Recently I decided to go with Camille's 5th grade class on a field trip to Camp Floyd. It's amazing how much you can learn on these field trips! I loved it, especially because somehow the bus ride wasn't as loud as it has been in the past and I enjoyed talking to the other adults there.
Camp Floyd is about a 40-minute bus ride from where we live. It was a temporary outpost for the US Army in 1858 when they came to Utah to make sure the Mormons weren't trying to start a rebellion against the US government. Here's what I got off Wikipedia:
All the buildings of the camp were torn down a few years later in 1861 when the Civil War started and the US Army needed all the soldiers they could get. The whole venture seemed to be a gigantic waste of the resources of the federal government (so what else is new?). But we're making the most of it by educating the schoolchildren of Utah at the site.
They told us these basic facts and then divided us into groups of about 9 kids and 1 adult to do rotations. My group went first to the schoolhouse which was built over 100 years ago, about the time that Utah became a state.
Next we went to the fake rifle shooting where we pretended to be soldiers with fake guns and learned how to load and shoot a rifle, a very slow process.
Next we went to the Camp Floyd Museum and went on a scavenger hunt for obscure facts about the soldiers. Next stop was an old house which was used as a stagecoach inn complete with a bullet hole in a bedroom wall where someone's gun had accidentally gone off. Fortunately they didn't kill anyone. I would have enjoyed more time and information in the Stagecoach Inn.
Next stop was the brick-making where we learned how they made adobe bricks. The government bought each brick for 1 penny which is about 30 cents now. It still seems like not enough money for the amount of work it took.
Next stop was a Pony Express relay since Camp Floyd was a stop on the Pony Express. The kids rode wooden ponies around a circuit. Last stop was the candle-making since no pioneer experience is complete without candle-making.
It was a fun field trip and I'm glad I went.
Camp Floyd is about a 40-minute bus ride from where we live. It was a temporary outpost for the US Army in 1858 when they came to Utah to make sure the Mormons weren't trying to start a rebellion against the US government. Here's what I got off Wikipedia:
Established in July 1858 by a U.S. Army detachment under the command of Brevet Brig. Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, Camp Floyd was named for then Secretary of War John B. Floyd. The detachment consisted of more than 3,500 military and civilian employees, including cavalry, artillery, infantry and support units. This unit, the largest single troop concentration then in the United States, was sent by President James Buchanan to stop a perceived Mormon rebellion, which came to be known as the Utah War.
From Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, the army marched to Fort Bridger, Wyoming where it spent the winter of 1857. Troops arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah in June 1858. Soon after their arrival, troops settled in the Cedar Valley area and eventually Fairfield, where 400 buildings were constructed by November 1858.All the buildings of the camp were torn down a few years later in 1861 when the Civil War started and the US Army needed all the soldiers they could get. The whole venture seemed to be a gigantic waste of the resources of the federal government (so what else is new?). But we're making the most of it by educating the schoolchildren of Utah at the site.
They told us these basic facts and then divided us into groups of about 9 kids and 1 adult to do rotations. My group went first to the schoolhouse which was built over 100 years ago, about the time that Utah became a state.
Next we went to the fake rifle shooting where we pretended to be soldiers with fake guns and learned how to load and shoot a rifle, a very slow process.
Next we went to the Camp Floyd Museum and went on a scavenger hunt for obscure facts about the soldiers. Next stop was an old house which was used as a stagecoach inn complete with a bullet hole in a bedroom wall where someone's gun had accidentally gone off. Fortunately they didn't kill anyone. I would have enjoyed more time and information in the Stagecoach Inn.
Next stop was the brick-making where we learned how they made adobe bricks. The government bought each brick for 1 penny which is about 30 cents now. It still seems like not enough money for the amount of work it took.
Next stop was a Pony Express relay since Camp Floyd was a stop on the Pony Express. The kids rode wooden ponies around a circuit. Last stop was the candle-making since no pioneer experience is complete without candle-making.
It was a fun field trip and I'm glad I went.
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