Selma’s The 1865 Society is about to give students a closer look at history with its annual School Days.

The 1865 Society will hold its living history school tours on Thursday, April 26 and Friday, April 27 at 9 a.m. each day at the Battle of Selma battlefield.

James Hammonds, committee chair of The 1865 Society, said school days gives students a chance a get a closer look at civil war history.

“School Days has been around for over 20 years and it is a program where school classes come through eight to ten living history stations and get a mini lesson from re-enactors about a particular aspect of civil war history,” Hammonds said. “They might see a civil war surgeon, for example. He would tell them about the tools he might have, operating conditions of the war and how he might do an operation.”

Hammonds said the artillery demonstration is one of the biggest exhibits, and after the tour is over, students also get to see hands-on exhibits.

Hammonds said the school tours generally have attracted 800 to 1,000 students and teachers each day in past years, with four different sessions occurring throughout the day.

This year there will be students coming from as far away as Pensacola, Fla., Tuscaloosa and Birmingham.

Hammonds said the tours give students a more interesting look at history.

“Actually having participated in this myself and been one of the presenters for years, when you’re talking to students it’s kind of a way for history to reach out and grab somebody and kind of pull them in by the lapel,” Hammonds said. “I think they go away from it with a completely different idea of it. It’s not just a boring story that you have to read in a book. You may have heard of the uniforms that people had to wear, but you’ve never touched one before.”

To preregister online, visit www.battleofselma.com.