Students Get Into Character at Civil War Ball

Many will recognize the name of the famous General Robert E. Lee, who led the Confederacy during the U.S. Civil War. But Thomas Lee, a heroic Union soldier, may be a bit more obscure. That’s because seventh-grader Cayson Wernick created him. 

 

Cayson and his peers in Oksana Godoy’s, Josh Adler’s and Todd Baron’s Core classes each researched and developed their own historic figures as part of the annual Civil War Ball, held March 21 in Roth Hall. Students came dressed as their fictional character, prepared and enjoyed food from the 1860s (hardtack was a hit), completed a scavenger hunt and interviewed each other.

 

“They’re really teaching each other about different aspects of the Civil War,” Todd said. “We’re making connections to this, the election, Black Lives Matter and the civil rights movement,” as well as the recent debate over the Confederate flag. 

 

This year marked the 10th anniversary of the event, which was rife with Union and Confederate soldiers, doctors and nurses, suffragettes, abolitionists and more. While creating a character was an amusing exercise for students, many agreed that it’s what they learned throughout the process that was most fun. 

 

Alexandra Suprenant crafted a suffragette by the name of Emilia Jones.

 

“I thought it was interesting how [women] didn’t have voting rights back then,” she said. “I learned about a woman named Sojourner Truth. She spoke at a women’s convention in 1851 and gave a speech called ‘Ain’t I a Woman?’ It was really good.”

 

Indiana Guckert concocted the story of Levi Abbott, a medical school student who went to help with the war effort to become a better doctor.

 

“I just thought it was cool how different their way of healing people was, so I wanted to learn more about that,” she said.

 

Leah Golubchik’s Minnie Miller was a female Union soldier disguised as a man because women weren’t allowed to fight in the army during that era. In researching the role, she discovered that “soldiers did more marching than they actually fought.”

 

Leo Rochman, who made up Confederate soldier George Mallory, was taken aback by the sheer number of casualties in the “War Between the States,” saying, “I thought a ton of people died but I didn’t know that hundreds of thousands of people died [in battle].”

 

At the end of the Ball, students enjoyed performances from their classmates. Hailey Kane recited “Defence of Fort M’Henry,” from which “The Star-Spangled Banner” emerged; Samara Koseff reenacted an emotional scene of a woman being notified that her husband died in battle; Mason Stokdyk read the Gettysburg Address; and Charlie Nicholas put his somber spin on popular tune of the day “When Johnny Comes Marching Home.”

 

“Many a Johnny never marched home,” Josh noted. “Many a Johnny died. A lot of people were affected by [the war]. ... The way Charlie performed that was really special.”