WINDHAM – Last year, Sabrina Nickerson’s fifth-grade class at the Manchester School raised more than $500 on behalf of Pennies for Patients, a program that benefits the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Inspired by that fundraising success as well as the sesquicentennial anniversary of the Civil War, this year, Nickerson will ask her 23 students to collect pennies for Windham veterans of the Civil War.
Starting in January, Nickerson’s students will visit other classrooms to discuss the Windham veterans of the Civil War whose graves do not have bronze “Grand Army of the Republic” markers verifying their service in the conflict.
“We’re going to talk about how Windham soldiers – Windham boys – went to fight for the Union in the Civil War,” Nickerson said. “Some of them came back. Most of them did not. Some of them came back and were buried here. Some were not. The ones that were buried here, many of them did not have a GAR medal marker.”
According to Nickerson, some of the veterans’ graves never received medal markers. Other medal markers have fallen off or disappeared.
Nickerson hopes that her class raises enough money to order several GAR medal markers. The goal is to present a check funding the markers to officers from Windham’s American Legion Post 148 on Community Day, April 16.
During the winter, Nickerson’s students will read, “The Mostly True Adventure of Homer P. Figg,” historical fiction about a young Maine orphan whose older brother is kidnapped and conscripted into the Union army. Then, they will read a non-fiction book about Joseph K. Manchester, a Windham resident and distant relative of the school’s namesake, who died fighting for the Union. Carol Manchester, a descendent of Joseph Manchester who found his letters from the war in the attic of her family’s homestead, recently compiled them into a book. She will be speaking to Nickerson’s class.
“They’re going to read the fictional story of a Maine boy who goes to the Civil War,” Nickerson said. “Then we’re going to read about a real Windham boy this isn’t just a Maine boy this is a Windham boy who of course went to fight and didn’t make it back.”
Nickerson believes that the story of Windham’s history is part of her students’ story. Learning about local history can help students determine how they want to interact with their own time and place, she said.
“Well, I think that in one respect it’s part of your story, where you grew up,” she said. “That’s important for you to know what went on. It adds to your story not just the history of the country. This is your country and you’re a citizen, and you’re a citizen of the town. Wouldn’t you want to know what great things, big things, interesting people did before you? And I think it helps you to maybe make choices for yourself, too. Maybe you’d like to move on to do something like they did or do something even better.”
One of Nickerson’s students, Madelyn Demmons, has a brother who is fighting in a modern conflict the war in Afghanistan. In response, Nickerson’s students have written dozens of thank-you letters to soldiers in Afghanistan. The students’ “foster grammy,” Polly Dyer, constructed the cards, and Demmons’ mother arranged their shipment.
In Nickerson’s class on Dec. 19, her students described their letters to the soldiers. Many talked about how they felt safe at night because of the soldiers, how they valued their freedom from slavery, and their political rights. Nickerson nodded approvingly, pointing to the posters of Rachel Carson, Albert Einstein, Mother Theresa, Helen Keller, Anne Frank, and Jackie Robinson that adorn the classroom walls.
Yet, while the students expressed appreciation for freedom, they said that the more brutal aspects of war did not appeal to them.
“I don’t like violence,” said Zach Bearor, citing the legacy of the Nazis. “I disagree with violence.”
Nickerson hopes that in the spring she can walk her class to the nearby Arlington Cemetery, and place a GAR marker on the grave of the Civil War veteran buried there.
“We hope that we can walk across [Route 302] with that marker and help place it on the grave,” Nickerson said. “That would be a teacher’s dream.”
Sabrina Nickerson’s fifth-graders will collect pennies for a community service project called Cents for Civil War Soldiers, which is modeled on the Pennies for Patients program. Instead of benefiting leukemia patients, however, the money will go toward refurbishing and improving the graves of Windham Civil War veterans.Send questions/comments to the editors.
