Pieces of History: Connecting Past to Present

 

 Oftentimes I get asked why I became so interested in history.  This, of course is usually after they tell me how much they hated history in school.  How boring it was.  How it was all just a bunch of useless facts and dead people.  Why should they care and why the heck would I devote my life to teaching it?  I try my best to not get offended but sometimes it is difficult, especially since I would never dream of telling another person that their job mad no sense.

I can understand their views because there were times during my youth that I had teachers who droned on fact after fact until not only our eyes glazed over, but theirs did as well.  I believe that the key to teaching history is to create a personal connection to it.  Offer up something that students can actually feel and touch.  Create some genuine emotion.

When I was a little 4th grade hell raiser, I could sense my teachers frustration.  I was the poster child for ADHD and very little could hold my interest very long, least of all history.  Actually, math would usually send me over the edge into a full blown manic wave of hysteria but that is another story.  I vividly recall Mrs. Wolf grabbing me by my shoulders multiple times and just yell "STOP!" when I was screwing around.

One day we went on a field trip of Civil War sites surrounding our town in northwest Arkansas.  At the beginning, I was much more concerned about whether my mom had packed a enough cookies in my lunchbox to really care about what we were actually going to see.  We were dropped off at a location known as the Headquarters House which served as headquarters for the Union commanders during a little skirmish that took place close to our downtown area. We were greeted by a little old man and I honestly assumed he had actually fought in the war.  He led us around and took us to a parlor area and pointed out a small hole that was in the door and told us that it was an actual bullet hole from the Civil War.  He passed around a bullet similar to what had gone through the door and we each handled it, absorbing its weight and carefully passed it to each other.

He then encouraged us to go up and touch the bullet hole.  This was especially shocking to me because every museum I had ever been to had barriers and huge signs everywhere saying "DO NOT TOUCH".  The fact that he encouraged us to touch it seemed so foreign and against the rules.  I glanced at Mrs. Wolf and she was scowling which was normal but did not voice her disapproval. As I touched the small bullet hole and felt its smooth edges covered by multiple layers of white paint I was transfixed.  I was actually touching history!  It was not something just in a book.  This was the real thing.  I often point out that this experience is what made me fall in love with the subject.  This was not just some random fact thrown out there or some battle maneuver droned on about.  This was a piece of history and I was allowed to touch it.

This is is the sense of wonder I try to bring into my own classes.  I love using objects to tell the personal stories of past events.  One of my favorites is using a replica of Lt. George Dixon's gold coin from the Hunley.  For years it had been rumored that Lt. Dixon had carried this "lucky" gold coin with him.  It had been given to him by his sweetheart back home and had saved his life during the Battle of Shiloh when it had deflected a bullet.  Nice story, but like so many of these stories, many are embroiled in myth and legend.  When the wreck of the Hunley was discovered, the conservationists hoped that the gold coin would be found, but it was considered to be a shot in the dark, but remarkably in 2001 it was found on the remains of Dixon glinting golden like it was brand new.  It even had an inscription that had been etched into it which said

Shiloh
April 6, 1862
My life Preserver
G. E. D.

Another story that interests students are the names carved into the floor of Stone House at Manassas.  After the second battle that occurred there, Privates Eugene Geer(aged 18) and Charles Brehm(aged 21) were taken to one of the rooms on the second story of the house to await treatment for their wounds.  While there, they each carved their names into the floorboards.  When teaching about it we talk about why they possibly did it.  Perhaps it was just graffiti.  Perhaps it was simply a reminder that they existed and felt this was the one way they could be remembered.  Geer died almost a month later

of his wounds while Brehm lived until 1909.

Years ago, I set out on a quest to visit every site that I teach about so in addition to telling the stories about the actual event, I tell about the misadventures I had while on the site.  From having my appendix explode at Fort Sumter to spending the night alone at the Lizzie Borden house, students enjoy hearing the story behind the story.  To get the pictures of the carvings at Manassas I had to do some SERIOUS sweet talking and groveling to be allowed to go upstairs.  I explained I had been to Manassas several times(I really had) and each time I was denied access.  Being the only one in the house at the the time, the park ranger finally relented and allowed me to go upstairs as long as I was super quick before other people came into the house.  I'm not exactly sure why they never let people up there.  Perhaps safety?  Regardless, I was able to get my own pics.  Sure, I could have searched for them on Google, but there is just something much more authentic about seeing it with your own eyes and getting your own pics.   Then again, maybe I'm just nuts.

Stories like these and many others like it are personal reminders that history is not just about a bunch of dead people and endless facts.  They serve as a personal time machine to the past.  Often we can come to realize that we are all connected to the past in many different ways.  The emotion of history is so important to get across because it creates that deeper connection.  I just hope that by sharing these stories I can help create that same sense of wonder that my 4th grade hellion self had when I actually "experienced history for the first time.