Paul J. Pokorski and Victor Pokorski came to our school June 3rd to teach us a little bit about the Civil War and the soldiers that fought in it.

We learned what the soldiers ate, and how they lived and they fought.

We also saw what kind of clothes they wore: gray suits that been worn out to be green. In the early war soldiers wore gray jackets made up of 100% wool and a kept a French hat. (Paul and Victor said that the French army was well respected.)

They brought a mucket (a cup-like container), a frying pan, tobacco that was braided up, food, a plate, eating utensils, cards, dominoes, long johns, something from home, blanket, new clothes, slouch hat, rifles, muzzle loaders, and a "house wife". A house wife is something that soldiers keep personal stuff in like money, pictures, thread, and a needle.

The soldiers ate raw peanuts, beans, parched corn , apples , green coffee beans , and anything else they could find in the wild.

They drank coffee and of course water.

Our reenactors told us that to be a good soldier you would have to be able to load your gun and fire it three times in one minute! They showed us the weapon they used (called muzzle-loading rifles) in battle and it can shoot accurate up to 6 football fields. (600 yards) They had two types of bullets back then, they were minie balls and the round balls. The minie balls were half an inch in diameter.

They talked about abolitionists (people who fought to stop slavery.) One of the abolitionists was John Brown.

Soldiers back then were about 16 years old to 38 years old. We talked about the Peninsula Campaign, the Monitor and the Virginia (Merrimack), and a lot more battles.

All in all we think the information presented in the presentation will help us in the long run by expanding our knowledge past what you would read in a text book.

You can find our reenactors' web site here: