6
QUEENS WEEKLY, JAN. 13, 2019
A blast from the past in Bayside
Lively Civil War demonstration enthralls students at Cardozo High School
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BY JENNA BAGCAL
Benjamin N. Cardozo
High School in Bayside has
been bringing the Civil War
to life for their students for
more than a decade.
Last week, the high
school brought back the interactive
history war lesson
for hundreds of juniors as a
supplement to what they’re
learning in the classroom.
Hundreds of students
got the opportunity to see,
hear and even taste the experience
of Civil War-era
soldiers on Jan 4. Outdoor
activities were led by Cardozo
history teacher Dr. Peter
Ridout, an active member
of the 124th New York
State Volunteers Civil War
re-enactment unit.
Joining Ridout for his
12th year was his son William
Ridout — currently a
cargo specialist in the U.S.
Army — and fellow social
studies teacher and war reenactor
Stanton Mitrano.
According to the school’s
assistant principal, Peter
Georgatos, Dr. Ridout and
his crew began setting up
the demonstration near the
sports field at 6 a.m. The day
consisted of showing each
class the experience of an
average soldier including
camp life, food, the tents
they lived in and the types
of weapons they used.
William Ridout brought
in his army uniform and other
supplies for a side-by-side
comparison between a 21st
century army uniform and
a 19th century uniform. Ridout
and Mitrano also demonstrated
the nine steps to
shoot a rifle and fired blank
bullets to end the presentation
with a literal bang.
“I think it kind of brings
it to life because it’s hard
for somebody in the 21st
century to really imagine
it. You can tell them what
it was like and they can
read about a dog tent and
they can read about the
food, but they get to actually
see it, to smell it and
if they want to, taste it,”
said Dr. Ridout.
“In textbooks, it’s always
about the generals
and the major battles but
you don’t know about the
average soldiers — the average
soldiers were 18 or
19 years old. So we try to
show them how the average
person was,” Mitrano
added.
This “bottom-up” way
of teaching history is something
that Ridout and Mitrano
want to instill in the
students to reiterate the
fact that the soldiers lost
their lives in these battles
to fight for freedom.
“At Cold Harbor, there
were 7,000 dead in 20 minutes.
At Gettysburg, there
were 53,000 total casualties
in three days. These
are casualty rates that are
unfathomable in today’s
standards and we want
for them to kind of understand
that this was the cost
of freedom in this country,”
said Ridout.
Ridout started doing
war re-enactments in upstate
New York when he
watched members of his
current unit do a demonstration
at the Farmers’
Museum in Cooperstown.
As lifelong history and
Civil War enthusiast, joining
the reenactment unit
appealed to him.
“It sounded interesting
and it encompassed
history and the Civil War
and camping, so I said ‘oh,
perfect!’” Ridout said.
Both he and Mitrano
travel up and down the East
Coast to help reenact famous
battles, including the
Battle of Gettysburg, the
First and Second Battles of
Manassas and the Battle of
Fredericksburg. He recalls
the celebration of the 150th
anniversary of Gettysburg
when 15,000 to 20,000 reenactors
participated in
the event.
“We get together, we
travel around the country,
mostly upstate or Pennsylvania,
Virginia, and recreate
different battles from
the Civil War. I’ve recreated
medical scenes because my
unit was also part of a medical
unit,” said Mitrano.
Georgatos has seen the
interactive lesson during the
seven years he’s been at Cardozo
and hopes that it’s something
students will get to experience
for years to come.
“I love tradition. The
thing that I love about it is
that it’s ours,” said Georgatos.
“I want us to be a family.
The kids, they’re our
kids and we want this tradition
in the school. We’re
gonna keep going, I’m saying
30 or 40 years. Hopefully,
the person who takes
over will have their kids
doing the reenactment. It’s
just something that I really
believe in.”
Dr. Peter Ridout addresses students at Cardozo High School. Photos by Bruce Adler
The day consisted of showing each class the experience of an
average soldier including camp life, food, the tents they lived
in and the types of weapons they used.
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