Old Town classroom offers a window into the past

Editor’s Note: Student Union is written by students at Hampden Academy, Brewer High School, Old Town High School and Schenck High School in East Millinocket. The weekly column is a joint effort among the schools, the Bangor Daily News and Acadia Hospital. This week’s column was written by Old Town High School students. Their adviser is Karen Marley.

Imagine for a moment that you have fallen a century and a half back in time. You’re dressed in a thick, cumbersome wool uniform that is literally cooking you alive beneath the blistering noon sun. To make matters worse, you are carrying a half dozen bulky pouches of various sizes and a six-foot long Springfield rifle. The heavy rifle rests upon your left shoulder with its butt tucked beneath your crossed arm. You are marching along with the heavy weapon rhythmically beating down on your collarbone.

You are not alone though because marching with you is an entire army, outfitted in exactly the same manner as you. Suddenly you enter a large field, and your officers begin to relay orders.

You end up in the front line of what appears to be a huge battle and are told to advance by three paces. When you look toward the other end of the field, you see the enemy dressed in their own gray uniforms.

They seem to mirror your appearance exactly. You are then ordered to kneel, which you do with great anticipation. You take aim as sweat beads up on your brow and then falls to the ground. The stock of the rifle is so slick with sweat that you think it may slip from your grasp, but all you can do is hold the rifle higher. Your whole person stinks of fear, and you stroke the rifle’s trigger guard for luck. Then the order you have been dreading is finally given with fury and intensity.

“FIRE!” screams the sergeant.

You slowly squeeze back on the trigger, and suddenly the .55-caliber rifle bucks into your shoulder. For a moment that seems to last a million years you can see gray-coated men fall, but then the black powder smoke hides everything. The enemy returns fire, but by some miracle you are spared from being hit.

The rank of soldiers behind you runs past you to take up another firing position. The sergeant orders your line to reload. You pull a paper wrapped load of black powder from your cartridge box, then tear the end off with your teeth. A tiny amount of the salty black powder gets in your mouth, but your adrenaline is so intense that you don’t even taste it. Somewhere ahead you hear a cannon roar, but you don’t look up from your reloading

Does that story sound like something out of a history book or an old Twilight Zone episode? For Old Town High School history teacher, Paul Smith that sort of activity is a regular event.

Not only is he a teacher of history, he is also the president of the 20th Maine, Company 13, Civil War Re-enactment Society. Smith believes that his experiences with re-enactment just enable him to do his job better. He told us that he feels “re-enacting is just an extension of teaching.” According to his students, Smith is as enthusiastic in the classroom as he is on the battlefield. Courtney Shorey says Smith’s class is exciting because she “never knows what’s going to happen next.”

The 20th Maine puts on regular re-enactments at Fort Knox during the summer, and witnessing one of those battles is a real step back in history, not to mention an action-packed afternoon. Don’t think that all the members of the 20th Maine are history teachers; the company includes people of all backgrounds and ages. One of our writers, Wesley Hopkins, even had the pleasure of joining the 20th for a weekend. The company also brings a sutler (Civil War-era outfitter), tents, a portable relic display, and a cannon. Each member usually spends around a thousand dollars just to be outfitted with a uniform and a rifle.

The 13-year-old society also makes a trip to at least one national convention each year. These national conventions are basically large-scale re-enactments of major battles that took place during the Civil War. Last year’s focus was the Battle of Manassas. This year’s re-enactment will be the Battle of Antietam. Despite all the action that goes on in Smith’s life when he’s not teaching, don’t think that his high school job is boring in comparison. Another significant part of Smith’s individuality as a teacher is his portable classroom at Old Town High School. The room in many respects is more a history museum than a classroom.

When students enter portable No. 1 at Old Town High School, the learning experience almost immediately begins, even before a book is opened or the teacher begins to speak. The displays, which Smith has on the walls and throughout the room, make the room more of a history museum more than an actual classroom. Calvin Libby, one of Smith’s students, says, “The room smells educational.” All the visual history in this one small room certainly helps kids experience history in a nontraditional way.

The first thing one notices when he enters Smith’s classroom is that this particular room doesn’t have just one clock but several. Each of the clocks is set to a different time zone.

Below the row of clocks, against an outline of the world, are several items from the 19th and early 20th centuries. These items consist mostly of work tools, but there is also some weaponry. There is a double-barreled gun from the 19th century, a hammer for stone from the 1840s, a two-handed crosscut saw from the 1920s, and much, much more.

Following this wall to the corner, one sees rusted arm and leg shackles that were used to control slaves. There is also a copy of Frank Leslie’s Illustrator from Oct. 28, 1859. Below this display are a couple of shelves of National Geographic Magazines that date back to 1974. Next to the National Geographic Magazines are some items from what is known as The Early National Period (1790-1840). There are pictures displaying various types of work that someone might have done then. There is also a copy of The Christian Banner, a newspaper published in Appomattox, Va., in the 1800’s.

No history museum is complete without an assortment of political campaign buttons and posters. There are buttons and posters galore, among which is a President Barbie. Another unique display in Portable 1 is the John Deere tractor display that traces the history of the farm equipment. There are also several models of battle scenes and, of course, there are plenty of history books as well.

What’s the best thing about the portable No. 1 history museum? Admission is free, but the education received is priceless. Smith is a strong believer that understanding our origins and who we are as a people are the keys to teaching history. Citing John Adams, he said, “‘Who we are is who we were.’ I try to teach by that.”