Panama Central School History Teacher Robert Pawlak answers questions from his eighth-grade students. Submitted photo

PANAMA — Hands-on learning may be the best way to make students connect with the material.

In June, students in Robert Pawlak’s eighth-grade history class at Panama Central School will get the chance.

Pawlak and his students are to travel to Gettysburg National Military Park to get a chance to experience a hands-on learning opportunity about the Civil War. The trip is made possible in part with a $400 grant from the American Battlefield Trust’s Field Trip Fund.

“The students have been excitedly looking forward to this trip for a while now. It is a chance to visit a place that most have only ever read about. Our focus will be on the personal stories, especially of Western New Yorkers who were involved in the battle,” Pawlak said.

The history teacher recalled four people from Western New York who fought in the battle — Amos Humiston of Portville; Bayard Wilkeson of Buffalo; Alonzo Cushing of Fredonia; and Thomas Horan of Dunkirk.

“One of the most famous stories out of Gettysburg,” Pawlak said of Humiston. “He was a member of the 154th NY, and they were engaged on the first day north of Gettysburg. Amos was found dead on the streets of Gettysburg, clutching a picture of his three kids. The only way to identify him was by publishing the picture and hoping someone saw it.”

Pawlak noted that Wilkeson was killed north of town, and had to amputate his own leg with a knife. His father, a war correspondent, found him after the battle and wrote a very moving letter about war in general.

Cushing, Pawlak said, commanded an artillery battery at the height of Pickett’s Charge on the third day of battle, right near the famous high water mark of Pickett’s Charge.

“He (Cushing) was hit first in the shoulder. Another shot hit him in the abdomen, exposing his intestines. He was ordered to the rear, but, realizing he was dying, he stayed at his post, commanding his unit. As he attempted to give another order, a final bullet pierced the roof of his mouth, killing him instantly. He received a Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously in 2014,” Pawlak said.

Pickett’s Charge was the culmination of the Battle of Gettysburg. Taking place on July 3, 1863, the third and final day of battle, it involved an infantry assault of approximately 15,000 Confederate soldiers against Union Major General George Meade’s troops’ position along Cemetery Ridge, manned by some 6,500 Federals. The assault would take the nine brigades of Confederate soldiers over three-quarter mile of open ground susceptible to cannon fire the entire time. The ill-fated assault resulted in over 6,000 Confederate casualties and marked the end of the battle of Gettysburg as well as Lee’s last invasion of the north, historynet.com said.

Horan, Pawlak said, was a member of the 72nd New York Infantry regiment, received the medal of honor for capturing an enemy flag on the second day, and was part of a charge to retake Union cannon from the Confederate troops that had captured them around the Peach Orchard.

Also, the history teacher said, the 9th NY Cavalry were involved on the first day, fighting west of town against the first Confederate assaults. “They claimed to have fired the first shots at Gettysburg, although another unit made a stronger claim. They were known as the Westfield Cavalry, having mustered into the army at Westfield and other locations in New York,” Pawlak said.

According to battlefields.org The American Battlefield Trust is the largest battlefield land preservation organization in the country, having saved more than 52,000 acres of hallowed ground across 24 states. Through visiting preserved battlefields and walking in the footsteps of the citizen soldiers who fought there, the Trust aims to provide a foundation of good citizenship for the leaders of tomorrow. The Trust strives to produce excellent educational resources in a variety of formats for both educators and the public alike, ensuring that Americans never forget how their country was forged. Every year, the Trust receives applications from classrooms across the country to participate in the Field Trip Fund, which offers funding and assistance to K-12 teachers planning field trips to Civil War, War of 1812, or Revolutionary War battlefields and related historic sites. During the 2018-2019 school year, more than 7,500 students from 24 states took part.

Pawlak said he has enormous enthusiasm for teaching history and is excited to utilize Gettysburg National Military Park as an outdoor classroom that will give his students a meaningful and memorable experience. The American Battlefield Trust is proud to support and empower such excellent educators as they inspire the next generation of proud Americans.

“As a history teacher, you can make a big impression in leading young Americans to care about the history of the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and the Civil War as well as the fate of the battlefields associated with these conflicts. Your students will be the ones to decide how we remember these conflicts and whether we preserve the sites that shaped the history of our nation,” battlefields.org noted.

Pawlak also serves as the town of Portland Museum curator.