Connecting with History

Very ill one morning and incapable of reading aloud, I instead had Ria read to me her history lesson.  It was the moving account of the 1777 Battle of Bemis Heights during the American Revolutionary War.  As she read, we both felt like we were witnessing the battle and I could tell she was moved as her little 10 year old voice occasionally faltered.  When she was done, she looked at me and said, “That makes me feel so sad, Mama.”

“Me too.” I replied, a little choked myself.

And then she buried her face in her hands and wept!

That was last week and out of curiosity I asked Ria to tell me what she remembered about that chapter again.  This is what she said.

Surrender of General Burgoyne

“The battle of Bemis Heights was fought between the British and the American Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.  Burgoyne was depending on General Howe who had captured Philadelphia.  But the British lost this battle.”

“I remember what Benedict Arnold said.  One of the Germans had shot him in the leg and Benedict’s soldier was going to kill the Hessian when Arnold stopped him and said, “For God’s sake, don’t kill him,  he’s a fine fellow.” And the German’s life was spared.  Also Benedict Arnold’s bravery – how he went into the thickest part of the battle.  General Gates finally won the victory and General Burgoyne lost.  General Burgoyne handed his sword to Gates and all the soldiers laid down their arms and wept.  That’s why I cried, it made me sad for them.  But General Gates was quite a gentleman, in this case, (although he stole the glory from Benedict Arnold later and did not help him as much as he should have in the battle).  He returned Burgoyne’s sword and said,  “It was through no fault of yours.”

This is what Charlotte Mason aims for.  An emotional connection with history.  It is so much better than rote memorization, lists of dates and names.  In Ria’s mind, she was there at Bemis Heights.  She felt Benedict Arnold’s passion, his courage (despite the discouragement from Gates), she also felt for Burgoyne.  I appreciated that she could see both sides.  Men strongly fighting for what they believed to be the right cause, and she could imbibe inspiration from Arnold and feel sorrow for Burgoyne.  I think it’s because she felt so strongly that she could accurately recall the quotes without any prompting.

Perhaps she should do more of the reading…..I quite enjoyed that lesson myself!