Seventh-graders at Crispell will soon be studying the Civil War era in class. To help get them prepared, Library Media Specialist Lisa Ruyack brought in a display from the American Battlefield Trust showing them what life was like in the United States during this era.

 

 

They looked at artifacts, uniforms, flags, games, photos, currency, food and snacks. They learned about the ammunitions used at the time and how devastating the effects were. They saw how much money people were paid during wartime – a musician earned $12 a month while a sergeant second class was paid $13 a month.

 

They also learned that more soldiers died of disease than they did in battle, by a ratio of 3 to 1. The Civil War was the first war that was actually photographed and people of the time realized war wasn’t as glamorous as they were led to believe.