Maconaquah students build, storm 1700s-style fort

Oct. 17—BUNKER HILL — Last year, Maconaquah eighth graders built fortifications and a cannon as they learned about the French and Indian War.

Students used a draw knife and techniques accurate to the time period to build the wooden objects.

The fully functional cannon, equipped with its own carriage, fires apples, potatoes and candy, with the help of an air compressor.

Matt Barnett, a history teacher at Maconaquah Middle School, came up with the project, coining it "Storm the Fort."

Storm the Fort returned for its second installment last week. The result is the beginning of an actual 1700s-style fort.

Students set posts in the ground for the front wall, after Barnett and middle school principal Craig Jernagan cleared land in the wooded area behind the school.

The project is made possible through community support, including two grants.

A local carpenter helped design and build an even bigger cannon. Two other community members donated dirt to build the base of the fort.

The posts are cut telephone poles and were placed in the ground by teams of students, just like how pioneers would have done it.

Zach Duke was one of the students who lifted the logs. He said it took six students to place a post.

"With teamwork, it was pretty easy," he said.

Barnett used an excavator to dig the trench the posts were placed in.

How did people in the 1700s do it? That's a good question, Barnett said, but it's safe to assume they used shovels and a lot of manpower.

It's one of the main lessons the history teacher hopes his students remember from the fun, hands-on project: survival was hard, really hard.

"I think these projects helps the kids see how much work went into surviving," he said.

Student Adalena Barker said she wanted to do some of it by herself but realized it was easier with help, a valuable lesson in the rugged frontier times.

"I think the best part was helping build everything," she said.

The students named the fort, Fort Mac.

The front wall has a gate that allows people to come in and out of the fort. Future classes will add side and back walls and corner bastions. When complete, it will be 50-foot by 30-foot in size.

Inside, there will be a carpenter shop, a blacksmith shop, a kitchen and soldiers mess area. These are all things a 1700s fort would have had.

Storm the Fort was an eighth-grade-wide STEM project for the week before fall break, culminating in a water gun fight to simulate taking a fort.

But one simply doesn't just storm a fort. You have to learn to march first.

Barnett, using authentic cues and terms, taught the students to march. Students marched shoulder to shoulder in tight formations.

"Too the front!" Barnett shouted. "March!"

Sometimes in unison, sometimes not, students marched forward, left, right, left, right.

Napoleonic warfare might seem ineffective in today's age, but lines of soldiers all firing at once made for some pretty strong firepower back in the day.

"Every fort can be taken if you have the right amount of men and artillery," Barnett said.

It also depends on how many men you're willing to lose, the teacher added.

Students got the hang of marching, but it got a lot tougher when the water guns were loaded. As soon as they started firing at each other, the groups scattered.

The fort at Maconaquah is based on Fort Loudoun, a British fort in Pennsylvania that was built in 1756.

A frontier fort had fortifications outside the main area. These types of fortifications were built by students last year, including chevaux de frise, wooden structures with sharp points meant to slow down advancing enemies.

"Forts weren't just four walls, there were outer rings to slow the enemy down," Barnett said. "If they got to the fort wall, you're in trouble."

A fort wasn't just a place where battles took place. They were also merchant and cultural centers. During the French and Indian War, the British and French traded with allied Native American groups at forts.

"It was a really cool spot," Barnett said. "There were multiple languages going on."

Forts were often built near rivers — the main mode of transportation in the 1700s.

A small creek flows near Fort Mac during heavy rains. Barnett widened an old deer path that runs along side the creek.

The trail will connect the fort and a Native American village. Students have started making wigwams out of wood.

"By the time it's done, it will be living history," Barnett said.

The teacher envisions the entire school using the fort as a nice spot to have class on a warm, sunny day.

The cross country trail runs right by the fort. It'll be a good place to get some pictures as runners go by.

And Fort Mac is built to last.

"Being a part of something that will last forever (is the best part)," said student Olivia Kunkle.

Barnett said one day a student might look at the fort's wall and say, "Dad built that."

"That's fun, that's a cool thing," he said. "I hope to create memories."

Spencer Durham can be reached at 765-454-8598, by email at spencer.durham@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @Durham_KT.