Needham —On Oct. 5, the Rehoboth Minute Company, a ragtag militia fighting for
its independence against Great Britain, set up camp outside Hillside
Elementary School.
Marching to the snare drum in their officers’ and privates’ uniforms,
they wowed onlookers as they poured hot wax over a campfire, treated
wounded soldiers and displayed a collection of colonial weapons like
muskets and bayonets.
As an officer yelled instructions to a team of musketeers, they aimed their weapons in the air and fired.
The third, fourth and fifth-grade Hillside students staring in awe all said the same thing: “Whoa!”
“History can be very difficult to teach in a way that’s exciting,” said Hillside parent Liz Lee, who wrote the grant that funded the all-day reenactment event. “This offers an experience that immerses students. They become rooted in their education.”
Funded by the Needham Education Foundation, the “American Revolution War Camp Reenactment” served as a hands-on, living supplement to the students’ curriculum. All third-grade students learn about colonial Needham, while fifth-grade students learn about the Revolutionary War, said Lee.
It was the first time the Rehoboth Minute Company, a regiment that originally fought in the early days of the Revolutionary War, visited Needham. Its captain, Al Soucey, offered facts about the period that even history fans like Lee didn’t know.
Lee said she was surprised to hear that muskets were too inaccurate to be aimed at individual enemies, that the Tea Party (the original one) wasn’t really about taxes and that American rebels didn’t fight for independence at first—they were only protesting policies in the early stages of the war.
“It brought history to life,” said Lee.
As an officer yelled instructions to a team of musketeers, they aimed their weapons in the air and fired.
The third, fourth and fifth-grade Hillside students staring in awe all said the same thing: “Whoa!”
“History can be very difficult to teach in a way that’s exciting,” said Hillside parent Liz Lee, who wrote the grant that funded the all-day reenactment event. “This offers an experience that immerses students. They become rooted in their education.”
Funded by the Needham Education Foundation, the “American Revolution War Camp Reenactment” served as a hands-on, living supplement to the students’ curriculum. All third-grade students learn about colonial Needham, while fifth-grade students learn about the Revolutionary War, said Lee.
It was the first time the Rehoboth Minute Company, a regiment that originally fought in the early days of the Revolutionary War, visited Needham. Its captain, Al Soucey, offered facts about the period that even history fans like Lee didn’t know.
Lee said she was surprised to hear that muskets were too inaccurate to be aimed at individual enemies, that the Tea Party (the original one) wasn’t really about taxes and that American rebels didn’t fight for independence at first—they were only protesting policies in the early stages of the war.
“It brought history to life,” said Lee.
