Join The Army: 1st Minnesota: Pre-Visit Lesson

Preparing for Your Field Trip

The purpose of this lesson is to prepare students for their visit to Gettysburg. It is important that students complete this pre-lesson before they arrive at the battlefield.

We recommend creating name tags for each of your students, this will help the rangers in their interaction with your students.

When you arrive, meet your Park Ranger at the bus parking lot of the Museum and Visitor Center, 1195 Baltimore Pike, Gettysburg, PA 17325. The bus parking lot has restrooms. Please take advantage of this opportunity as restroom options are limited to non-exisistent once the program begins.

Your bus(es) will be directed to a parking area on the Battlefield. Students will begin their lesson there. This activity is a ranger-led program, with opportunities for much interaction and participation by students.

 

Pre-Visit: Identities of Company E, 1st Minnesota

Email us to request identity cards of soldiers in Company E, 1st Minnesota for this field trip, or for your classroom.

Assign each one of your students the identity of a soldier. Have your students become familiar with the soldier they will be representing during their visit to Gettysburg.

Do not reveal the "After the Battle" fates of their assigned soldiers. Students will either discover the fate of their soldier during the ranger-guided program or after the program.

 

NPS Photo

Pre-Visit Lesson: Drill of the Company

During this 60-90 minute ranger program your class will be recruited and take the identities of soldiers from Company E of the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. Each of these soldiers were trained to march, just as you will be practicing.

Pre-Visit Procedure

Have your class elect (or you can appoint) students in your class as officers. Choose one Captain, a Lieutenant, and two color bearers.

Your Captain should be ready to be at the lead of the class for the Drilling of the Company. This requires a loud voice to issue orders and a sense of good leadership.

Your Lieutenant will work with your Captain to maintain the troops in their marching order, and should the Captain fall, the Lieutenant will take their place.

Your Color Bearers will need to be brave, courageous, and good at obeying the orders of the Captain, as they will carry the flag into battle at the head of the Company.

The remainder of the students will be enlisted Privates.

In a large open area, using the elected officers, have the students get into formation (see illustration below). Students should be lined up very close together, shoulder-to-shoulder.

Try some of the following commands with your class-company:
COMPANY. . . FALL IN (line up quickly, as shown in diagram)
COMPANY. . . ATTENTION (stand tall, face forward, silence)
COMPANY. . . RIGHT FACE (quarter-turn to the right)
COMPANY. . . LEFT FACE (quarter-turn to the left)
COMPANY. . . ABOUT FACE (half-turn)
COMPANY. . . FORWARD MARCH (move forward, maintaining formation)
COMPANY. . . HALT (stop, but remain at attention)
COMPANY. . . AT EASE (relax, but stay in place)

Some orders that the captain can give, as needed:

COMPANY. . . RIGHT – DRESS! (turn heads to the right and straighten lines)
FRONT (snap heads back to the front, after the RIGHT – DRESS command)
STEADY MEN, STEADY (maintain pace; don’t speed up)
TO THE STEP (stay in step with captain; match his pace)
QUIET IN THE RANKS (silence; no talking, everyone must be able to hear the captain.)

 

 

 

NPS