Some of what the students can expect: (Note - it is possible that a few more stations might be added or removed in the weeks leading up to the event. If there is a desire to see a specific theme or station please contact us and we will let you know what is planned and might even add a station to suit your needs.)
1. Welcome! - students and chaperones are met by your "recruiting officer" who will provide them with a guide to the stations to visit.
2. "Fresh Fish" - the indoctrination of a civilian into the army: the "School of the Soldier" led by experienced soldiers tutored the new recruit in basic drill formation, how to carry a musket, how to march, etc.
3. "I would rather ride than walk" - horses and soldiers of the cavalry. Small group visits examine the equipment required of a cavalry trooper. Several times during the day mounted demonstrations of troopers on horseback are scheduled.
4. A soldier's life - the life of a common soldier in the Union Army and the Confederate Army on the march and in camp.
5. Haversacks and knapsacks - students get a peek inside the food pouch and backpacks carried by soldiers to see what the soldiers carried and how they lived.
6. Organization of the army - companies, regiments, divisions, corps: the various units that made up the army. Students will have the opportunity to make reproductions of corps badges.
7. Mess call! - cooking in the field, see what soldiers would eat and how they prepared meals over an open fire.
8. Church call! - learn how chaplains accompanied the army and the role they played in soldiers' lives.
9. Women in the ranks - females served in uniform, learn how they did it, the roles they played and how they disguised themselves.
10. Historical artifacts and demonstrations - items from the period and authentic reproductions. Soldiers will load and fire actual and replica weapons.
11. A visit to the sutler - the sutler store keeper who travelled with a regiment sold wares to the soldiers thy might need but would not be issued such as writing paper and pens, canned food. The sutler will explain to students what would be available for a soldier to purchase and how a soldier would make those purchases without cash in hand.
12. Mail from home - as is still the case today soldiers anxiously looked forward to mail and packages from home. Students will get the chance to look inside a box like one that would have been sent to a soldier and camp and read some letters actually sent to and from Vermont soldiers and their families during the war.