And I mean, this cow didn't just follow the soldiers for a bit and then go off to graze somewhere. This cow traveled hundreds of miles through battles from Atlanta to the Carolinas to Virginia. She provided the soldiers with milk to help keep them going. She even passed Army review when she got to Washington.
This interesting factoid was brought to me courtesy of the storytime element of a program called "Museum Mondays" over at the Chemung Valley History Museum.
"Museum Mondays" are weekly morning (mostly hour-long) sessions all this month that feature various historical themes. They're free and open to the public. The Monday I attended was all about the Civil War, and as such, Education Coordinator Kerry Lippincott read the book "Dadblamed Union Army Cow" to the group. Based on a true story.
Yeah, it HAD been awhile since I'd had a good storytime.
(P.S. If you want to check out some more information about the book, click here. It's a great children's read.)
The hour kicked off with some Civil War background information, during which the kids were encouraged to answer questions about subjects such as general lifestyle, life during wartime, slavery, and the states. A new bit of info for me was that boys as young as eight could join the Army. They couldn't carry guns, but there was a myriad of other stuff they could do.
Speaking of guns, everybody also got to hold a real Civil War gun. And see a cannonball.
We were shown what was typically in a haversack that the soldiers carried.
There's a plate, match box, dip pen, some playing cards and a toothbrush made with pig's hair :0
What I really liked about this program were all of the hands-on activities. I had as much fun with them as the kids.
There was the chance to try on a Civil War soldier's uniform:
We all made "housewives," or sewing kits that soldiers carried for when they needed to mend something.
For our purposes, we used staples to hold the fabric together, but back in the day they would have been hand-sewn:
You could put your sewing needles, etc., in the pockets.
We also did a sort of mystery tasting in which we tried food that the soldiers typically would have had, and then tried to identify what everything was.
So from top left, clockwise, there's dried beef jerky, hardtack (a cracker made of flour, salt and water, also known as "teeth grinders" or "teeth dullers"), dried apple and gingerbread.
I was sailing smoothly right along until we got to the paper-cup construction. Folks, it is hard to drink out of a paper cup you folded into existence yourself. And if you don't drink all the water, it eventually leaks out, so you have to drink quickly.
Cue Billy Joel's "Pressure."
I pretty much got water everywhere. On my hand, the paper towels I put on the table, my clothes. I would have been dehydrated if I was living in Civil War time, for sure.
My being paper-cup challenged notwithstanding, activities like these are fantastic for kids. Learning by doing keeps them entertained and helps the lesson stay with them all the more, I think.
We made envelopes like those the soldiers used to send letters home. They would write their letters on a piece of paper and then fold it up so it could be mailed.
We also went on a scavenger hunt in the museum, which was a great opportunity to try and spot different facets of the exhibits.
The Elmira Prison Camp exhibit
On a side note, I also learned that the museum is in what used to be the Chemung Canal Bank.
Bank vault!
There are four more chances to attend the "Museum Mondays" program this month. Upcoming themes include "Haudenosaunee" (discovering local Native American culture), "The Underground Railroad," "Get On The Bus: Made in Chemung County" and "Colonial Games." For more information about them, please click here.
Stop by and kick off your week with some fun local history!
Chemung Valley History Museum
415 E. Water Street, Elmira, NY 14901, (607) 734-4167
I love this place!
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