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Civil War re-enactors visit Pine View Middle School as the culmination of a unit on the subject.
By MICHELE MILLER
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 28, 2001
LAND O'LAKES -- "Hard tack," a mixture of flour, salt and water, is rations of sorts for a soldier far from home, fighting a war. After a few weeks spent tucked in the corner of a leather satchel, however, the paste-colored brick might be just as likely to break a tooth as stave off hunger.
David Banek's morsel hadn't aged quite that long. His came from a batch cooked the day before. Still, the eighth-grader had to chew on it for a spell before swallowing.
While most of his classmates quickly disposed of the "nasty stuff," dropping it on the ground where they stood, David chomped on. "It's not that bad," the eighth-grader said after finishing, "It tastes like Play-Doh."
For David and his classmates at Pine View Middle School, the hard tack was just a taste of History cooked up at a Civil War Camp presentation held on the school grounds last week.
"Being able to see the tents, the camps, just brings it to life a little bit -- more that just reading (about) it in a book," said history teacher James Sawl. That's why he asked school resource officer Joe Stimac and a couple of his students, eighth-graders Neil Stimac and Matt Collins, to dress up in their Confederate grays for the day.
The three share a historical hobby, spending roughly six weekends a year participating in Civil War re-enactments throughout Florida. Their latest gig, said Matt, was serving as an honor guard at a recent wedding.
It's a bit of a family affair for the Stimacs.
"I got into it because of my uncle (Joe)," said eighth-grader Neil. "Then Matt got into it because of me."
They brought along a handful of fellow re-enactors from Pensacola Company A to help set the scene at Pine View Middle -- to talk about their uniforms, weaponry, fighting tactics of the day, as well as the travails a Confederate soldier might have had to face. Gene Raybuck came along to represent the 97th Pennsylvanian, one of the only northern units to serve in Florida during the Civil War.
The re-enactors were the culmination of a topic that had students doing plenty of studying. They also completed their own written projects and watched the movie Glory. For Neil and Matt, it was a chance to share an avid interest with their classmates.
"It was a very important part of history," said Neil, adding that he has traced relatives who fought for the Confederacy.
"There's just this adrenaline rush when you're on the field," said Matt of his time spe re-enacting history. "This is great. This is our fun day."