Civil War comes alive

at odds were two different dreams for america: one agricultural, one industrial. almost a century after america's birth, with a bitter disagreement over slavery, these clashing dreams came to a head in the civil war.

this difficult 1860s period of south vs. north played out friday over a grassy field at deer lakes high school.

gray- and blue-uniformed civil war re-enactors fired rifles and cannons for ninth-grade students who were fresh from a civil war unit in craig taliani's history class.

the echoing boom of a real cannon -- twice -- capped the re-enactors' chilling tale of how the nation fell into a deadly war that killed more than half a million americans in four years.

girls screamed as the cannons blasted.

"that was awesome! do it again!" yelled amy sabotka, 15, of west deer.

she said she learned much about the soldiers, their attire and their weapons from the presentation.

"it was awesome," sabotka said.

the students also stood shoulder to shoulder and marched under orders from the union drill captain. continual marching practice was a daily thing for soldiers. the goal, of course, was to march so well that you assembled in a firing line before your enemy, giving you the first shot.

taliani used to be a teacher at grove city high school and organized "theme days" with civil war re-enactors for the past five years.

when he started teaching at deer lakes this school year, he brought the theme days along with him. the re-enactors are from the 10th pennsylvania volunteers, the 19th ohio light artillery and the 1st kentucky infantry regiment.

the ninth-grade students will be getting some extra education this summer. taliani and fellow history teacher david veschi are taking a tour bus of 44 students to tour the civil war battlefields of gettysburg, where a three-day battle resulted in more than 51,000 casualties.