Men and women of all ages gather every year to witness the largest annual civil war re-enactment in the United States. On Oct. 4-5 actors from the National Civil War Association reenacted events in history such as the writing of the Gettysburg address and federal artillery demonstrations for any ticket holder.

Jon Hall, American history teacher, gave 30 extra credit points to his students for attending the re-enactment at Fresno’s Kearney Park. They needed to interview three famous characters of the time period, show a ticket stub from the event and analyze two battles portrayed other than the main war enactment.

“I encourage students to attend because the things they will see are reinforcing what they learn in class,” Hall said. “It is so historically accurate; they do a great job reenacting important events.”

Many students attended the reenactment

“I liked eating frozen lemonade while watching dead people get back up only to die again,” Joshua Powell, ’05, said. “All the people who dressed up and played a part in the reenactment knew almost everything there was to know about the Civil War.”

This year is the 140th year anniversary of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg. Over 1500 members of the National Civil War Association participated in the re-enactment.

“I liked the civil war reenactment because it helped me see visually how it was back then,” Ashley Tucker, ’05, said. “One thing I learned was that the slaves played games, had competitions, and sang while their masters were away.”

Students learned information at the re-enactment that can help them in their classes.

“Since I’m learning about the Civil War in history I actually understood what was going on,” Danae Wok, ’05, said. “I enjoyed watching the Gettysburg battle and interviewing the ?famous’ people.'”

For more information about the Civil War re enactment, visit www.civilwarrevisited.com. For those who missed the re-enactment, the third annual Civil War re-enactment at Moorpark, CA, will demonstrate two battles on Nov. 8-9. Call (805) 523-3370 for more information.