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Immersive Audio Tour Experience
Download the app to tour the Cool Spring Battlefield though an immersive audio tour.
Walk the battlefield and hear an audio account of particular soldiers and their experiences while also learning what happened to that soldier, either at Cool Spring or in the conflict’s aftermath.
The app uses GPS satellite data to determine where the participant is on the battlefield and syncs this with specific soldiers’ accounts.
360 Augmented Reality Cool Spring Experience
The 360 augmented reality experience in the “Though Their Eyes” App can be done anywhere.
Download the app and scan any flat surface — a map appears showing the contours of the Cool Spring Battlefield, which is located in Clarke County off Va. 7. Users can tap on any one of a dozen flags marking a designation on the map where a particular regiment fought. They are then instantly transported into a moment in the battle that is recreated by volunteers, students and living historians.
An example of this includes a scene that centers around the account of Lt. Col. Thomas Wildes, 123rd Ohio, where he describes the fate of a sergeant in that regiment, Sgt. Davis, who was mortally wounded at the battle and carried off the field by his comrades. Aware that he was putting those who carried him off the field in great danger, Davis requested they put him down on Parker’s Island and save themselves. Wildes’ account notes that the sergeant, fearful his personal items would fall into Confederate hands, buried them in a log. At some point between July 18 and the following day, the sergeant passed away. When the 123rd Ohio crossed back over to Parker’s Island on July 20, they discovered what the sergeant had done.
This example offers an opportunity to explore not only the battle’s tragic consequences, but also the battle’s impact on the family Davis left behind.
