SANDY, Utah - Students at Crescent Middle School got a hands-on lesson on the Civil War on Friday.
The students have been studying the Battle of Bull Run this week, but instead of just reading about it, they got to reenact history.
"Recreating the Battle of Bull Run, which is one of the battles of the Civil War, that we've studied in class this past week. There's a signal that is given off so soldiers know they're to meet and there's a battle is about to happen," said history teacher Jordan Smith.
Actors from the Utah Civil War Association from Fort Douglas were there to help with the reenactment, and students say the experience is a great way to learn.
"When you're out doing things hands on it's, like, it's easy to remember things cause you've done it before and you've been where it happened," said student Austin Lambert.
The lessons weren't limited to battle, though. Students also learned about inventions during that time.
"They invented the telegraph during the Civil War and that's how they would report enemy positions. And they invented hot air balloons which they would fly over the enemy and they would use the telegraph to report the positions from the air," said Jacob Wolf and Austin Lambert, who acted as inventors.
The lessons weren't limited to history classes, as students learned about medicine in their science classes.
"We have our science classes study a little bit about medicine during the Civil War period and that's where our Civil War hospital comes in. Our students learn a little bit about the types of medicine they had back then and how they would perform a correct amputation," Smith said.
This is the third year Crescent Middle School has done a Civil War reenactment. They hope to keep the tradition going every year.
