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From: youcanlivehistory
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  • so...this is what really happend?

  • Shit this is better than adult ones xD

  • I remember doing a reenanctment in 6th grade as a line battle. I was the commander in my battallion, I had my class of 32 people as the troops I commanded. When me and the other british general were organized in lines, we came up to each other. Back to back, faced our army, turned to walk away, and then the British general shot me in the back with a fake flintlock, I had the most EPIC death ever.

  • There are 2 or 3 different ways to do it. If you live in Colorado, you could join in on a battle we have planned for late this September, or one of several planned for next spring. If you live in another state, you could either come to Colorado or you could arrange with your local schools or other organization, for us to be invited and we will come to your area. We will provide what is needed so that you can do it!

  • can u please tell me how i could do this????

  • Guess what... thats my school in there I get to do this!!!

  • i want to reeanact

  • lol tiny soldiers rock

  • Don't say that too loud, you might upset some adults!

  • These kids are better than adults! LOL

  • Thanks for saying so! What is not immediately apparent from the youtube clip, is the result: It actually makes the kids want to study history, which Albert Einstein said was the most important of all school subjects. I wish more people had a clue about that...

  • This is GREAT!!! What a awesome thing you are doing for these children!

  • BRAVO as a reenactor myself i think that this is a wonderful program i think i speak for all reenactors when i say BRAVO.

  • Stay tuned. In a few months we plan to post excerpts of a movie we are working on: "The Battle of Trenton", Washington's Continentals vs. Rall's Hessians. It will be a spectacular visual treat! 

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  • perhaps you are speaking of the "bonnet" worn by the highlanders?

  • Why do some kids have head bands instead of hats?

  • That is so fucking cute.

  • Thanks for the kind words! It does really work to make kids love history. Questionnaires filled out by high school seniors name this experience as the most memorable event in school. We would come to Europe [where are you?] if invited. These 'battle' clips had about 325 involved but we could outfit, equip and train over 500 kids and adults, if desired. We do primarily the American Revolution and US Civil War.

  • You guys are brilliant. THIS got to get kids warm for History :)

    I wish they do this in Europa to one day ^_^

    How many kids were involved in this 'battle' ?

  • IS this Located in Virginia anywhere?

  • @25kingjack -No, these particular clips were filmed in Colorado. But "You Can Live History" will travel to VA, if invited.

  • @youcanlivehistory Awesome, Who can Invite them?

  • @25kingjack: Usually we are invited by schools or homeschool groups or individuals who want to arrange it. If we have 300 kids participating, we can afford to come to VA. When we come, we would supply all of the uniforms, equipment, training-everything needed to put on the battle and make the movie. What we don't supply is the "troops" or the battlefield [filming area] or the training facility. But yes, we supply everything else.

  • You're right, we don't issue black powder to kids. The cannons use footpumps to shoot smoke [flour]. The muskets the kids use shoot smoke by blowing it, using a cleverly concealed tube. It's a compliment that you thought it looked real. We don't issue any dangerous items to the kids, even the bayonets, tomahawks, etc., are safe]. Over 100,000 kids have done it with us, no one has ever been hurt.

  • @youcanlivehistory well how are there little explosions where the cannon balls are hitting? Please tell, im curious.

  • @koshi116 We use several different methods. One uses footpumps with hoses to push flour into the air. Another uses small amounts of black powder [at least 10' from the kids] with a topper of flour and corks to simulate debris, wired to a control panel. Another is low-tech: we have the kids kneel behind the troops and throw flour into the air. With proper timing, the surrounding kids jump away to simulate a devastating explosion! Sound effects are added in post-production.

  • @youcanlivehistory thanx!

  • That is so cool! Brilliant idea getting the kids involved. :) one question, how do the muskets and cannon work? Surely you don't hand out black powder to the kids!?

  • i wish i did this when i was in elementary school....

  • o man i wish i could have done that

  • Great Job two thumbs up! Bravo Bravo!

  • @PukkPukk Thanks!! We'll be putting up more clips soon...

  • I saw a black kid WTF really?!?!?!?

  • @PvEnPvP

    I don't understand your point, if you have one?!?!?! Black soldiers, even kids, participated on both sides during the Revolutionary War. For example, American cavalry commander William Washington's bugler-boy was a 14-year-old black kid. The British offered freedom to slaves that would agree to fight on their side and many did. So, you saw a black kid. Really?!?!?!

  • @youcanlivehistory they did. They were offered freedom from service on both sides which is what eventually led to the abolishment of slavery in the uk!

  • It is funny to see them shoot smoke and to make it more realistic, then manually make recoil. It's fun to do that when I play around with my BB Gun :)))

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  • um... is the "yankee Doodle" song out of tune?

  • @slimbullet96

    I think it's just unusual to hear it played in harmony

  • at 0:32 it's kinda stupid how the guy is right next to the enemy's gun and not die

  • using children is an advantage.

    they look further away

  • mrlekeafarm nice use of the word one...a

  • pretty good but my reenactment is more realistic i think

  • They are 4th-8th graders...

  • lol i know. this is actually really kool. if u saw my reanactment on my channel it doesnt compare to this.

  • That's awesome!

  • wow this is more realistic then when the professionals do it

  • nope, i didn't see no hessian, i watched it twice, and i would know, because i am a Hessian reenactor. regiment von bose

  • how can our school do that?

  • do all the battles take place in colorado?

  • I think those guys in the middle were Hessian.

  • pretty cool

  • They should do stuff like this in Britain

  • not to be mean but ussually they do these things to celebrate that we one independence

  • I don't mean only for the Revolution, Culloden, Waterloo, ECW & others

  • This is in Colorado. Actually, You Can Live History [an educational non-profit] will go anywhere [even GA] but we have to be invited.

  • where is this??? only if my school was that cool... damn Georgia!

  • So cooool

  • thats sick!!!!!!!!!!!! dude thats so cool!!!

  • who american standin in the middle. what the hell???

  • You may be referring to one of the British artillerists. Those wore a blue uniform with red facings and yellow button loops, coincidentally, the same uniform worn by American artillerists. Not all British soldiers wore red coats.

  • Nearly every country in Europe dressed their artillery in blue, just as some of the cavalry wore the same colours. The infantry were generally the most important factor of armies back then, artillary were behind the lines and the cavalry was mostly used for mopping up, so the colours dident matter so much

  • we did the battle of camden today. Luved it =D

     from the american artilerest & the british grenadeer

  • i get to do that next weak wooooooo

  • some of those kids deserve oscars. best. deaths. ever.

  • I thought you might be interested to see this. Go to youtube and type into the search window:

    The Unsung Hero of the Civil War. Part 1

    Let me know what you think!

  • Hahahaha! i am gonna have to do that this year!!! haha!

  • The action was great considering their age.

  • 5th grades!?!?!?!? lucky kids

  • I like the action

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  • I think the redcoats were usually British-the Hessians usually wore bluecoats. I think the Brits hired the Hessians because they were short of soldiers. The Brits had a lot on their plate with a lot of areas of the world to try to control. Hessians had a reputation for being fierce and as well-trained and inexpensive to hire.

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  • Actually the Hessians, and let us not forget the Brunswickers, wore blue coats with different colored facings to identify which regiment they belonged to. As for the reason they were hired, it is mainly because the British did not want to have their army on the other side of the Atlantic should the French decide they wanted to invade.

  • King george III suffered with a mental illness, basically he was scared and paranoid of everyone.

    The rev war could of been avoided.

  • George III was afflicted with porphyria but the symptoms did not first appear until 1788--after the Revolution, of course, and he got better quickly. The Revolution was not caused by the king anyway, it was the business of Parliament passing laws and how to enforce them. George III, as King and head of state, represented it even though he didn't have the power. The war might've been avoided, maybe, if they had telephones and could communicate more quickly, but alas, no such luck.

  • Long live the Empire of Britain. America bow for the English Queen!!

  • Yes, weird that nobody ever gets hurt, weird that it works so well to get kids interested in history...

  • wierd....

  • A great victory for France, but I never knew the revolutionary war was let by a short arse alcoholic racist australian!

    Learn something new every day!

  • vive le france et se polirique

  • it kinda sucked ;/ in the beginning they fell without being hit.

  • Not if you consider that some of the cannons were firing grapeshot.

  • i want to handle those cannons so bad! their luck.

  • lol liberals will have a kick about this giving guns to children

  • Interesting observation.

    You're right about some liberals objecting to guns. That initial thought often changes, though, when they see that the best way to teach the value of peace is to teach about war. Hiding knowledge does not help our kids.

    Einstein was a liberal and he thought history was the most important subject for people to learn.

    Conservatives like the program too, partly because all of the kids are learning self-discipline -but not in a harsh way. And the kids don't use real guns.

  • thats one hell of a reenactment

  • man, i wish i could participate in one of these. gotta love the huge amount of casualties.

  • You're welcome to participate! What town are you near?

  • This is a great video. I like how the kids are extremely generous with their dramatic casualties.

  • The kids are only "down for the scene" instead of "down for the day", so they don't mind taking hits. We're filming a movie about each battle they do.

  • Fifth Graders with guns...

    my worst nightmare...

  • Relax, it's only a nightmare-they're not real guns. All of the kids who participate are shown real muskets, the damage they can do is explained, the safe handling of firearms is taught, along with a healthy respect for life. These kids were performing for a movie and they knew the difference between what is play-acting [for a movie] and what is real.

  • hey mr osburn i was in your latest revolutionary war in cheyenne at goins elementry

  • What did you think about it?

  • i thought it was awesome.but when we fell down the grass was itchy

  • yes ok the puffs of smoke are flour. but those clips showing the diffrence between these "flour guns" and real guns better come soon because there are a lot of people here on youtube (not me) thinking that these little kids are actually shooting real gunpowder.

  • Federico, reading profile, you want to be a film director. As you know, movie making is telling a story and about making something that is not real, seem real. It's a compliment that it looks real enough to you [and others] to be concerned for the kids' safety. The clips where the kids use wheat flour instead of rice flour are even more realistic! But fear not! I'll mention that in the last 18 years, 500 battles reenacted, with over 100,000 kids participating, we've never had a serious injury.

  • yes ok......i understand that......its not me im talking about, its about all the others who dont know the diffrence. and yes i understand that no one has been hurt, thats wonderful ok.

  • omg!! are those little kids? yes! thats so awesome!! how do they get the smoke puffs from the weapons?

  • its called gunpowder

  • no....it cant be man. a full load or even a half load of powder would knock back and hurt a kid. i doubt that these schools would give heavy lethal replica weapons to young children. besides, the puffs of smoke are too little and too few (not enough smoke) to be real black powder.

  • You're right! We do show the kids the real weapons during their training period, explaining the damage they do and the safe handling of such weapons, which I feel is very important for them to know. As I said above, we usually use wheat flour, which looks much smokier. We'll post some other battle clips soon, to show the difference.

  • Actually we don't issue gunpowder to the kids [or anything else they could hurt themselves with]. Over the last 18 years more than 100,000 kids have taken part in a YCLH reenactment and no one has ever been seriously injured!

  • the smoke puffs come out like this.there is a little tube that they put their mouths on and then they blow out flower.i know this bacause i was in that war.

  • ok great thats awsome. it gives me some idea to create my own special effects rifle. but any idea how they get the cannons to fire flower? a spring maybe??

  • i'm not quite sure how they did tha cannons.maybe compressed air

  • What the heck school is that??? I would glady repeat the 5th grade at that school.

  • That was a scene from a battle done with the Cheyenne Mt. School District in Colorado Springs. It was 6 schools together.

    They do this every year. Most people believe it makes the kids become much more interested in history, which is the goal. It's fun but the kids have to learn a lot and they work hard to do it as well as they do.

  • If i was that age i would have loved to do that... But that was probably one of the most annoying things seeing some kids run in place and everyone was acting like the musket kicks up a foot into they air when you fire. all it does is kick back.

  • For any 11 or 12 year old kids who ever have fired a large caliber [the Brown Bess is 75 cal] weapon, it actually might knock them over unless they're expecting it and hold it in a manner where they expect a good kick in the shoulder...

  • There so lucky!

  • God help the colonies if Oliver Cromwell had ruled Britain then.

  • True, Cromwell was ruthless-but rather in the same way that Bonaparte was, I mean that something had to be done about the incredible power the monarchy held over the vast majority of their subjects. Though very painful for a lot of folks, it may have been worth the suffering-in order to give people some measure of freedom.

  • Cromwell was a bit of a bastard. England's one and only attempt at a president. You know he actually outlawed christmas??!!?!? He also slaughtered a lot of welds and Irish folk, but he outlawed Christmas!!??!?

  • theres only like two Scottish soldiers when in the red coat army there were loads more

  • True, we didn't show the entire redcoat army in this short clip but if you look again, you'll see more than 2 Scots.

  • Oh yeah, i wasnt looking that closely

    thanks

  • No worries!

  • I'm a patriotic Englishman and I'm happy to admit that Britain was in the wrong here. Interestingly our then leader, King George III was actually insane. We didn't get another mad leader until Thatcher!

    And what a waste of all that tea! You could have had that tea at midday with clotted cream and scones

  • A patriotic Englishman with a sense of humor [humour?] and a sense of history...

  • Doh, don't knock Maggie.

    Anyways, the colonists rebelled over high taxes, but after they became independent, they got even higher taxes than under the king.

    Oh well, things still turned out for the best.

  • man, we really could have used those taxes during our little spat with bonaparte. But hey, it was your money!

  • But instead, America help finance Boney when he sold us the Louisiana Purchase. And the US was fighting Britain in the war of 1812, making the French our allies again.

  • Ah yes, the 1812 war. The French had failed to take Russia so Britain, incapable of seeing a belt without punching below it, decided to stick the boot in. (I love mixing my metaphors!)

    Sorry about arming the Indians and burning the Whitehouse. We were quite a naughty little Island Then. You should have made the Whitehouse out of stone not wood. Like Buckingham palace. Ain't nobody ever burned buckingham palace. Though the luftwaffa did manage to carpet bomb the outside netty.

  • Just like Obama, I demand reparations! haha

  • I blame Napoleon. You give the French an inch and they'll take a foot. Much more that that and you won't have a leg to stand on.

  • I think the colonists' real issue was representation.

  • The little Hessian buggers always make me laugh.

    The people who organize these things gives the kids a chance to actually participate and learn rather than going to a reenactment with their parents and spend most of the day saying: "I'm bored!"

  • On the close-ups, many 'Hessians' will even sport the big handlebar moustaches! Pretty fun.

    If kids can be part of a reenactment with other kids- in a safe manner and in an educational way-why not?

  • So...the ones that are fighting are 4th-8 graders?

  • no it was actually for 5th graders in my city

  • Schools in Canada don't do these things for some reason even if it's history (at least I don't think). It might be School Board Law.

  • Too bad they don't. Doing so builds a lot of interest in history for many kids who otherwise would not be interested.

  • Im gonna be in it!

  • whoaaa major safety violations omg omg omg. i cant watch this. omg bayonet charges omg are these things really loaded?!?!?! omg i wouldn't give one to a kid under the age of 16 that's dangerous omg. and the cannon uhhhh. please tell me our insurance is Awsome.

  • i was in this, dont worry the cannons dont shoot cannan balls they just shoot flour same with the guns. lol

  • no with blackpowder... ok that makes me feel better....flour isnt as bad

  • It may surprise you to know that our safety record is very good. In the last 18 years, over 100,000 kids have reenacted nearly 500 different battles and we've never had a serious injury! [I think the worst injury was that a couple of kids fell on a cactus]. Everything is made to be safe for the kids. No insurance claim has ever been filed against us!

  • ohh thank god...lol. I do re-enactments and will be visiting the battle of hook in VA.

  • i am doing one of these tomorrow. i am one of the melisha men

  • i was in that battle

  • me too

  • that reenactmant was shit it look so unorganized

  • wow their kids u ufkcing asshole lol i thought i was good for them

  • I'm curious to know, how many reenactments you yourself have organized and where I might view clips of them? It's always much easier to tear down something than it is to create something. If you're comparing this effort to a movie studio with professional actors and a budget of millions with a year to shoot it, you shouldn't. We had one 4 hr. shoot and a few thousand dollars to operate with-and made a half-hour movie about the battle of Brandywine.

  • That was awesome.

  • Why carry the Royal Banner? the English troops would have carried the regimental flag and the Union flag (minus the irish cross). Not the Current Royal banner

  • Hi Duncan. You're quite correct, of course. The current banner did not come into being until 1801. The reason we used it was because it was the closest we could come to the original as to availability of historical flags and a very tiny budget we have with which to work.

    Please know that no real weapons or uniforms were actually used in the reenactment. If you look closely enough, you may find other small flaws as well.

  • This was the Best Job I ever had. I loved the kids...the work..and the crew. Maybe someday you could travel to Washington...oh wait there's too much rain!

  • thank you i was in it

  • I wish I could have done that when I was in fifth grade.

  • yeah exaclty i was the canon person hahahah fun times i got so dirty

  • Its funny seeing kids acting it out, wish i was a part of it im so jealous

  • You could be part of it. We travel wherever there's a road. The only catch is we have to be invited. Often, kids will bring this to the attention of their teachers and that's how it gets done in their school!

  • what were they shooting out of the guns, steam?

  • Usually, it's white wheat flour. In this particular case, one student was allergic to wheat so we used rice flour. The wheat looks better, though, more smokey.

  • oh shit man i remmeber that i was in 5th grade idk if this is with me but hahaha i went to skyway elementary

  • You very well could have been there. We go to Skyway Park every year!

  • I'm so jealous. As I child I ALWAYS wanted to act out historical battles. These kids must be living a dream.

  • yea i know

  • They enjoy it but it's not all just fun. They have to work pretty hard [and learn a lot] to get ready.

  • this has to be one of the best Revolutionary war reenactments I've seen on video. So realistic. And the kids had fun. And there were hundreds of them! Well done!

  • Thanks! We do our best!

  • The most fun I evey had !

  • Colorful and exciting, a great way to get kids interested in history. Keep up the good wars!!!

  • Looks like combining fun with learning - THAT is indeed a strong alliance!

  • I appreciate those words! It's exactly what we're trying to do!

  • This is amazing! I can't believe this is a group of 5th graders. I'd like to see more!

  • Great stuff! I'd love to see that live!