Weekend to Remember

At the E.D. White historic home grounds on La. Highway 1, where Civil War period tents gave extra historic flair over the weekend, another cluster of tents was pitched a bit further north.

Purchased at Walmart, Cabella’s or Academy, the vinyl makeshift shelters belonged to members of Boy Scout Troop 337 of Schriever, whose members spent the weekend with Civil War re-enactors.

At various points, the boys of the troop made up their own games and forms of re-enactment, some wearing Union army-style uniforms or scraps thereof, while developing their own story for how this form of dress came to pass.

The uniforms were stolen, they said, during a raid on a federal encampment. They would be used, they said, for other raids.

During the time on the property, they obtained lessons in local Civil War history that helped shape the fantasy, which they approached with as much élan as they might any video game.

And that was just fine with Danyel Van Matre, an adult leader of the troop, founded less than two years ago, and the mother of two participants – Ryan, 11, and Robert, 16.

Like the boys, she spent two chilly nights bivouacked on the E.D. White grounds, there as mother, friend and adult leader, and a living example of how activities like scouting can not only be a great thing for kids, but how it all can work to bring families even closer together.

“It is refreshing to have them outside, to not have electronics,” said Danyel. “They get to earn their independence with safety boundaries.”

On Saturday morning, there was a big hub-bub among the boys, who numbered seven in all, about how they might take a nighttime tour of the E.D. White home, once the residence of a Louisiana governor and later home to a U.S. Supreme Court justice.

They had heard, they said, of a lady in red seen on the property or in the house and, like all brave scouts, they were determined to learn the truth.

Unless an apparition appeared, in which case, most noted, it would be time to skedaddle.

They walked the re-enactment grounds where visitors mingled with re-enactors who wielded muskets and fired a cannon; the boys themselves had what appeared to be firearms but were merely wood carvings of rifles that were totally inoperable.

And the boys didn’t mind a bit.

Imagination allowed for suspension of disbelief in playful young minds. The visit inside the mansion ended up not occurring, except for a venture into the lower floor for a few minutes by a hardy complement of two or three scouts.

Everyone else fell asleep before the foray began.

“Everything they learn through scouting they get to take back into their home lives and their schools,” said Danyel, who as nursing director at Terrebonne General Medical Center has a lot of things to do, but makes sure there is time for the boys as well. They get a lot out of it but so does she. “It is always fulfilling to me and that’s why I do it. It’s a blending of family, scouting and the overall community project.”

Even when Danyel is not directly involved, Boy Scout outings are for her as a mother a source of comfort rather than tension. She has faith in the scouting system.

“I have been involved in a lot of organizations and I have found that their priority in my opinion is safety,” Danyel said. “They do an enormous amount of training and it is a very established system.”

When the adventure was over, the boys were determined that they would return. A weekend at the E.D. White site had fostered in them a thirst for more knowledge.

High on the troop’s agenda is a plan to take the regular tour that everyone gets when they come to the home site, which for the scouts won’t be just a museum tour but a remembrance of a weekend well spent.

It is also proof of the value of scouting.

“You don’t normally have boys from 11 to 15 being that excited about doing a museum tour,” Danyel said. “It opened their eyes to something bigger and they want to know more about it.”