Cedar Mountain Battlefield welcomed students from the Warwick School, Warwick, United Kingdom. Warwick School is no stranger to Cedar Mountain, for they had a memorable visit in 2016.
The oldest boys’ school in England, Warwick School has been in continuous existence at least from the days of King Edward the Confessor (reigned 1042-1066) when the fledgling town possessed a school under the tutelage of All Saints’ Church. Warwick School was named England’s Independent Boys School of year in October, 2022.
The groups visited Cedar Mountain as part of an east coast history tour. Other stops included New York City, Washington, D. C., Gettysburg and Charlottesville. The trip coincided with the school’s fall break.
The tour was originally planned for the Spring of 2020, but the worldwide pandemic forced the postponement. When the four-day window for sign-ups were opened this past spring, 90 boys committed to the trip by the deadline.
The visitors arrived in two groups on separate days, October 20 & 23. Volunteer Michael Block treated the boys to a short battlefield walk and discussed among other topics, highlights of the 1862 battle, battlefield preservation, and the KOCOA system of military terrain analysis. The acronym stands for Key terrain, Obstacles, Cover and concealment, Observation points, and Avenues of approach and retreat.
FCMB board members Brad Forbush & Vic Middlekauff brought muskets for the guests to handle, so they could get a tactile experience of period weapons. Vic was also able to demonstrate equipment typical the soldiers from both sides carried.
A highlight of the tour for each group was being formed into two gun crews, and put through the motions of a Civil War battery utilizing ‘unique’ homemade props.
The Head Boy, Josh Turner, passed through the tour leaders, to the FOCMB, saying what a fantastic time they spent with us at Cedar Mountain.
Friends of Cedar Mountain Battlefield provided water-bottle souvenirs and snacks to all the guests.
The group is already looking forward to their next visit to America and Cedar Mountain. The next time the young men visit Cedar Mountain, it will be part of the newly minted Culpeper Battlefield State Park.
The group leaders, Mr. John Jefferies (Senior Tutor and Head of Politics), and Mr. Olly O’Brian (Head of History) host a history and politics podcast (UK focused, but they do occasionally cross the pond). You can listen to the Heaton podcast here or wherever you find your podcasts.
Note: If link does not work paste this into your browser: https://theheatonpodcast.buzzsprout.com/