The National Civil War Museum here in Harrisburg is a great place to visit to see all of the wonderful artifacts and exhibits.  Well, from February 6th to the 20th, it will also be a great time to visit and talk to a living historian who will be experiencing life as a Civil War soldier.

In order to raise money and awareness for the education department of the museum Brett Kelly, the museum’s curator, will be  spending two weeks of his vacation time living the life of a Civil War picket soldier.  He will be living on the grounds of the museum, living on rations, wearing the clothes, eating the hardtack and basically living the life of a soldier.  All the money raised from this initiative will go directly to the Museum’s education department to purchase reproduction equipment for school and public group presentations, develop the summer speaking program and also to develop a distance learning system to reach school groups unable to visit the Museum.

While on duty, Brett will be performing some of the duties that a typical soldier would have done including spending time on picket duty, building some winter quarters and wooden defenses.  In addition to this, Brett will also be carrying out several ten mile marches to raise awareness of the Museum.

Thanks to the help of local history teacher Jeff Mummert (check out his blog) and his students, Brett will be able to share his experience with the world via the Internet.  Brett’s daily journal, photographs and videos by museum staff, will be posed to various social networking sites like a blog, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.  If your school blocks these types of services, this is a great way for you to show how they can be used for educational purposes to benefit your students.

Brett’s blog,  Civil War Soldier 24/7, will allow teachers and students to follow his experiences from day to day.  Also, be sure to follow @cwsoldier24_7 on Twitter.  If you have a Facebook account, you can become a fan of The National Civil War Museum page.  Finally, be sure to subscribe to their YouTube channel.  Thanks to all the hard work by Jeff’s students!

Finally, I’m working with the museum to see if Civil War Sallie can visit and to possibly have Brett do a follow up webinar for students in order to describe his experiences.  Stay tuned for more information.  Here are links to read about Civil War Sallie’s visits to the museum:  Part 1 and Part 2

Please spread the word about this exciting event and if you are in Harrisburg during that time, stop by and say hello to Brett.

Until next time, stay warm.