me)... Mustered in... Quartermaster issue of caps, jackets, haversacks.. Ordinance issue of a musket (toy one).....
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Video of the history of the local battle...
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Drill, Drill.. and more Drill....
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Demonstrations and displays of what the soldiers wore.. weapons, flags, medical, knapsacks,.... how they camped.. how they lived in the field... and how the soldier cooked his ration in this case it was bacon and corn meal....
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A visit to the nearby battlefield... to see the hallowed ground....
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This particular section of the battle is where the 8th New York Regiment on the advance in line of battle was caught off guard and effectively ambushed by a larger force of Confederates laying in wait concealed behind a worm fence directly in their path... at the last moment when the two forces less than 50 yards apart the Cs forces rose up and delivered a horrific volley at close range... The 8th New York had about 550 men... in less than 15 minutes it lost around 250.....

The kids went to the other side of the now recreated worm fence and placed flags in the field that so many of the 8th New York had lost their lives....
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One flag for each that were lost.... on the original spot this event occurred...
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At the end of the day the kids get to demonstrate what they have learned.... pass in review (past their parents) on the way to the "battlefield"..... engage in battle assisted by reenactors
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The battle is on....
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Its a Route... run....
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At the end of the day they received their "discharge" papers.... soldiers pay.... a small bag of authentic civil war bullets... and a commemorative t-shirt...

The kids get to see and experience a little deeper of history hand on... they get to go do it too.... taught how the soldiers lived and fought.... an appreciation and respect for the soldiers that originally fought and died... understanding why these sites need to be preserved and why.... There is no " us v/s they" mentality nor bias... all the soldiers are presented and treated equally with balance...... Many of these kids come back again and again each year...... a great time was had by all.... These may become some of those that teach history and become our historians and scholars in the future....
 
A few pics of the events of the Cross Keys (Va) annual Civil War Kids Camp... This is held on a private farm that is the original ground of the Battle of Cross Keys in 1862. Approx 40 kids ages 8-12 years old participate each year...

Checked in... Brief into... approved by the "surgeon" (me)... Mustered in... Quartermaster issue of caps, jackets, haversacks.. Ordinance issue of a musket (toy one).....
View attachment 70748

Video of the history of the local battle...
View attachment 70749

Drill, Drill.. and more Drill....
View attachment 70750
View attachment 70751

Demonstrations and displays of what the soldiers wore.. weapons, flags, medical, knapsacks,.... how they camped.. how they lived in the field... and how the soldier cooked his ration in this case it was bacon and corn meal....
View attachment 70753

A visit to the nearby battlefield... to see the hallowed ground....
View attachment 70754
View attachment 70755

This particular section of the battle is where the 8th New York Regiment on the advance in line of battle was caught off guard and effectively ambushed by a larger force of Confederates laying in wait concealed behind a worm fence directly in their path... at the last moment when the two forces less than 50 yards apart the Cs forces rose up and delivered a horrific volley at close range... The 8th New York had about 550 men... in less than 15 minutes it lost around 250.....

The kids went to the other side of the now recreated worm fence and placed flags in the field that so many of the 8th New York had lost their lives.... View attachment 70756

One flag for each that were lost.... on the original spot this event occurred... View attachment 70758
View attachment 70757

At the end of the day the kids get to demonstrate what they have learned.... pass in review (past their parents) on the way to the "battlefield"..... engage in battle assisted by reenactors
View attachment 70759

The battle is on....
View attachment 70760

View attachment 70761

Its a Route... run....
View attachment 70762

At the end of the day they received their "discharge" papers.... soldiers pay.... a small bag of authentic civil war bullets... and a commemorative t-shirt...

The kids get to see and experience a little deeper of history hand on... they get to go do it too.... taught how the soldiers lived and fought.... an appreciation and respect for the soldiers that originally fought and died... understanding why these sites need to be preserved and why.... There is no " us v/s they" mentality nor bias... all the soldiers are presented and treated equally with balance...... Many of these kids come back again and again each year...... a great time was had by all.... These may become some of those that teach history and become our historians and scholars in the future....
Marvelous! Great idea. Get them away from computers for awhile, and let them know there's more to life than electronic gadgets!Thanks--made my day! (Wish I could've gone to this as a youngster.):thumbsup:
 
Heartwarming to read about a CW adventure for youth! Hopefully, some of these young history buffs will become forum members and pass interest in our Nation's history to their children and grandchildren. Providing they carry the tradition, the history will never die!
 
As I was informed this was the 11th year of this program... (my first year participating in it).... One of the other reenactors that has been doing it since its start, recanted to me an encounter with another reenactor that approached him at a different event... recognizing him.. that he had been one of the kids participating a number of years previous... that was the catalyst that hooked him on history... years later now old enough... joined the reenactment ranks.. also reportedly planning for college to study history.... Many times we never really get to know what influence we may bestow on others... once in awhile we do.... Also a number of participants come back every year.. and frequently a waiting list to get in it...

I had forgotten to mention in the original post that we also had a tin type photographer present... that demonstrated the period photography process.... Most of us not really thinking about it nor realizing that these kids were born into the digital photo age... hence never even knew the lengthy era of film cameras like most of us had..... Seeing something like a tin type they were completely mesmerized in awe by the whole thing... watched an image being set up... run to get the wet plate.. take the image.. run back and immediately develop... they stood in a tight circle huddle fixated watching the image develop... and magically appear on the plate...

Here is a tintype image of some of the reenactor participants that weekend... also showcasing variations of uniforms and units that were in the war...
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Here is the camp photo of all the participating kids and reenactors together in one shot.... my copy just arrived in the mail this week...
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