COEUR d’ALENE — An earthshaking explosion rocked the Lakes Middle School campus and surrounding neighborhood.

Down went students and Civil War reenactment soldiers as smoke billowed into the air.

While no projectiles were actually shot and no one was hurt, it was quite the experience provided by the Washington Civil War Association to help students visualize what war was like 160 years ago.

“The cannon blast was loud and sort of gave me a pretty good perspective on what they experienced back then,” eighth-grader Robert Miles said Thursday. "I love seeing all the reenactors show us what it was like in that time period. That’s not something you can see every day."

Robert is one of U.S. history teacher Tanya Lilley's students who has served as a Southern general in a reenactment simulation to teach eighth grade students about the bloodiest war to take place on American soil.

The American Civil War began April 12, 1861 and ended April 9, 1865.

"We divide the class into North and South, we have a Northern general and a Southern general,” Lilley said. “They come in every day to class and we do the reveille and they salute. My generals call company attention and stand and do roll call, and they get points for that. When they answer questions in class, we call it ‘hand-to-hand combat,’ and they get points for that."

Lilley said her students reenacted the Battle of Shiloh by playing dodgeball in the gym. They’ll learn about the Battle of Antietam, the deadliest one-day battle in all of American military history, on Monday.

"We have scooters with horse heads for the generals to ride into battle on,” Lilley said. "They’re learning through bringing it back to life. They’re learning by doing. It's very hands on."

Lilley invited members of the WCWA to the school to provide an even deeper understanding of Civil War aspects such as camp life, entertainment, diet, injuries, field surgery, cavalry and artillery.

"There was a lot of sitting and waiting around," said Lilley's aide, seventh-grader Danielle Drapeau.

Eighth-grader and history buff Kanan Jore said she was really excited to see the cannon.

"I thought it was really cool they had uniforms that matched the time period," she said. "I learned that they actually played a lot of music when they were in camps."

The WCWA is an educational nonprofit that honors ancestors who fought in or lived during the American Civil War. The WCWA sponsors living history encampments, battle reenactments, school programs and recruiting drives.

Info: www.wcwa.net