Fayetteville house spared by General Sherman in Civil War is transformed into
digital classroom
John Henderson
The Fayetteville Observer
"A house that Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman decided not to burn down during his march through Fayetteville in 1865 has been renovated into a digital classroom where Civil War and Reconstruction stories will soon be taught to students statewide.
The 1860 Arsenal House is one of three that have been restored for the first phase of the N.C. Civil War & Reconstruction History Center.
With the help of a $5 million state grant awarded to get the project off the ground, the house has been transformed into a digital education center in which Civil War and Reconstruction experts will teach students from kindergarten through 12th grade across the state. The live sessions in the classroom will be streamed over the internet using numerous cameras and equipment in another room.
In 1865, as Sherman and more than 60,000 troops were marching through Fayetteville and burning buildings down, he encountered a former classmate at West Point whom he hadn’t seen for years. That man, Confederate soldier Edward Monaghan, had two sons serving for the Confederacy at the Fayetteville arsenal, where ammunition was made and stored. He pleaded with Sherman not to burn his house down.
Sherman obliged, declaring: “There is room enough in this world even for traitors,” according to a video produced by the center.
Fast-forward 155 years, and the house will be a focal point of a digital education experience, history center officials said.
“We’re going to be able to broadcast in real time to classrooms all across the state,” said David Winslow, a senior consultant for the history center.
Mary Lynn Bryan, vice president of the history center board, said there will be many educational programs put on in the Arsenal House. “We expect to have programs, speakers, instruction, panelists, maybe plays, maybe art about the period. Anything that will help us provide an accurate vision of that period,” Bryan said."
The Fayetteville Observer
"A house that Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman decided not to burn down during his march through Fayetteville in 1865 has been renovated into a digital classroom where Civil War and Reconstruction stories will soon be taught to students statewide.
The 1860 Arsenal House is one of three that have been restored for the first phase of the N.C. Civil War & Reconstruction History Center.
With the help of a $5 million state grant awarded to get the project off the ground, the house has been transformed into a digital education center in which Civil War and Reconstruction experts will teach students from kindergarten through 12th grade across the state. The live sessions in the classroom will be streamed over the internet using numerous cameras and equipment in another room.
In 1865, as Sherman and more than 60,000 troops were marching through Fayetteville and burning buildings down, he encountered a former classmate at West Point whom he hadn’t seen for years. That man, Confederate soldier Edward Monaghan, had two sons serving for the Confederacy at the Fayetteville arsenal, where ammunition was made and stored. He pleaded with Sherman not to burn his house down.
Sherman obliged, declaring: “There is room enough in this world even for traitors,” according to a video produced by the center.
Fast-forward 155 years, and the house will be a focal point of a digital education experience, history center officials said.
“We’re going to be able to broadcast in real time to classrooms all across the state,” said David Winslow, a senior consultant for the history center.
Mary Lynn Bryan, vice president of the history center board, said there will be many educational programs put on in the Arsenal House. “We expect to have programs, speakers, instruction, panelists, maybe plays, maybe art about the period. Anything that will help us provide an accurate vision of that period,” Bryan said."
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ClarkPowell partnered with the North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center to install the distance learning classroom in Fayetteville. The studio and digital classroom in the historical building features a Polycom system with recording capability and Panasonic Pan Tilt Zoom (PTZ) cameras. The two-way communication is achieved via ceiling microphone sound reinforcement.
