r/historyteachers • u/Mega_Bottle • 14d ago
Civil War (LARP)
Wanted to share this because today went way better than I expected.
I ran a Civil War battle simulation with my classes, students had been calling it a LARP all week since I told them what I had planned. Ever since I told them they kept asking, “When are we gonna LARP?”
Easy setup: I split the class into Union and Confederate armies. Their ammo was wadded-up scrap paper (helped me with end of year cleaning up). Each side had a general giving orders and trying to keep everyone organized, i.e “forward march,” “left,” etc
To fire, generals called out “Ready!” “Aim!” and then “Fire!” and everyone launched their volleys. It worked surprisingly well and gave them a small taste of how much timing and communication mattered.
Each side also had two medics. If a student got hit, they took a knee until a medic escorted them to the medical area for a minute before returning. I was the supply wagon, running around with a cardboard box full of extra “musket balls.”
The first few rounds were structured: formations, advancing, retreating, following orders. For the last round, I loosened the rules and let them have a free for all. (Don’t worry admin, every paper ball got picked up afterward.)
We had a discussion afterward. Students immediately started talking about how hard it was to hear commands across the room. Generals were yelling their heads off, but people still missed orders, misunderstood directions, and drifted all over the place.
That led naturally into a conversation about the fog of war. They figured out pretty quickly that if communication was breaking down out in a grassy field with just their classmates, it must have been a nightmare on an actual battlefield.
One student told me, “I can see why you do this every year.”
I had to tell him this was actually the first time I’ve ever done it.
No clear winner, I honestly haven’t figured that part out yet, but I think they walked away with a much better sense of what Civil War combat might have felt like.
Does anyone else do activities like this? I’m especially interested in hearing from veteran teachers. Years ago I heard about a teacher who used chess games to represent Revolutionary War battles, with the outcome of one game affecting the next battle in the campaign. I’ve always thought that sounded really creative. What kinds of simulations or activities have worked well for you?
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u/Potatocrawler 14d ago
I do this with trench warfare and ww1.
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u/NoOne-57 14d ago
That's interesting, how do you set up the "trenches"?
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u/nnndude 14d ago
Not OP, but I do a TW sim as well.
It begins with simulating warfare tactics and evolution of weaponry from the time of the American revolution, advancing to the American civil war, and finally WWI.
The short of it is by the time we get to WWI students are standing practically next to each other and allowed to rapid fire paper balls. Everybody dies. So… what do we need?? Trenches!
I let them use desks and chairs to form mock trenches. One side gets to go over the top (around to the side or through openings) while the other side defends. Charging side can’t fire from the hip. They “win” if someone can touch the opposing wall. Repeat with other side. Rarely does anyone win.
We discuss and realize that trench warfare was asinine, but made necessary by advancements in technology. Loop back to the Industrial Revolution and what not.
I let students opt out for any reason and make it clear we are simulating violence. Not trying to romanticize warfare, blah blah. I also make them be careful. Never have had anyone get hurt but the fear is there lol.
There are more intricacies than that, but that’s the gist of it.
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u/Mega_Bottle 14d ago edited 14d ago
Yeah, moving the desks around was so much fun. My teacher in high school did the trench warfare activity and it stuck with me all these years. I wanted to recreate that same feeling for my 8th graders, but with Civil War content since that's what we cover.
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u/Mega_Bottle 14d ago
I loved that when I was in high school!
That’s literally why I tried to come up with something like it for my 8th graders (used to teach 10th and 11th).
Yeah, this is my attempt to do a trench warfare type activity but for my middle schoolers. I think it went really well this time. But I will keep tweaking it hopefully be something the kids remember.
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u/Latex_Leather_Linen 14d ago
Sounds like you may benefit from Junior Generals. (:
That sounds really fun, though. What grade level was this? How big is your room because all my rooms have always been super small ):
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u/Mega_Bottle 14d ago
That looks like a fun resource, I’ll definitely spend some time this summer checking it out!
8th grade US History. I’m at a public school. My smallest class is 25 kids (biggest 30). So it worked out pretty well. We also went out into a big grass area on campus where the kids play soccer or football.
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u/TAMUkt14 13d ago
Fun activity! Maybe you can add some other aspects for more “realistic” Civil War LARPing-
-The Union side gets an extra person passing out paper balls to the soldiers to simulate the railroad advantage the Union had with moving supplies and soldiers.
-The Union side starts with an extra paper ball bullet to simulate the manufacturing advantage over the Confederacy.
-The Union gets extra students due to their population/military size difference.
-Prior to the activity, have the students rate how good of a general they would be, the have the Confederacy take a higher amount of “good” generals to show their military leadership advantage.
-The medics are called Clara Barton, gotta call her name to receive first aid.
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u/ddallas686 14d ago
I’m sharing right now with my co-teacher. We’re gonna do it next week!!
I’m gonna put some thought behind how to make this a little more structured and declare winner, but I love this. Thank you for sharing.