Members of Austin Blair Camp No. 7, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, set up Civil War-era tents and wore military garb as they walked a class of eighth-graders at the school through vivid descriptions of life and war during a tumultuous time in American history.
Students at the school had been learning about various aspects of the Civil War since before spring break, said Janice Vishner, an eighth-grade social studies teacher at Paragon and the organizer of the event.
"We like to give the students an opportunity to experience what they read about," she said.
Seeing examples of the time period first-hand is much more engaging than simply opening a book, Vishner added.
A light sprinkle and cloudy skies didn't dampen the demonstrators' spirits, who took students through five different stations, each one examining a different aspect of the war.
One station examined the differences between styles of Confederate and Union flags, as well as the types of rations most soldiers were issued, while others focused on medical tactics and weapons.
Strategic disadvantages between the north and the south also were examined.
At the time, New York City possessed more manufacturing capabilities than the entire Confederacy, said Bob Griggs, a re-enactor from Albion who dressed in a Confederate uniform.
Oftentimes, soldiers ate raw, rancid meat and a type of cracker called hardtack, and were expected to cover several miles on foot every day.
"We try to just generally give them the life of an average soldier," Griggs said.
As some students listened to the differences between types of bullets and weapons used in the Civil War, others learned the most effective ways to treat and carry wounded soldiers from the battlefield.
Most students laughed and fell over in heaps as they tried to carry their fellow classmates.
Another station focused on the different types of currencies used throughout the divided country, and featured readings of letters and diary entries from Civil War soldiers.
One sheet outlined odd and mysterious coincedences between the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, and students also passed around a poster calling for the arrest of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth.
Eighth-grade student Jonathan Mitch found many items on the list striking, and said the types of currency were particularly interesting.
"How much currency they had back then (was really surprising)," he said.
Daniel Humphries, another eighth-grade student at Paragon, said the day's demonstrations were eye-opening.
He and his classmates watched as Griggs talked them through the items that a soldier would carry in his pack, an extensive list that made the pack difficult to walk with.
"Being a soldier back then was hard," Humphries said. "It's not everyday that you get to see what life was way, way back."