Students See History Come Alive in Civil War Re-Enactment

Fifth-grade students finishing their year of American history study got an up-close look at their final unit: the Civil War. 

Students from five of the six Oak Creek elementary schools participated in a Civil War re-enactment May 31 at the American Legion Post. The event brought 30 Civil War re-enactors from southeastern Wisconsin and northeastern Illinois to show students what life was like during the Civil War.

The re-enactment included Ulysses S. Grant, doctors, nurses, cooks, an undertaker, soldiers, Mary Todd Lincoln and a cannon demonstration.

Parent-teacher organizations from elementary schools, with additional support from the Oak Creek-Franklin Foundation for Education, funded the event.

Fifth-grade teacher Paul Sojkowski organized this re-enactment and hopes to make it an annual event for the students and the community.