Guarding your interests..

Volume 10, NO.2
Guarding your interests..
The DOG'S Dictionary (another Devil's Dictionary?).
The following was received from (and discussed with) Tom
Shaw, friend, subscriber, historical site manager and fellow
historical role-player. [I] His thoughts on correct terminology
are worth noting. Some of what he discusses has been applied
to my personal editorial lexicon, i.e., "enactor" instead of "reenactor" and "accuracy" instead of "authenticity." I thought it
was time to share one of the sources of my thinking behind this
as well as open the windows in the office and see what other
words blow in or out. A common understanding of the words
we use can only bolster a cooperative spirit among us.
A nineteenth-century connection is always appropriate and
so I offer Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary [z] as a model.
While I can not claim even a whit of his skill as a writer, I have
enjoyed the sardonic humor found in this Civil War veteran's
word definitions (as well as his great stories). You may want to
know that the Watchdog office dictionary is a facsimile edition
of the Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English
Language first published in 1828. [3]
Here are Tom's thoughts on correct terminology:
I have read other's articles on authenticity with great
interest, but I am of the opinion that most discussion is
fundamentally flawed. The basic trouble is with the word
authentic. Oh, sure, we all know what is means (Nick Nichols
went to great pains to cut the bread into nice pieces in the
WINTER 2001 issue), but the word itself is just plain wrong.
Authentic means original or genuine (have a look at the
OED). [4] The term authentic reproduction only has meaning
insofar as the reproduction is just that, a reproduction. It is
what it is. The argument about whether a reproduction item is
authentic is pointless. It is a reproduction and not of the period.
You might want to examine some work Saundra Altman and
Rob Stone did a few years ago for MOMCC about the definitions
surrounding new-made goods that are supposed to appear as
though they were from a period in the past. We cannot be
authentic because it is physically impossible. The same is true
of the term reenactor. It is impossible to recreate anything
because the past is dead and gone. It is possible to enact, that is,
bring life to, something. Why set everyone up for failure?
I have long used the term accurate and have tried without
success to get others to adopt it. The question about whether an
item or a person or a site is accurate is really what we are all
.
SPRING 2002
about. The exact conditions of manufacture, materials and use
are not re-creatable. The issue of whether authenticity is an
absolute is therefore moot. Accuracy exists on a sliding scale
from an item which is absolutely the same as a period item
except that it is new-made to something which bears no
resemblance to an original. One has all sorts of choices to make
along this continuum. Is it, for example, more important to have
a garment made from the most accurate cloth available with
period tailoring or do you really need to have all the construction
details true to the period? An accuracy rating scale for goods
might be something you the DOG should consider. [ARF!]
Accuracy is what we strive for. In some cases absolute
accuracy is not possible. There are artisans who really seem to
strive for accuracy. That is great for some things but what about
the huge mass of Civil War stuff that was produced in the
thousands? I really admire people who try to mass-produce
things. Just think about all the stuff carried on Arabia and
Bertrand. Sure, one can crank out good flannel shirts, for
example, but making twelve a year is a whole lot different than
making 1,000,000 dozen a year.
We should give ourselves a break and strive without getting
hung up on the possibility of being just like an original.
Sometimes you can and sometimes you cannot. There are some
fabulously accurate things made now that could not have been
made a few years ago because of the availability of a material
(Russia sheeting for example)
Let's use the proper words. If the hobby wants professional
respect, we have to be clear about what we are doing. A first
step in that direction would be to jettison words like authentic,
reenactment and living historian (what the heck does that mean
anyway? A historian who is not dead? Stephen Ambrose is a
living historian and Barbara Tuchman is not) The DOG would
render the most important service of its life by helping to get
the words right.
Here are three definitions [5] to ponder when using the terms
"accurate reproduction" for "authentic reproduction" and
"authentic original" as opposed to an "authentic reproduction."
AUTHENTIC -Of approved authority; to be relied on
SYN. -True; certain; faithful; credible; reliable; genuine.Authentic
and genuine were once used as convertible terms, but a distinction is
now [in 18671made between them, the former being opposed tofalse,
and the later to spurious, as in an authentic history, a genuine
manuscript.
the New,
ACCURATE - In careful conformity to the truth, or to a standard or a rule
SYN. - Correct; precise; just; nice - A man is accurate or correct
when he avoids faults; exact when he attends to all the minutiae, leaving
nothing neg1ected;precise when he does any thing according to a certain
rule or measure.
REPRODUCTION - 1. Act of reproducing. 2. Thing produced.
Thanks, Tom. Now comes the fun part as we (you, the staff
and I) get to create The DOG'S Dictionary. The first two entries
posted here as targets (or as straw men) are "the best available
solution" and "role-playing." Comprehending the level of
historical accuracy and a word describing members of our
community are two of the great bugaboos that have perplexed
us since the Civil War centennial. Perhaps some measure of
agreement of terminology might take the "boo" out of these
bugs and promote unity of purpose.
Best available, adjective phrase. A descriptive term used to
describe a reproduced object's construction accuracy in terms
what actually done in the middle of the nineteenth century
compared with that available at present. An object is the best
available solution if its construction uses as much of the same
form of raw materials, as much of the same manufacturing
processes and as much of the same assembly techniques as the
original that are currently available or reproducible. While we
would like to know that the "best available" is a completely
accurate reproduction down to the same atomic structure in the
material, the same material forming energy devices and the same
material reliability, we know it cannot be. Some semblance of
sanity and reality must prevail upon us to consider the "best
available" to that which approaches a "clone" of an object to a
high level of reason (somewhere between seventy-five percent
and ninety-nine and forty-four one hundredths of a percent).
This frees us from the nit-picking business to the point that we
waste time better spent on further research or just having fun.
Role-playing, verb. Acting out. Civil War enactors (reenactors
and living historians) take on the roles of people living between
1855 and 1870, by wearing and utilizing reproduction items of
material culture. Interactions among the role-players can be
structured around actual cultural and social models (military or
civilian) or they can be entirely "make believe" without basis in
historical fact or anthropological study. The motivations for this
role-playing include (but are not limited to) ancestor worship,
recreation (as opposed to re-creation) or diversion, patriotism,
financial gain, ego satisfaction, historical curiosity, experimental
anthropology, nostalgia and escape from the constraints of the
present day. [6]
Your own contributions and commentary of a lexicographical
nature are encouraged
NOTES:
[I] Tom G. Shaw is the Assistant Site Manager at Historic Fort SneUing in St. Paul,
Minnesota. He and I have spent interesting moments "listening" to what original
garments say to us, and shared a magic moment or two in the field as members of
the First Minnesota, Company A and Westem Brigade field officers.
[2] Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) was a lieutenant in the Ninth Indiana Infantry.
During the Atlanta Campaign he was a topographical officer on General William
Hazen's staff. After the Civil War he became one of America's influentialjournalists
I
and a noted short story writer. The DeviLS Dictionagl was published in installments
in various periodicals from 1881 until 1906. It was published in book form in
1911 in The Collected Works ofAmbrose Bierce. Several vears after that Bierce
ventured into Mexico and its ongoing revolution. He disappeared around 1914 and
his fate may have been predicted in a note to friends: "Goodbye, if you hear of my
being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags please know that I
think it is a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease or falling
down the cellar steps." One could imagine a similar fate befalling a writer venturing
down the streets of the field merchants and not using words that some of them want
to hear. My copy of The Devil's Dictionary was published by Dover Publications,
Inc., Mineola, New Yorkin 1993.
[3] The facsimile edition is published by the Foundation for American Christian
Education, PO Box 9588, Chesapeake, VA 23321 and www.face.net. My copy is
the fifth edition published in 1987. The dictionary is an accurate hardcover
reproduction. The price of volume was, if I recall, under fifty dollars at the time.
[4] The Oxford English Dictionary.
[5] Webster, Noah, Webster's Dictionary of the English Language (William T.
Amies, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, G & C Merriam, Massachusetts, 1867).
[6] The best study, which I have come across, of motivation and development in
regard to historical role-playing is Stephen Eddy Snow's Perjorming the Pilgrims
(University of Mississippi Press, Jackson, Mississippi, 1993). Eddy analyzes the
transition of historical interpretation at Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts.
A Simple Plan.
Five years ago, when I was first presented with the
opportunity to become the DOG'S new master, I thought that it
would be somewhat easy every few months to pull together six
to eight pages of notes about products from the field merchants.
I assumed everyone (consumers and the merchants) would be
eager to see this puppy grow. As I often have observed: no good
deed goes unpunished (due to fate, our own missteps or best
intentions). As a result my five-year plan today is not the same
one I contemplated in 1997.
The Watchdog Quarterly, Inc, has grown. i ~ have
e a great
staff and several faithful contributors. Our subscribers and
friends are a loyal bunch (several folks have so much confidence
in us that they have paid their subscriptions out to 2006 or 2007).
Financial contributions to battlefield preservation are modest,
but have grown (I am considering Federal non-profit tax status).
Plans for special publications are bearing fruit and several should
see ink and paper by the end of the year (this should result in
credit card processing for renewals also). I am still enthused,
but as my own life and family plans have changed (retirement
and grandchildren) I want to better balance my time. This
includes completion of several book projects of my own.
So, instead of finding a new master for the DOG (as I had
mentally planned five years ago), I am looking for a petsitter.. .rather I am looking for someone to become the primary
editor. I will remain the publisher, business manager and final
"say-so-er." Mrs. Kalil will remain as the Assistant Editor and
most able publishing partner. My Associate Editors (who toil
faithfully for the DOG with little recompense) have been offered
the editor's job, but they all have full personal and professional
platters. They will continue to support me while the search is
on and will continue to support the new editor if someone steps
forward. The new editor will need the resources of a PC with
W i n d 0 w s 9 8 ~I~will
. furnish the appropriate software and I will
continue to be responsible for printing, mailing, finances and
subscriptions. As far you, our subscribers, are concerned, I will
still have my hand on the leash. Any volunteers?
Mr. Christen
1
BOOK REVIEW AND COMMENTARY
Ken Knopp's Confederate Saddles & Horse Equipment
There is no question that a serious, in-depth study of
Confederate horse equipments is long overdue, so the
progressive interpretive cavalry community eagerly anticipated
the unveiling of Ken Knopp's monograph. The advance
promotional broadside was enticing, if a tad heavy on hyperbole:
...
Presenting an exciting, ground breaking new Civil War title! ! !
...the first scholarly and comprehensive study of the saddles and horse equipments manufactured and issued by the
Southern Confederacy.. .
IT'S ALL HERE!. ..the "real story" of Confederate saddle production..
WITH.. .a full treatment of Confederate artillery saddles and harness, imported British saddlery, excavated relics and
the supply of Southern leather and iron.
FEATURING.. ,200 PAGES WITH 180 PHOTOS.. .and original artist renditions of long lost patterns!!
A TEN YEAR RESEARCH EFFORT...Carefully researched, fully footnoted and documented from thousands of
obscure primary sources and over 250 books and articles!
The finest study of Confederate Ordnance and material culture history to come along in years!!!
"A LANDMARK WORK DESTINED TO BECOME THE STANDARD REFERENCE."
.
We must confess that we're always a little leery of
unattributed quotations.
We lodged multiple pre-publication requests for a review
copy, but to no avail. The author told us he had to "clear it with
the publisher," then the publisher told us they had to "clear it
with the author." Here at the Watchdog we are nothing if not
tenacious, and we finally received our copy in mid-December
(four months after publication). By that time Confederate
Saddles & Horse Equipment had long since been reviewed in
the North-South Trader S Civil War magazine-which happens
to be a division of the same company that published the book.
The unidentified reviewer really loved it! He declared: "There
is no doubt that it will become the standard reference in the
field, perhaps for all time." Consider the source.
Right off the bat, we were surprised to read the author's
explanation of what prompted him to put pen to paper: "In the
summer of 1989, it struck me as rather peculiar that a book had
not already been published on the subject of Confederate saddles
and horse equipment." Curiously, this statement ignores G.Craig
Caba's, Historic Southern Saddles (1982), despite the fact that
HSS is included in the bibliography and its author is recognized
in Knopp's Acknowledgements. Quaint as HSS may appear
twenty years on; it was in fact the first attempt to address this
void in the literature of Confederate artifacts and deserves to be
acknowledged as such.
Material culture, a relatively new academic field, has been
defined as: "The study through artifacts of the beliefs -values,
ideas, attitudes, and assumptions - of a particular community
or society at a given time." [I] Clearly, while any meaningful
material culture study must delve into the "why and wherefore"
of the objects under scrutiny, reliable detailed physical profiles
of these objects coupled with a generous, carefully selected body
of support graphics are equally critical to a well-balanced and
useful work. Further, a thorough bibliography is a must and
footnotes should be plentiful and accurate.
3
Crafting a high-quality material culture monograph is no
mean feat, particularly for the lay historian. To his credit, Knopp
tackles this challenge head-on and in his initial two chapters
does a commendable job of providing cultural context to his
subject. The quality and accuracy of the material are very uneven
for the remainder of the work, however. The book's overall
format, too, is a bit disjointed and has the feel of a series of
essays or magazine articles aimed at "buffs," rather than an indepth scholarly treatise.
For example, in the third chapter the author offers a
superficial overview of the Confederacy's attempts to procure
saddlery abroad (two pages) followed by positively skeletal
profiles of each item of equipment under consideration (four
paragraphs are allocated to the description of British saddles).
The graphics for the eight-page chapter are equally meager and
do not begin to adequately treat the subject (though the author
later assures us in a footnote that "Dozens of pre-war paintings,
saddlery advertisements and photos are clear evidence of the
strong influence of English equipment.. ."). This arcane subset
of Confederate saddlery is deserving of a thoroughgoing research
effort, but the author opted to rely heavily on secondary sources
for the bulk of his background material and it shows.
Most troubling, Knopp begins to demonstrate a penchant
for imaginative interpretation of the data: In a caption for a
photo of a mounted Confederate officer, he conclusively states
that the man "sits astride a British 1850s hussar's-pattern
saddle." Very little of the saddle is visible in the image and
even if it could be identified as a hussar pattern, such saddle
types were also being produced in the US during the period,
rendering it impossible to ascertain the country of origin. He
goes on to suggest that the horse's headgear "may possibly be
an English halter-bridle." And then again, it may not. The
British Universal Pattern halter-bridle, initially adopted in 1860,
is a very unique configuration that bears no resemblance
whatsoever to the one in the photo (though again, the halter-
THE WATCHDOG
SPRING 2808
bridle combination in the image is indeed representative of a
style that was quite common in mid-nineteenth century
America).
Since one of the author's stated objectives is to aid the reader
in the identification of various types of saddlery employed by
the Confederate cavalryman, it is more than a little disconcerting
to see every horned saddle illustrated in the entire work referred
to as a "Texas" saddle. There were many popular horned saddles
during the period under study that were decidedly not of the
"Texas" variety (notwithstanding the author's i~nsubstantiated
assertion that "the terms 'Texas' or 'Mexican' saddle tend to be
the generic names given by contemporary non-Texans to any
horned saddles"). This gross generalization is factually
inaccurate and creates a skewed perception of the importance
of the actual Texas-type saddle in the Confederate service.
Despite a nolo contendre disclaimer in the Preface.. .
Few Southern arsenals or manufacturers marked their
products, so that even "expert' attempts to identify a period but
otherwise nondescript saddle as Confederate can be difficult, if
not impossible. Both the subtleties of changing construction
and the difficulty of detecting alterations made over time make
any firm identification of horse equipment speculative at best.
...the reader is authoritatively informed that a very fine
Jenifer saddle with ornamental stamping and floral tooling is a
"Richmond Arsenal product [that] was almost certainly made
at Clarksville." Several other saddles pictured herein are
definitively labeled as Richmond Arsenal products, though no
evidence is proffered to substantiate this conclusion.Again, the
author himself cautions the reader in the Preface that martially
inspired saddles were extremely popular with civilians as well.
Indeed, these military knock-offs continued to be produced in
huge numbers and countless variations well past the turn of the
century, and more than a few have been misidentified as
"Confederate" over the years. If a study such as this one is to be
taken seriously, artifacts labeled "Confederate" (never mind
"Richmond Arsenal") must bear very strong evidence of their
Confederate lineage.
We don't doubt that Knopp has done his homework. His
bibliography attests to that, but his prose is conspicuously
deficient of direct quotations from relevant primary documents.
Instead, the reader is forced to rely on the author's
"interpretation" of these records in establishing his hypotheses.
As Knopp has amassed literally thousands of pages of
correspondence and related official documents, it would have
been extremely useful to have liberally quoted from these data
in his text. Allowing the participants to tell the story in their
own words would have added a much needed dose of veracity to
the narrative. Further, being able to assess the actual verbiage
encourages intellectual discourse that leads to alternative
interpretations of the data, and that's a very healthy thing.
Finally, there are several key documents relating to the nature
of Confederate saddlery that warranted inclusion in their entirety.
The author's synoptic narrative style is often ambiguous
and confusing. Contradictory statements such as, "The
Richmond Arsenal's contracts suggest a variety of patterns were
I
purchased, but were usually listed only as 'saddles,' with little
indication of their appearance," fairly cry out for direct
quotations to clarify and support the author's position. In another
instance, the reader is informed that Captain James Dinwiddie
"took strict control of saddle and equipment production, right
down to the smallest details.. .No detail was too small to escape
his attention," yet no quotations relating these details are
forthcoming.
Without having the relevant primary passages to scrutinize,
the reader must assume that the author's reporting of historical
details is accurate, but, regrettably, such is not always the case.
In one instance, we are informed that the Federal McClellan
equipments were "officially approved in January 1859," when
the correct date is actually many months later. To further
compound the problem, when we checked the reference cited in
the footnote, we discovered that there was no mention of the
date upon which the McClellan was approved whatsoever. Such
inaccuracies and/or incomplete details are inexcusable in a
serious treatise such as this and often leave the reader with a
misperception of the actual circumstances. Further, they often
lead the author to arrive at very questionable conclusions.
The following passage is a good example. On its face this
passage seems reasonably straightforward and is not likely to
be challenged by the average reader:
...when it [the pre-war prototype Jenifer] went into
production at the Frankford Arsenal in Philadelphia, where
Ordnance Capt. Josiah Gorgas was temporarily in charge of
overseeing its manufacture.. .
...After a quick, though careful study, his superior, Maj.
Peter V. Hagner, wrote an astute letter of contrasting analysis,
deeming the supposed merits of the Jenifer as overstated and
costly, and bluntly submitting that 'the Board had been
misled ...Still, the 100 sets [of prototype equipments] were
eventually manufactured and issued.. .
While awaiting this outcome, Jenifer had applied for a
Federal patent, which was granted on June 26, 1860.
In point of fact, the Frankford Arsenal produced no Jenifer
equipments; the one hundred prototype sets were contracted
out to the Philadelphia firm of Knorr, Nece & Co. The agreement
was inked on 25 June 1860, and the commander of the arsenal
at that time was Major Peter V. Hagner. Gorgas had not yet
arrived on the scene. Later, Captain Gorgas was ordered to
relieve Major Hagner as commander at the arsenal. Hagner was
not Gorgas' superior in this context, nor was Gorgas "in charge"
of the Jenifer project, temporarily or otherwise. As commander
of the arsenal under whose auspices the prototypes were being
manufactured, he was obliged to simply act as a facilitator for
Lieutenant Jenifer.
The author also implies that Hagner's "astute letter of
contrasting analysis" was drafted after construction of the
prototypes was under way, when in fact it was submitted a month
prior (25 May 1860).
A bit of background will help put the Hagner report in its
proper context: Major Hagner had been a member of the Board
that was responsible for the adoption of the McClellan
equipments and had authored modifications that were in fact
incorporated into the final configuration. He therefore
understandably harbored a very personal attachment to the
McClellan. He was not assigned to the Jenifer evaluatior.Board
however, and when he was advised that the prototype Jenifers
were to be manufactured in his jurisdiction, he queried his boss
to determine how much "discretion" he might exercise in
establishing the configuration of the prototype equipments.
Colonel H.K. Craig, Chief of Ordnance, responded by providing
him with a copy of the proceedings of the Board "with
endorsements thereon" and a complete transcript of the findings
and recommendation of the Board, stating unequivocally: "I
desire you to conform, in all respects, to the approval of the
Secretary of War, unless some changes shall be authorized by
him." Stung by this set-down, Hagner sought some legitimate
form of rebuttal and opted to interpret Craig's closing comment
as indirectly sanctioning the cost-benefit analysis he
subsequently submitted. He was simply trying to save face
without crossing the line into insubordination. Craig's rejoinder
to this unsolicited report expresses the Ordnance Chief's
exasperation with Hagner and clearly spells out the nominal
role he expected the Frankford Arsenal commander to play in
the Jenifer project:
Referring to the instructions heretofore given to you under
the orders of the War Department of a pattern [of
saddle]. ..recommended for trial by a Board of Officers.. .in
consequence of the difficulty of reconciling apparent
discrepancies and for the purpose of carrying out the views of
the Board, as approved by the Secretary of War, with as little
delay as possible, you will please obtain an interview with Lt.
Jenifer, and after consultation with him, proceed to have the
Equipments made as soon as practicable, taking care not to allow
the cost to exceed the contract price of the regulation pattern
[McClellan]. Where the views of Lieutenant Jenifer do not
conflict with the recommendations of the Board, it will be
advisable to carry them out.
Finally, the inference that Jenifer filed his patent application
afer the prototype saddles had gone into production is fallacious;
he had initiated the process on 25 May, coincidentally,the very
same day Hagner submitted his pithy report to Colonel Craig.
The author's mangling of the facts prompted him to give
Hagner's comments far greater weight than they deserved and
led him to the spurious conclusion that the Jenifer saddle was a
flawed design that "slipped through the cracks."
The graphics support for the book, too, is disappointing.
The artifact photos are inadequate in number: We would at least
like to see three good, clear photos (front, back and profile) of
representative examples of the most significant saddle types.
Some macro close-ups of key features would be nice as well. In
several instances, the Confederate provenance of the artifacts
illustrated is dubious. More appropriate examples of some items
(better condition, more complete, etc.) would not have been
difficult to track down for photographing.
The photos of mounted Confederates,while fascinating due
to their rarity, offer little to illuminate the text. Most of these
photos were very low quality images to begin with. Their
reproduction here is so washed out that one would have to be
virtually clairvoyant to discern the featuresldetails singled out
by the author in the captions. At least one photograph suffers
from the jagged, mosaic tile effect produced by a low-resolution
scan. Still, the author suggests that the subject of this ambrotype
(an unidentified gent who might well not even be a soldier) is
riding "what is likely a McClellan saddle." This tentative
identification is a real stretch. For the most part, the inclusion
of these images was a waste of space.
The absence of photo credits is a very serious omission,
indeed.
The line art is amateurish and inaccurate in many details.
And while we are discussing production values, we should
point out that the footnotes for Chapter 10 are absent altogether.
Such staggering oversights do not imbue one with confidence
in the overall quality and reliability of the work, nor do they
help justify the nearly forty dollar price tag.
Some progressive cavalry reenactors have peremptorily
embraced this work with a religious fervor, heralding it as "the
bible of Confederate cavalry equipments." Further, several
makers of reproduction horse equipments have already begun
to chum out "documented" Confederate offerings based on the
fragmentary descriptions and fanciful "artist's impressions"
presented in this book. This kind of mindless adherence to poorly
crafted historiography will likely serve as the springboard for a
new reenactor mythology that will take years to undo. As one
historian noted, "In the hands of the unsophisticated,or of True
Believers who would wish to reshape the past for their own
purposes, historical relativism is a dangerous weapon." [21
In the final analysis, Ken Knopp deserves kudos for taking
on such a monumental task; we feel he is sincere in his efforts
and his prodigious research has been truly exemplary. But as
we stated earlier, there is a great deal more to a useful material
culture reference work than an impressive bibliography. The
bottom line is that while there is undoubtedly some very good
information between these covers, only a deeply knowledgeable
and conscientious reader will be able to separate the wheat from
the chaff. This book is hamstrung by factual errors, a glaring
lack of direct quotations, an insufficient graphics package and
poor production values-all of which conspire to render the
author's analysis and interpretation of the data suspect. In
concept, Confederate Saddles & Horse Equipment promises a
great deal, but in execution it just does not deliver.
Confederate Saddles & Horse Equipment, Ken R. Knopp,
Publisher's Press, Inc., Orange, Virginia, 2001, hard cover with
dust cover, $39.95.
Nick Nichols
NOTES:
[I] Jules David Prom, "Mind in Matter: An Introductionto Material CultureTheoly
and Method" in Material Life in America 1600-1860, Robert Blair St. Gwrge,
editor, (Boston: Northeastern University Press, Boston, Massachusetts, 1988),
pagel8.
[2] C. Vann Woodward, "On Believing What One Reads: The Dangers of Popular
Revisionism," in The Historian as Detective, Robin W. Winks, editor, (Harper &
Row, New York, New York, 1968,1969). page 24.
LOOKING AT ORIGINALS
Ready-made "Blockade Run" Trowsers?
Family lore is a double edged sword. It can clarify or confuse
the provenance of an item. One thing is certain, family lore is
ingrained in the very fabric of the Family itself and often no
contrary evidence will alter cherished and time-tested memories.
With this in mind I was fortunate enough to view a pair of
trowsers and a Hickory shirt that belongs to the family of Mr.
Neal McKee. Mr. McKee's great-great-grandfather, Samuel
Wilson, fought in the Sixth Alabama Infantry, Company C. Mr.
McKee brought these items to Confederate Memorial Park, in
Maubry, Alabama, to allow both Bill Rambo and me the
opportunity to get a close up view of a portion of his family
heritage. Fortunately for all concerned Les Jensen was also at
the park viewing other garments. His insight and opinions were
very helpful.
The Family Lore:
Mr. McKee's great-great-grandfatherwas remembered as
a big man who was tough as nails. Sam Wilson was wounded
severely at the battle of Gettysburg. He spent several months in
n Confederate hospital recuperating. His injuries were so severe
that he was discharged. At his discharge he was issued the
trowsers and shirt. He walked home to Alabama. The family
reveres these relics as a link to an honored past.
The Records:
Samuel Wilson is listed as a Private in the Sixth Alabama,
Company C. 111 He was thirty-three years old, six foot, three
inches tall and of dark complexion. His enlistment papers show
him to have gray eyes and dark hair. Wilson is listed as
discharged on 6 August 1863, but still in the Richmond Wayside
Hospital-General Hospital #8 on 10 October 1863. His final
pay voucher, dated 10 October 1863, shows:
From May 1863 To 6 Aug. 1863
pay
Rem. Clothing
35.20
117.52
Deduct for clothing assistance
147.72
29.30
button placket for the fly buttons. The edge of the right side of
the fly opening is double machine stitched and the buttons
applied directly on the edge of the fabric, which would cause a
gather when closed. The remaining buttons are bone. Most of
the interior material is left raw edged. The pockets themselves
are left raw edge. There are darts at the back of the trousers.
The cuff, buttonholes and interior waistband work is by hand.
Unusual!
Les Jensen, who was with me when I viewed these trowsers,
feels as I do...the quick construction methods of this garment
"scream" ready-made and could possibly be blockade run. There
is nothing overtly suggesting a latter date for the garment.
Of course these preliminary conclusions are without any
basis in documented fact and are speculation on my part. I still
thought these trowsers of interest to view as a possible "Blockade
Run" example, and there are very few existing, which would
help form a larger overall picture of the variety of clothes
available to the Confederate soldier.
Mr. McCulloh
N m
[I]The SixthAlabama was in O'Neal's Brigade (Rodes Division) during the battle
of Gettysburg. The regiment had a strength of between 406 and 382 officers and
men [Busey and Martin. Regimental Strengths at Gettysburg, Gateway Press,
Baltimore, Maryland, 19821. Wilson may have been one of the 162 casualties
suffered by the regiment on the afternoon of 1July 1863.The regiment (along with
other portions of O'Neal's brigade) attacked Federal troops of the Eleventh Corps
during the aftemoon general assault by the Confederate Second Corps. This attack
occwed near the McLean f m along the Mummasburg Road north of town [ W c i a l
Records of the War of Rebellion, Volume XXVII, Part 2, Report No. 528 (Captain
M.L. Bowie, Sixth Alabama Infantry)].
$118.22
The Trowsers Themselves:
The trowsers are a thirty-eight inch waist and long in length
(remember he was over six feet tall). These trowsers are of tightly
woven (canvas like) wooYcotton jean. This is similar to jeans
found on several of the jackets at Confederate Memorial Hall.
The fabric appears to be over dyed walnut brown. The garment
has extensive machine sewing. They have no split at the back
of the waistband; the waistband is standard construction with
the interior facing folded and whip stitched down. The trowsers
have slash type pockets similar to modern jeans. There is no
T=J,E
J..
.
FIG 1. Detail of Trowser Cuff.
The photographs accompanying this article show various views
of the Wilson trowsers. They are published with permission of
Charles McCulloh and the Confederate Memorial Park.
PRODUCT REVIEW FOLLOW-UP
More on Sam Doolin's Wooden Canteens
Sam Doolin is producing a wood canteen that is a spot-on
reproduction of the canteens that I have examined in the
Alabama Department of History and Archives collection in the
Montgomery, Alabama archives [see our WINTER 2000 (8.1)
and SPRING 2001 (9.2) issues]. He has the dimensions and
construction replicated in every way. The canteens themselves
are some of the best reproductions of the originals I have seen.
The stopper is a turned piece that is functional, but has no historic
documentation as no originals in that configuration are known.
The canteen Sam sent me for review had a leather stopper
attachment string. The ADHA canteens have no stoppers. A
web cotton sling is provided by Sam, but the ADHA canteens
also have no slings.
I removed the leather stopper string and replaced it with a
length of Wooded Hamlet linen string. Then added a leather
Federal strap. I used it for the entire weekend at an event and it
held up very well. I highly recommend this product. You may
want to do research and modify the stopper configuration and
S & S Sutler, Tim & Debbie Sheads, PO Box 218, Bendersville,
PA 17306 and (717) 338-1990 and sheads@mail.cvn.net and
www.ss-sutler.com
THE DOGCATCHER
ADVANCE NOTICE: ARTIFACT FORUM 2002
The Dogcatcher is seeking information on the state of
commerce with merchant, Bob Neikirk at 21 1 Spice Cove, Bulls
Gap, Tennesee 3771 1 and jeansclothman@aol.com. We have
received reports of undelivered goods based orders taken well
over a year ago. Based on the number of reports the DOG advises
that "the buyer should be well aware" at this point in any
dealings. Please send all information to the attention of the
publisher. I will publish on update in the next issue and on the
web site. Mr. Christen
The Watchdog is pleased to support the second annual Civil
War Artifact Forum. The location for the 2002 event is
Charleston, South Carolina. The dates are 1-3 November 2002.
The forum agenda will include lectures on civilian and military
artifacts, displays of original artifacts. Attendees will include a
number of the subject matter experts. This year's activities will
include tours of historic sites in Charleston as well as behindthe-scenes museum tours.
Advance information about this year's forum can be found
at by contacting info@artifactforum.com or on-line at
www.artifactforum.com.
strap material to suit your impression.
Sam makes the canteens out of three types of wood cedar,
willow and cherry. He is currently supplying S&S Sutler of
Gettysburg with these and the price will be about seventy-five
dollars. I have included several photos for examination.
Mr. McCulloh
Wooded Hamlet Designs, Mary & Kenneth Wagner 4044
Coseytown Road, Greencastle, PA 17225 and (717) 597-1782
and trims@woodedhamlet.com and www.woodedhamlet.com
Weaves 101
[Editor's Note: This is the first of a series of articles from
Associate Editor, Jomarie Soszynski, on one of her favorite
topics.. .textiles.]
One of things that I have noticed in this hobby is some
confusion on the characteristicsof certain fabrics. The confusion
does not extend to what fibers are used to make a fabric. After
all there was only wool, cotton, silk and linen. There is an
understanding that some fabrics were a combination of fibers
and that this can have an effect on the fabric's surface. However,
there seems to be less understanding on how weaves influence
the surface quality of a fabric. For example, barege is a dress
material with a worsted (wool) warp and a silk weft or filling
yarn. Bombazine on the other hand has a silk warp and a wool
weft. I understand the warps and filling yarns are reversed, but
would that be enough to make an obvious difference in their
appearances? Probably not. There is however, a big difference
in their weaves, which changes the surface quality of the fabric.
Barege is a loose plain weave and bombazine is a twill weave.
The following period advice on purchasing silk was
intended to familiarize the consumer with terms known in the
trade. I think familiarizing ourselves with trade terms on weaves
is just as important. "...it is too much the custom of French
manufacturers and American clerks to bestow fancy names
(noms de circumstances) on any novel fabric or style, there are
certain terms, universally known in the trade which every
purchaser should be familiar." [Pullen, page 641
All fabrics start with a fiber, which is the smallest part of
the fabric. Fiber sources can be either natural or man-made.
Fibers are twisted into yarns and yarns are either knitted or
woven into a fabric. There is an exception to a fabric being
either knitted or woven and that is felt, not to be confused with
wool that has been felted or fulled. Felt is the result of wool or
other animal fibers becoming entangled when subjected to heat,
moisture and agitation.
What is a woven fabric? "A woven fabric is made by
interlacing two sets of yarns at right angles to each other. The
lengthwise yarns are known as warp yarns or ends, while the
width-wise yarns are known as filling yarns or picks." [Pizzuto,
page 981
There are only three basic types of woven fabrics: plain,
twill and satin. Other weaves will be a variation or combination
of these three. There are also special weave fabrics, which
include:
1. Leno Weaves: There are two warps yarns that are
twisted back and forth forming a loop, which firmly
holds the filling yarn. Grenadine and marquisette are
examples of a leno weave. A great way to see a leno
weave is to look at your next purchase of potatoes. If
they come in a large, open, mesh bag, that is a leno
weave.
2. Pile Weaves:
a. Velvet
b. Velveteen
c. Corduroy
d. Teny
3. Woven Designs:
a. Dobby Pattern,
b. Jacquard includes damask, tapestry, brocade
c. Clip-spot includes Dotted Swiss and shirting fabrics
Plain weave (see FIG 1) is the simplest of the three and the
most common. It can be found in light fabrics such as lawns to
heavy ones such as a tightly woven wool melton. As we shall
see in later articles, there are a variety of twill and satin weaves,
but there is only one plain weave. Even the basket weave, which
uses two or more warp yarns and an equal amount of filling
yarns, is still a plain weave. Monks cloth is a basket weave. A
ribbed plain weave as seen in bengaline just utilizes a filling
yarn that is thicker than the warp. It too is a plain weave.
"Plain weave is the simplest weave in which each filling
yarn passes successively over and under each warp yarn to form
an even surface.. ." [Picken, page 3721 That even surface also
makes unprinted plain weaves reversible. The even surface
makes them amenable to printed and embossed designs.
However, an even surface tends to wrinkle more and has little
visual or tactile interest unless different colored yarns are used
to produce a plaid, or as mentioned before, the fabric is printed.
FIG 1. Schematic of a Plain Weave.
Some common plain weave fabrics:
Cambric [I]
Bengaline
Broadcloth
Brilliantine [2]
Calico
Chambray
Delaine [2]
Gingham
Pongee
Sarcenet
Tabby
Tabinet
Taffeta
Gros de Naples [3]
Gros de Rhine [3]
Gros de Tours [3]
Jaconets
Lawn
Muslin
Nainsook
Nankeen
Organdy
Osnaburg
Poplin
[I] Batiste in French
[2] Denotes fabrics that could also be of a twill weave
[3] (noms de circumstance of plain weave silks with a corded effect.
S o what influences the surface quality of a fabric most?
The nom de circumstance? Not really. Is it the blend of fibers?
Sometimes, but ultimately it is the weave that influences the
surface quality the most. More to come!
Mrs. Soszynski
WORKS CITED:
Cunnington, C. Willet, English Women's Clothing in the Nineteenth Century,
Dover, New York, 1991.
Montgomery, Florence M., Textiles in America 1650-1870, W.W. Norton,
New York, 1984.
Picken, Mary Brooks,A Dictionary of Costume and FashionHistoric and Modem,
Dover, New York, 1999.
WE ARE PLEASED TO NOTE..
Pizzuto, Joseph J., Fabric Science (Fourth Edition), revised by Arthur Price and
Allen C. Cohen, Fairchild Publications, New York, 1980.
Pullan, Marion M., Beadle's Dime Guide to Dress-Making and Millinery, reprinted
by Sullivan Press, West Chester, Pennsylvania, 1998.
NOTE: While on the subject of cloth.. .the DOG highly recommends the following
from Sally Queen & Associates for your reference library:
Textilesfor Colonial Clothing, A Workbookof Swatches andlnfonnation by Sally
Queen ($29.95)
The book is a hands-on approach to textiles used in colonialclothing. It de-mystifies
the basics of textiles and clothingof early Americans in a practical way. The modem
textile samples give a feel to textiles in colonial America. This book is a guide to
selecting fabric for reproduction period garments.
Textilesfor Clothing in the New Republic, 1800-1850 by Lynne Zacek Bassett
($34.95)
Using nearly thirty swatches, this volume explains the improvements in textile
technology at the beginning of the industrial revolution. It illustrates the fabrics
used in clothing wom by the citizensof the brand new United States of America.
Textilesfor Early Victorian Clothing, 1850-1880 by Susan W. Greene ($37.95)
Contains samples for bombazine, madras, calico, foulard, tow, velvet and many
more (twenty in all). They are modem fabrics that are similar to period textiles
used for clothing in the third quarter of the nineteenth century.Information sections
includefashion changes from 1850-1880,dyes and colors, dressing by social levels,
trims and the new invention of the time.. .the sewing machine.
Sally Queen & Associates, 2801 S. Joyce Street, Arlington, VA 22202 ,
(888) 266-7298 and on-line at www.sallyqueenassociates.com and e-mail at
questions@sallyqueenassociates.com.
I
.
Canteen Cover Kits From the Regimental Quartermaster.
By George, here is a nifty and thrifty item we are happy to spot:
a kit that contains jean cloth cover material, a cork, chain or twine,
and the appropriate strap material for the three different Federal depot
styles (New York, Cincinnati or Philadelphia). This kit can be had
for ten dollars (not including shipping) at The Regimental
Quartermaster, Inc. shop at 49 Steinwehr Ave., Gettysburg, PA
17325 and (717) 338-1864, or by mail at PO Box 553, Hatboro, PA
19040 and (215) 672-6891. The Regimental QM is on-line at
Regtqm@aol.com and www.regtqm.com.
While we are at it.. .we recommend that you add Civil War
Canteens (second edition 1990) by Stephen Sylvia and Michael
O'Donnell (Moss Publications, Box 729, Orange, VA 22960) to
your reference book shelf. It is loaded with photographs of original
wooden, tin, US Army 1858 issue and unconventional canteens.
A Decent Frying-pan Source.
Upper Mississippi Valley Mercantile Company frying-pans are
made of sheet steel (about nine inches in diameter) with tapered
sides. The handle is handed forged, and is attached by two rivets.
Owner, Bob Tuftee, plans on making a completely handed forge
version in the future. They cost $17.75 plus shipping. There is a
picture of the pan on their web site at www.umvmco.com under
ironware. Contact information: 1607 Washington St., Davenport,
IA 52804 and (563) 322-0896 and bobforge@hotmail.com.
Learn To Sew Videos.
Fundamentals of Sewing I and I1 ($18.95 each) by Marilyn
Green are available from Learn To Sew Video. They are teaching
tools for the fundamentals of sewing. The videos are sold through
their web site at www.learn2sewvideo.com or by phone at (915)
224-0670. You can also contact Ray Green at ray'green@mac.com
or marilyngreen@mac.comfor additional information. [NOTE: Even
though I am definitely a candidate for sewing lessons, the time for
this education alludes me. Perhaps one of our subscribers will try
the instructional video and offer a review. Mr. Christen]
..
"Civil War Minutes". Worth the Time.
"Civil War Minutes," a new series of DVDs and videos from
Civil War Life Productions explores the Civil War through the lives
and experiences of those who endured that tragic time. The Civil
War Minutes focuses on various aspects of daily life from uniforms
and flags to leisure activities. The programs include many
photographs, letters and artifacts from private collections, live action
footage and digitally captured engravings. Another film, "Left For
Dead," is available, and others are planned. Call (877) 201-7040 or
visit www.civilwarlife.com or e-mail questions@civilwarlife.com
The Haversack...New Peddlers.
The Haversack bills themselves as a full service tobacconist
and haversack needs peddler.. .mainly offering items for smokers,
but they also carry cone sugar and brick tea and period pocket knives.
Their top selling items include an Irish Cutty Clay Pipe, a Briar
Huntsman Peasant Pipe, G&H Brown Irish X Rope Tobacco, S.G.
Kendal Plug Tobacco, S.G. 1792 Flake Tobacco (Tin), Lone Jack
Pipe Tobacco and Cone Sugar in one and five pound amounts. Their
shop, The Haversack / Market Street Smoke Shop, is at 112 2nd
Avenue North, Nashville, Tennessee 37201. You can contact the
peddlers, Owen and Russell, at (615) 254-3338 or
TheHaversack@aol.comand www.thehaversack.com
I
I
Chaps, Chums, Comrades and Pards:
Even More Observations on Civil War Soldier Endearments
"Academic debates are particularly heated because the stakes
are so low." - an unknown professor.
Being one who is utterly fascinated by the subject of Civil
War soldier endearments, I enjoyed reading Bob Braun's recent
article in which he noted Badger State Captain William S.
Mitchell's usage of "pard" while referring to a foe at Stones
River (see the WINTER 2002 (10.1) issue). Mr. Braun's recent
find is certainly interesting and welcome but, by the same token,
I hasten to add that it actually buttresses a key point put forth by
Paul Calloway and me in our article "The Case for Comrade"
in the Camp Chase Gazette (June 2001). Namely, that hard
evidence for extensive use of "pard" by Northern and Southern
troops remains "singularly distinguished in its absence." Indeed,
the statistical case for "pard" as a common soldier term remains,
to date, surprisingly weak.
Paul and I can say this with considerable confidence after
having examined thousands of letters, dozens of diaries, a broad
selection of nineteenth-century popular literature, as well as
numerous post-war memoirs and regimental histories. Despite
our very "wide and deep" search, finding pre-1870s usages of
"pard" largely proved to be an exercise in frustration. I, for one,
have continued to look for such references since "The Case for
Comrade" was published but have had little luck. Indeed, our of
mounting frustration, I recently searched the Broadfoot Press
Official Recor'ds CD-ROM using the key words "pard,"
"pardner," "partner," "chap(s)," and "chum(s)" in conjunction
with the Boolean search terms AND, OR, NEAR. The Broadfoot
OR search engine left much to be desired in its capabilities but,
nevertheless, neither "pard" nor "pardner" appeared. Conversely,
"partner" and "chap(s)" collectively resulted in over forty "hits."
Even "chum" popped up in, of all places, the transcribed
7 December 1862 testimony of one "Private M. Shaw" of
Company D, Forty-fourth New York Volunteer Infantry. As it
happened, Shaw was interviewed in the course of an ongoing
murder investigation at Camp Parole, Maryland:
Question: Did you report [Private W. E.] Chineworth's
gambling to anybody?
Answer: I have spoken of it to his chum, A. J. Hurd. [ I ]
This writer has even periodically cruised through the
eBayTMonline auction site, using the keyword "pard," in hopes
of finding letters or documents carrying 1860s usages but, so
far, to no avail. 121
The plain fact is that, as of April 2002, Paul Calloway and
I have encountered only five historical individuals known to
have used "pard" in an 1860s context. This number amounted
to less than one percent of our entire sample population! We
simply could not include "Si Klegg" or any of his "pards" since
they were fictional (albeit fact-based) characters. Needless to
say, our finding was particularly astonishing given that we
perused writings produced by hundreds of Northern, Southern,
and Western men (and even a few women) who lived and wrote
between the 1840s and 1870s.
So who were our "historical pards?'In no particular order
they are listed below:
1. Private Garret Larew of Crawfordsville,Montgomery County,
Indiana in Company K, Eighty-sixth Indiana Infantry. [3]
2. Private William Andrew Fletcher of Beaumont, Jefferson
County, Texas (but originally raised in St. Landry Parish,
Louisiana) in Company F, Fifth Texas Infantry (Hood's Texas
Brigade) and Company E, Eighth Texas Cavalry (Terry's Texas
Rangers). He was the author of Rebel Private, Front and Rear
(1908). [4]
3. Captain William S. Mitchell of Milwaukee, Milwaukee
County, Wisconsin in Company D, First Wisconsin Infantry. [s]
4. Orderly Sergeant Samuel A. Clear of Uniontown, Fayette
County, Pennsylvania in Company K, 116th Pennsylvania
Infantry (Irish Brigade). [6]
5. Samuel Clemens, a.k.a. "Mark Rvain," raised in Hannibal,
Marion County, Missouri. Inclusion of Clemens was a bit of a
stretch, but he is well known to have briefly joined the New
Orleans "Louisiana Guard" in the winter of 1860-61. He also
sewed for a few weeks as Second Lieutenant of the "Marion
Rangers," a Missouri Confederate irregular company prior to
moving West in late July 1861. Twain is first known to use "old
pard" toward the end of his 1866 newspaper piece "Among the
Spirits." [7]
Many would still argue, given the above cases, that the
fictional Si Klegg should be counted since, of course, former
Sixty-fifth Ohio Infantry Lieutenant Colonel Wilbur Hinman
wrote it. However, one simply cannot escape the fact that even
Hinman's magnum opus can be occasionally problematic. Terms
like "feller(s)" and "boy(s)" are used far more than "pard."
What is more, even though we did find five individuals,
close analyses of their cases actually raised far more questions
than provided answers. The geographical "spread" (Indiana,
Texas, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and the Far West) certainly
suggests wide usage of "pard," but it does not necessarily follow
Americans of that day and age extensively used it. Oddly, our
review of writings by those individuals who might be termed
"Most Likely to Use 'Pard"' (i.e., Trans-Mississippi Westerners
and Southerners) revealed they...didn 't.
Let us take a closer look at the instances we did uncover.
To wit:
1. Private Garret Larew used "pard" in at least two 1863 diary
entries yet abruptly dropped the term thereafter and never
mentioned it again. Larew was quite capable of adopting slang
since he introduced new words in his diary after effectively
transferring to the pioneers in December 1862.However, strange
to say, "pard" remained "missing in action" throughout the
remainder of his wartime musings.
2. Written in a folksy, almost "primitive" style, W. A. Fletcher's
Rebel Private, Front and Rear made for entertaining reading.
Since Fletcher was an historically documented individual, we
decided to include him as one of our "pards" despite the 1908
publication date of Rebel Private and some very significant
errors, omissions, and inconsistencies revealed by a critical
reading of his memoir. Of course, this wasn't surprising in light
of the fact that Fletcher wrote Rebel Private in the last years of
his life and freely admitted in his introduction "This effort [was]
made through memory, as I [had] no written data, [and,]
therefore, [did] not attempt to give names or dates, [except]
only in a few instances." Dare we say that, at times, Paul
Calloway and I wondered where reality ended and fantasy began
for Fletcher since his prose eerily resembled that found in
melodramatic "dime novels!" Fletcher's use of "pard" was
"casual" to the point of confusing: In some cases he capitalized
it as a proper noun yet, in others, he placed the term into "smallcase." W. A. Fletcher clearly referred to more than one
individual but, alas, almost invariably left us hanging as to the
exact identities of the men mentioned. Was "Pardlpard" a
contracted proper name, a nickname, an endearment, a
composite character...or all of them to Fletcher?
3. Mr. Braun did not indicate thefrequency with which Captain
William Mitchell used "pard" in his letters, but we were left
with the impression it was only once in missives written over a
two to three year period (Captain Mitchell reportedly did not
survive the war). Mitchell's emphasizing of "pard," by
underlining it, might also be potentially noteworthy. Could it
be that the term was of sufficient novelty to the intended recipient
of the letter (or even to Mitchell himself) to merit highlighting?
4. Mark Twain occasionally used "pard" in his writings but
only, so far as is known, in a Far West context. In addition to
his 1866 article on "spirit-rapping," "pard popped up again in
one or more quotes placed by Twain into Roughing It but, we
should note, this work was not published until 1872.
5. Orderly Sergeant Clear only mentioned a fellow "pard" once
in his diary covering the fifteen months between May 1864 and
July 1865. He may well have used the term on a daily basis yet,
if he did, we simply have no way of knowing based on his
surviving writings.
By the same token, as Paul Calloway and I pointed out in
our article, we have ample proof in period documents,
newspapers and personal missives that soldiers and civilians
frequently used just about any conceivable endearment other
than "pard!" The number of times we encountered "comrade"
in contemporary sources easily ran into the hundreds. Systematic
searches through the Sanitary [Commission] Bulletin (published
1863-1865) and the Official Records also revealed numerous
uses of "comrade(s)" in published letters and official documents.
To further illustrate this point, shown below are extracts
from just one letter I recently found while scrolling through
microfilm on a lazy day at the Allen County Library in Fort
Wayne, Indiana. These appear in a remarkable and lengthy
missive written by Private "I. B. E. Hassler," Company B, Second
Iowa Volunteer Infantry, to his father, describing his experiences
during the Siege of Fort Donelson in early 1862: [8]
My comrade and myself saw a log cabin within two hundred
yards of the enemy's batteries and six of us approached it to rest
and sleep.
The boys gave 3 cheers and started upon a "double quick,"
at a "charge bayonets." We did not fire until within two yards
of the Fort. The entrenchments were strongly manned, but our
boys drove them back, amid a shower of bullets and a heavy fire
of canister and grape.
Dear Father, I have done my duty.. .though many of my
comrades sleep the sleep of death and others of them are suffering
from frightful wounds.***I was the first that mounted the
breastworks; my comrade at my side was wounded.***Nine of
my comrades fell at the point when we entered the fort, all shot
through the head.
"The Case for Comrade" was, and is, by no means the final
word on the subject of soldier endearments.Indeed, it was meant
more as a "pro-comrade" argument than as an "anti-pard"
polemic. However, we definitely saw opportunities in our piece
to "shake the tree," stimulate further discussion, and even
provide a case study showing how systematic historical research
can sometimes lead to surprising findings. Needless to say, we
have been remarkably successful on all fronts. We invite further
inquiry into the fascinating topic of soldier endearments and
sincerely hope that more of our fellow chaps and chums will
come forward with additional, datable usages of "pard" by 1860s
"Billies," "Johnnies" and "citizens."
Mark D. Jaeger
NOTES:
1. Oficial Records, Series II,Volume 5, Prisoners of War, Etc., Serial No. 118,61.
2. The writer did recently find an eBay advertisement for a "cabinet card" image of
noted Western poet and scout, J. W. "Captain Jack" Crawford." Included in the ad
was a brief snippet of verse Crawford wrote in 1876upon receiving news of George
Armstrong Custer's demise at the Little Big Horn:
Did I hear the news from Custer?
Well, I reckon I did, old pard.
It came like a streak o' lightning,
And you bet, it hit me hard.
I ain't no hand to blubber,
And the briny ain't run for years,
But chalk me down for a lubber
If I didn't shed regular tears.
Crawford, incidentally, sewed in a Pennsylvania regiment during the war and
subsequentlypublished a book of GAR-related poetry, Camp Fire Sparks (Chicago:
C. H . Kerr & Co., 1893). See Deadwood Magazine Online, SepIOct 1998 at
www.deadwood.com/magazine/archives/CaptJack.htm as well as eBaym
Item #1095810540 (accessed 26 April 2002).
3. Karl Garret Larew, editor, "The Civil War Diary of Garret Larew," Indiana
Military History Journal 7, October 1982, pages 4-19. A complete transcription
of Larew's wartime diary is maintained in the Crawfordsville [Indiana] Public
Library Genealogy Room.
4. William A. Fletcher (preface by Bell Irvin Wiley), Rebel Private, Front and
Rear (Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1954). A lengthy biography of
W. A. Fletcher (1839-1915) can be found at the Handbook of Texas On-line web
site www.tsha.utexas.edulhandbooWonlindartic1es/view/FFIfldddhtml
5. Letters of William Mitchell, Jan Mitchell Collection, Northfield, Minnesota,
transcribed copies in the Milwaukee County Historical Society Collection.
6. W. Springer Menge and J. August Shirnrak, editors, The Civil WarNotebook of
Daniel Chisholm: A Chronicle ofDaily Life in the UnionAnny 1864-1865,(New
York: Ballantine Books, 1989).
7. Marklhain, "Among the Spirits," Virginia Cify [Nevada Tenitory] Territorial
Enterprise, 4 February 1866. Available at www.twainquotes.com/teindex.html.
Twain's account of his brief, inglorious stint at soldiering, 'The Private History of
the Campaign That Failed," was initially published in the December 1885 Century
Magazine and subsequently included in his Merry Tales (New York: Charles L.
Webster &Co., 1892). For an interesting analysis, as well as a complete version, of
Twain's "The Private Histo ry..." consult John Gerber's "Mark Twain's Private
Campaign" in Civil War Hisrory 1 (March 1955), pages 37-60.
8. Letter from Private "I. B. E. Hassler" [sic] to his father, I. B. Hassler, Fort Wayne,
Indiana Daily Timesand Union,3 March 1862. The Second Iowa muster roU does
not list an "I. B. E." Hassler. However, a Private "James B. Hassler," aged 21,
residence of Davenport, Scott County, Iowa, enlistment date of 20 April 1861,
does appear in the "Civil War Research Database" (www.civilwardata.com) and
at the Scott County, Iowa GenWeb Project site: www.celticcousins.neUscotU
civwamters.hmaW2inf. Accordingly, "I. B. E." and "James B." Hassler are almost
certainly one and the same.
Mark D. Jaeger portrays a First Lieutenant of Company G, Thirty-second (1st
German) Indiana Volunteer Infantry. In "citizen life," he works in the Purdue
University Libraries Special Collections, West Lafayette, Indiana
QUERIES FROM FRIENDS AND SUBSCRIBERS (for which we do not always have answers; perhaps you do!)
Subject: CS officer's Coat Buttons.
Well, I've answered my own question. After calling virtually
every sutler in existence for the fifth time, I spoke with the
gentleman from Fair Oaks Sutler. He suggested buying Indian
War era buttons from S&S Firearms, which I did upon sending
for samples first. The quality and condition of these buttons is
spectacular. The brass shows through the gilt finish only on
highly raised areas. I am told that there is a slight difference
from Civil War Federal staff examples in the eagle and back,
but it is minimal. For $8 each large and $1.25 each small, they
are a bargain. If one were to find all he needed of the wartime
Federal staff buttons in order to do a whole frock coat, it would
probably cost over $1,000 (for English-made Confederate staff,
more like $50;000!). As I am not Bill Gates, this is not
practicable. For about $180, I have gotten the buttons I needed
for a nice coat. Michael Sokoloski
Subject: Berdan Green?
I do a Berdan Sharpshooter impression (Second Regiment,
Company C). Our organization has difficulty finding certain
items since we are not standard US infantry. The obvious
problem is finding the "correct" color green wool. Nothing we
find seems to be as dark as the Don Troiani Coat, or the
Smithsonian Sealed Pattern coat. I have found some samples
that are reasonably close, but have yet to find the "Holy Grail"
of green wool. It seems that every Berdan reenactor has a
different opinion on the topic ...most of which are based on
limited facts or research! Does the DOG have any information
concerning sharpshooter items such as the green wool, leather
gaiters and calfskin knapsacks? Michael Eastman [Note we
also received a request from a Mr. Foy asking for sources for
Berdan Sharpshooter uniforms.]
Subscriber, Ryan "Paddy" Conroy, found this information,
but did not include the documentation. We offer it here with the
label of "undocumented alien" for the time being.
1) There were no new issues of the Berdan Rifle-Green uniform
coats after May 1863 in the Vermont Company.
2) Green uniform coats were turned in, stored and then reissued
during the winter months, (the heavier dress coat when combined
I
with the overcoat would be appreciated during the cold weather).
3) Sharpshooters scavenged to find the "best fit" among the reissued uniforms after the prior owners had become casualties
or were discharged. Others sent their dress coats home before
discharge.
4) Photographs, (circa 1863-4) show United States
Sharpshooters (USSS) troops dressed in sack coats/blouses (the
Bummers of Company B). Company F and USSS regimental
quartermaster records further support this.
5 ) Engravings in period newspapers (i.e., Harper's Weekly of
April and July 1862: "Berdan's Sharpshooters before Yorktown"
and "At Malvern Hill") shows the men attired in sack coats/
blouses. Artistic license or reality?
6) An 1864 letter by Major Mattocks requesting a "Field
Officers" court-martial hearing as some enlisted men had refused
new green coats as they had already drawn blue blouses. The
men cited the fact that their clothing accounts would be
overdrawn if they accepted the (unnecessary) coats.
Our presumption is that Mr. Foy and Mr. Eastman are aware
that the First regiment of US Sharpshooters had matching green
trowsers. The Second regiment wore the usual sky-blue kersey
trowsers.
My concern with most sharpshooter impressions is that they
all center on the Peninsula Campaign uniform, with the
European hair knapsacks, etc., and then assume that this
impression is correct for the balance of the war. This is incorrect.
Stevens' sharpshooter history indicated that the men boxed up
their forest green dress coats prior to the Spring campaigns of
1863, which means Burden's Sharpshooters generally were clad
in the Army fatigue blouse at Gettysburg.
An account of a fellow in Company A which I read a
loooong time ago mentioned this uniform as well, and added
that he and some comrades were equipped with rope and
grappling hooks to facilitate tree climbing.. .all during the
Chancellorsville/Gettysburg campaigns.
I think that, as a general rule, the green dress coat is very
much overdone by today's reenactors compared to the original
accounts of Berdan's men on active campaign. Mr. Braun
Sources for a Berdan's kit? Well, I suvvose that if some
one could get (find the material, etc.) Daley to do it, or Joe
Slunt? or maybe Ray Houck? or Nancy Eddins (if she makes
Federal frocks)? or Dennis Sernrau? Jodi Nolan has quit making
frocks.
I am talking "better than off the rack" here. I am assuming
that one, a Berdan's frock is the same as a Federal enlisted
frock, except for color, piping and buttons (likewise the trowsers)
and that two, appropriate broadcloth and kersey can be found
(no one makes the hard rubber buttons, do they?).
This might be a case of "best available solution."
The forage cap is easy. The best available is probably Dirty
Billy.. .unless Brad Keune would make one. Mr. Murley
Subject: China Question.
The question of appropriate "mess furniture" for the ladies
was brought up an an-line discussion list (CW-reenactors).
Watchdog contributor, Kathryn Coombs, provides some
interesting observations on china alternatives and using Internet
auctions as a source of information and the objects themselves.
If you are not on line, then a visit to an antique shop, mall or
show might provide the same, or better real time education.
Kathryn Coombs replies: Here are some other options to
consider in addition to ironstone: octagonal Independence
Ironstone, creamware such as Wedgwood Queensware and the
very safe transferware option of Blue Willow.
Transferware was extremely common-not only in the
familiar blue willow pattern still made but in a wide variety of
patterns. You can often find decent transferware that looks very
much like the early to mid nineteenth century wares in flea
markets, charity shops, etc. The key is to learn as much as you
can about the look of the originals so you know which
reproductions have the same sort of design feeling and which
do not.
A good series of books to read, if you really want to study
this is the Petra Williams Romantic Staffordshire series.
However, one on-line tutor is actually eBayTM(just don't buy
the antiques for reenacting ...camping with your antique
collection is generally not very wise). However, study the real
antiques and then look for reproductions based on these.
Key search terms are "transferware" and "transfer" and
"Staffordshire." Much of the transferware sold in this country
was imported from England. As these dishes were pottery, not
china, they were considered everyday dishes. There was quite a
lot of transferware on the Arabia (including a pattern I have in
my collection).
A few key points to remember:
1. Anything marked "made in England" is post-1895. (However,
when you get to the point of looking for reproductions, you
want this, to make sure they are repros!)
2. Anything termed "aesthetic" is circa 1870-1890.
3. Be very careful on eBayTMas you can buy some wonderful
and quite early original pieces for very, very cheap. Great to
collect, but not for camping!
4. Circa 1830s to mid-1860s transferware usually had a border
pattern and then a center pattern. Sticking with this formula is
safest if you do not know your stuff.
I
5. Most patterns of the era were single color transfer. either in
medium blue, brown, green, purple, black, red, pink or lighter
blue (the very dark blue of "historical Staffordshire" is usually
much later). There were also "polychrome" wares-transferred
in a single color (usually black or brown) with little spots of
other colors added (usually quite clumsily) afterwards by hand.
6. Transferwarereproductions were very trendy during the 1940s
and 50s and experienced a big revival during the 1976
Bicentennial. By the way, commemorative and "tourist" china
was indeed quite popular in our era and earlier in the nineteenth
century, but make sure you get commemoratives that depict
buildings built before 1860 or so! The big name in 1940s and
50s reproductions was Johnson Brothers. Spode has reproduced
some of their late Eighteenthlearly nineteenth-century patterns
that would certainly be suitable for "old dishes" (e.g., like 194050's stuff is to us now) in their "archive" and "blue room'
collections. These are new but nonetheless collectable.
Sometimes they can still be had quite cheaply on eBayTM,
especially by buying sets.
Spatterwarel Spongeware was very common since the early
nineteenth century and is very frequently and cheaply
reproduced. Here are some examples of decent reproductions
going cheaply on eBayT" found by minimal searching.
Bennington ware (American Rockingham), by which we
generally mean the brown glazed stuff made by the Bennington
potteries since the early nineteenth century and still made now,
is another option to consider. If you search eBayTM for
"Bennington" and "Rockingham' at the same time, you will
call up some wonderful originals to help you get accustomed to
the look of the characteristic drippy brown glaze. I bought some
modem era Bennington mixing bowls at a flea market for two
dollars each (just as an example of what you can find). Avoid
the unglazed stuff made by the modem-day Bennington potters.
It has a nice rustic look to it, but it looks way too early for
1860s.
Yellowware is another option. It was still widely made in
the 1950-1960s.
Subject: Provost Marshal's Insignia.
We received two requests for Provost Marshal insignia sources.
A description of the provost marshal (PM) appears in
August V. Kautz, Customs of Service for OfJicers of the Army
(1866). It offers some interesting comments on the duties and
method of appointment of the sort of PM who would have served
in Montgomery County. It mentions no distinguishing insignia.
Customs of Servicefor Non-Commissioned OfJicers and Soldiers
(1864), also by Kautz, describes the duties of the provostsergeant, but mentions no special insignia.
I find no mention of provosts in the US Army Regulations
for 1861. The Articles of War prescribe various duties of
provosts, but I find no mention of insignia. Scott's Military
Dictionary (1861) briefly describes the provost's duties, but
mentions no insignia. The same is true of Gilham's Manual for
Volunteers and Militia (1860) and The Military Handbook and
Soldier's Manual (1861).
You may wish to try to track down a book entitled Rebel
1
Watchdog, by Kenneth Radley. It describes the CS Provost
function in some detail, and may give you some leads on the
information you are seeking. Mr. Rainey
Subject: Crates and Boxes.
While Mr. Rainey was poking around in the manuals and
based on his experience portraying an Assistant Quartermaster,
PACS, a query about sources for dimensions of original
ammunition boxes and rifle crates.
Both the US 1861 and CS 1863 ordnance manuals have
drawings, dimensions and detailed construction specs (size and
number of nails to be used, for example) for shipping crates for
rifle muskets and rifles. They also give dimensions,construction
specs, and paint colors for the packing boxes for many kinds of
small arms ammunition.
Dixie Leather Works sells stencils and plans for a welldocumented CS .577cal. ammunition box, based on an original
in the New York State Historical Society.
A very large proportion of reproduction ammunition boxes
found today are very undersized, so much so that they cannot
hold the labeled quantity of ammo. Breaking open a packing
crate in the field and issuing properly packaged ammo (as we
did in King's Division at 135th Gettysburg) is a magic moment,
but apparently one most people must be missing out on.
Otherwise they would realize how wrong the boxes are in size.
(Case in point: a recent visit to a nationally known sutler in
Gettysburg revealed that he carried boxes labeled to hold one
thousand S8cal.rounds and one thousand .69cal. rounds. The
.58cal. box was too small to hold that many and the .69cal. box
was exactly the same size! Seems like somebody would realize
the discrepancy here! !!)
August Kautz, Customs of Service for Non-Commissioned
Officers and Soldiers (1864), page 155 gives dimensions for
hardtack boxes (and bacon boxes) and photos of hardtack boxes
exist in the big multi-volume set of Civil War photos that came
out in the 1970s [William C. Davis' The Images of War, 18611865, National Historical Society, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania,
19841.The combination will allow you to produce a very credible
box. Incidentally, the Petersburg museum of the RichmondPetersburg National Military Park claims to display the only
known remnant of a Civil War hardtack box-recovered from
the mine leading to The Crater. It is too fragmentary to be of
much help. CS records, incidentally, also mention the shipment
of hardtack in barrels, which Kautz deplores. Mr. Rainey
FEEDBACK AND FOLLOW-UP
Flippin's Jacket.
I was surprised to see Charlie McCulloh [FALL 2001 (9.4)
issue] call the Flippin jacket a "documented Western wool
jacket." This jacket is generally accepted by uniform researchers
to be a Richmond Depot "Type 111" jacket, as described by Les
Jensen. In fact, Jensen listed the Flippin jacket in his well-known
articles as one of the Richmond "Type 111" jackets he studied.
Even though it only has eight buttons, it corresponds very well
with the other characteristics of this jacket style.
Flippin's military service record (National Archives), like
most enlisted Confederaterecords, is not very detailed. However,
it does show him as Private Thomas J. Flippin, Company G,
Third Tennessee Infantry. Flippin's regiment served the entire
war in the Army of Tennessee (AoT), and surrendered with
General Johnston in North Carolina in April 1865. However,
Flippin himself was detailed to temporary duty on 6 December
1864, under a Major B.F. Carter (possibly Major Benjamin F.
Carter of Palmer's Brigade. This brigade also served in the AoT
and surrendered in North Carolina). Further, Flippin's service
record shows that he was captured at Orangeburg, South
Carolina, on 12 February 1865, and released to go home on 14
June. Apparently, Flippin drew this Richmond Depot stylejacket
from eastern stores, was captured in it and wore it home, so it is
not therefore a Western style jacket.
It is true that, at one time, this jacket was thought by most
to be an AoT jacket, and it was, in fact, this very jacket that
started the "cadet gray" craze among Confederate infantry
reenactors in the Western theater circa 1978. Entire "histories"
were invented about this style of jacket ... how some 40,000 of
this "4th Pattern" jacket were issued to the AoT at Dalton,
Georgia, in early 1864 and thus, groups [presentday units] such
as Cleburne's, the Fourth Kentucky Infantry and the Jeff Davis
Rifles adopted this jacket. In-depth research by several "preprogressive" Confederate reenactors in the Tennessee area in
the early 1980s showed that none of this "history" was true...it
just did not stand up.
I would be interested to know if any research has come to
light lately that shows these conclusions to be incorrect. This
was the line of thought adopted by the "pre-progressive"
reenactors in Tennessee in the mid-80s. Their discussions and
my own research convinced me. Les Jensen also reached this
conclusion around this same time when he saw this jacket. I
have not read anything to indicate any newer ideas on this jacket,
but then, I have been on the periphery of such research for the
past five years and I might have missed something.
The only reason I became familiar with the Flippin jacket
in the first place was the controversy in the mid-80s over whether
or not AoT reenactors should be wearing our then-current cadet
gray jackets. I had been sucked in completely by the early-80s
thinking about these cadet gray jackets. I even had a hand-sewn
one custom-made for my own impression (as a matter of fact,
as I later learned, it was a direct repro of the Flippin jacket). We
all thought these things were so cool (and so Western).
But then a couple of pards that I met when I lived in East
Tennessee in 1984 convinced me that the Flippin jacket was
really an Eastern jacket, and that we ought to be wearing
"Columbus Depot" jackets (we were calling them "Orphan
Brigade" jackets then). Prior to then I had always considered
the "CDIOB" jackets to be early-war, based on the identifications
of the three Orphan Brigade originals in Kentucky (which I
later found were not quite correct, at least in their dating).
Anyway, when Les Jensen's article came out in 1989, and he
called the Flippin jacket a Richmond Depot jacket, I was
convinced for sure. [ I ]
If you want to print a correction, maybe you ought to just
cite Jensen's article. I "have" examined the Flippin jacket, but
most of my research is based on what the guys in Tennessee had
already done on it. It's OK by me if you want to use my previous
correspondence, but Jensen (and others) were the guys who really
researched that type of jacket back then. Geoffrey R. Walden
When looking at the Flippin jacket I used the records
currently available at the Davis Home. I also found no further
reference to an issue from the east when pulling the records
available to me. I will of course defer to yours and Les Jensen's
research abilities, as mine pale in comparison. Your work on
Columbus Depot jackets is outstanding and Les, is of course,
legendary. I would trust your conclusions implicitly. As a point
in fact, every benchmark that I use to examine garments is from
Les Jensen's nomenclature system. Even with the small
differences that the jacket exhibits (button number being one) I
certainly see how the scenario you propose has the greatest
probability of being the correct one. If there is one small fact I
have learned in viewing original garments from the period it is
"The more I know, the more I don't know" and if someone
says, "I am absolutely certain" ...they are almost assuredly wrong.
I will ask Bill to please print a retraction.
Realizing of course that without documentation you must
sometimes draw conclusions based on the best evidence. Other
wool jackets I have seen with a "western" provenance could
also be suspect as some of the owners also were in "the east" at
the close of the war. In light of the absence of concrete
documentation I will have to further examine the background
of these garments also. Mr. McCulloh
We stand corrected and hereby state that Flippin jacket is
not a documented Western jacket! Mr. Christen
[I] Jensen, Leslie D. "A Survey of ConfederateCentral GovernmentQuartermaster
Issue Jackets, Parts 11, and I " articles in the Military Collector and Historian,the
journal of the Company of Military Historians, Volume 41, Numbers 3 and 4,
1989. Geoff published an article in two parts, "Confederate 'Columbus Depot"
Jackets: The Material Evidence" in the Camp Chase Gazene some years ago. Our
"dog-eared" photocopiesof the article do not reference the dates of publication, but
we believe it to be sometime after November 1994. You might also refer to his
article on this topic in the SUMMER 1994 (.3) of the DOG.
Circa Historic Attire.
Circa Historic Attire was mentioned in the WINTER 2002
(10.1) issue. A few notes.. .the correct name of the new business
is Circa Historic Attire (versus "Clothiers") and it is Beth MillerHall and Kate John (versus just Beth) who are the proprietors.
The current hours are Friday 1-9pm, Saturday 10 am-8pm and
Sunday 10amSpm.
L.D. Haning and Company "Telegraphic" Corrections.
Also in the WINTER 2001 (10.1) issue we reviewed C.S.
Storms cap boxes from L.D. Haning and Company (Tim Welch).
You can catch him and samples of his work at the Mansfield,
Ohio, Civil War Show (4.5 May 2002). His correct e-mail
address and web site URL is luthhaning@earthlink.net and
www.ldhaning.com.
IN THE FIELD
The DOG will be at two 140th "big shows," the Antietam
event in September and the Perryville, Kentucky in October.
The sheer size of these events makes them atypical of what
many of us do at smaller events closer to home. However, these
two are where the numbers aid the semblance of accurate military
scale we all desire, and where a large portion of the tribe meets.
In the case of Perryville the Watchdog staff has volunteered
to help that event's civilian committee rather than set up a big
shebang. Our help will be of that of labor during the event and
a few presentations. More details on this event will be included
in the next issue. The Perryville 2002 event contact is Perryville
Battlefield State Historic Site, 1825 Battlefield Parkway,
Perryville, Kentucky 40468 and www.perryville2002.com. The
Perryville event takes place on 4-6 October 2002.
At Antietam look for our shebang in the publications area.
The staff will be offering impression improvement assistance
as well as the usual shopping "advice." We will have the usual
"soldier's rest" and the "parlor." The following update was
received from Karen Rae Mehaffey, Civilian Coordinator, and
Don Warlick, Reenactor Coordinator, on behalf of the Antietam
Commemorative Committee. I am pleased to publish this
information and appreciate the committee's efforts in regard to
continuous improvement and preservation. Mr. Christen
The Antietam 140th Reenactment
Event Planning in Progress.
The Battle of Antietam in September 1862 was considered
the single, bloodiest day in American history. It still is. The
Antietam Commemorative Committee (the planners of the
140th) hope to recognize the courage, the loss and the incredible
military siege that enveloped a tiny farming community in
Maryland. This battle impacted families throughout the Union
and the Confederacy, and was a national event. As reenactors,
we have the opportunity 13-15 September 2002, to honor the
dead and educate the public on the ordeal that forever changed
the landscape of Maryland.
Comparisons and Changes with the 135th Reenactment.
This year's event will take place on the same farm used in
1997 for the 135th anniversary of Antietam. The Artz family,
who is generously and enthusiastically looking forward to the
event, owns the land. The site layout will vary from 1997, in
order to allow for larger camps and more space. Also, as in
1997, water will be provided by the laying down of underground
copper piping, avoiding the need for tankers and unsightly water
buffaloes in camp. Water spigots will be located throughout the
site, making it convenient to fill canteens and haul water.
Unlike 1997, the battles will be in historically correct order.
Reenactors requested this, and we are listening. A total of five
battles will be fought, which include Fox's Gap, The Cornfield,
Bloody Lane, a Cavalry battle and A.P. Hill's Attack, in this
order. The commanders are very involved in the planning of
this event, and are Dana Heim, Union Commander and
Jim Maupin, Confederate Commander. The Cavalry will have
an important presence at Fox's Gap on Friday afternoon, and
the cavalry commanders, Craig Beachler, Union Commander
and Barry Shepherd, Longstreet's Corps Commander, are
planning scenarios. Two marches to the site are being planned
by units as well. Watch for more information on the Internet
Civil War forums.
To answer a few of the questions out there about battle
locations, camps and roads, let us offer these updates. The
Cornfield is located on the same piece of land as that used in
1997. The A.P. Hill Attack scenario will take place on a beautiful
piece of land chosen specifically for this battle. And as noted
before, the entire site has been spread out to accommodate more
spacious camps. Traffic patterns are greatly improved for the
2002 event. The state of Maryland has opened another
interchange off of Route 70, allowing for smoother traffic merger
in and out of the site. To better accommodate the reenactors,
the Union and Confederate camps will have private traffic
patterns at the back, to get reenactors on and off the site. The
public will not have access to these roads. As we provided in
1997, roads will be mulched. Cars left in camp will be towed off
the site! ARF!
As in 1997;an extensive educationalprogram will be offered
for school children. Organizers are working with the
Superintendent of Schools, and will be providing teaching plans
on the Battle of Antietam for educators to use in the classroom
prior to the event. Schools will be touring the camps and site
from 9 in the morning until 2:30 on Friday afternoon.
Something for Everyone.
The focus of the event is education, preservation and
providing a great living-history experience. In order to try and
help everyone achieve these goals, a variety of activities are
being planned. There will be two activities tents with continuous
lectures and events occurring in both. Military lectures will be
provided prior to each battle, and lectures on civilians during
the Battle of Antietam, food ways in 1862 (foods available and
their preservation), fashions of the era and other topics will be
featured. A period style show will be presented, as well as a
tableau. The organizers are pleased to note that Stephen Lang,
who portrays General Stonewall Jackson in the upcoming "Gods
and Generals" movie will present a lecture on Jackson during
the event. Other highlights include a living history area with a
temperance tent, period children's games and a Turkish Smoking
Salon. Saturday afternoon, a period auction will be presented.
Original antiques and reproductions of the War era will be
auctioned for preservation. Please watch for more information
on the auction on the Antietam web site. Reenactors will be
invited to bring items for auction, and a portion of each winning
bid will go to preservation.
The event will host a large dining tent, numerous sutlers
and two dances for your pleasure. The dance on Friday will be
open to the public as well, and will be led by the Libby Prison
Minstrels. Saturday night's dance will be for reenactors only,
and will be led by the 2nd South Carolina String Band. Music
will be abundant on site, as several bands and ensembles are
being invited to play at various locations around the event site
throughout the weekend.
Sunday will open with a special event in honor of all who
have fallen in American wars, and particularly for those who
were lost on 11 September 2001. As the event takes place during
the week of 9-11, Sunday's activities will open with a Grand
Review of the Confederate and Union troops present and a
memorial service dedicated to those that have given their lives
for American freedom. A permanent, commemorative flag will
be raised. The Artz Family has agreed to have a permanent
flagpole and flag on their land, in memory of the fallen. A period
church service and a gospel sing will follow the tribute.
For Preservation: a Sneak Preview, Candlelight Tours and
the Artz Collection.
Last, but not least, a sneak preview (a twenty-two-minute
short) of the "Gods and Generals" movie will be shown at the
Maryland Theatre in Hagerstown. The showings will be on
Thursday night (12 September) at six and eight o'clock in the
evening. Tickets will be ten dollars with the proceeds going to
preservation. Watch the event web site (see below) for details.
Keep in mind seating will be limited.
Another preservation fund-raiser will be candlelight camp
tours. They will be offered on Friday night. Various stations
will be set up for the tour, allowing the public to glimpse a
military camp and civilians during the carnage of war.
Finally, Mr. Artz has generously offered to display his
extensive collection of antique farm equipment, period wagons
and other antiques in his collection. His private collection
includes a wagon that was used to carry wounded from the
battlefield at Antietam in 1862.
Further Information.
Planning will continue through the spring, as the organizers
want to work with and for the reenactors, to create the best
experiencepossible. Thousands of spectators and school children
will converge on this event and will try and learn what it was
like to be a part of this enormous event in American history. We
hope you will attend and help to make that experience real. For
registration information, go to www.antietamreenactment.org
For ticket and tourism information, go to the web site at
www.antietamreenactment.org or call (888) 248-4597.
Karen Rae Mehaffey
Don Warlick
(for the Antietam Commemorative Committee)
Dressing Young Boys: Options for Living History
"Stonewall" Jackson.. .Abraham Lincoln.. .Robert E. Lee.. .
John Brown.. .these men share a common ground: they all wore
dresses as infants, and likely as small boys. This knowledge
should be a comfort to modern fathers and mothers who feel
reluctant to dress their lads in "girly" clothes. None of these
gentlemen were warped or emasculated by wearing skirts as
toddlers. The practice of dressing boys in skirts and petticoats
until after toilet training held on well into the twentieth century;
many of us, taking a glance at family photos, are surprised to
see that sweet little "girl" captioned, "Grandpa Joe, age 2, 1923."
When families are involved in Civil War era reenactment,
one of the most difficult hurdles to overcome is the thought of
dressing their little boys in dresses. However, any family wishing
to accurately present the material culture of the time will want
to dress everyone appropriately.. . even the boys. We'll focus
here on the clothing options for boys age one to six, with special
attention paid to "dresses."
It is a challenge to dress toddlers and small boys. Infancy
is relatively simple. It is well established in images, writings,
illustrations, advertisements and advice to mothers that infant
boys wear the same gowns and frocks as do infant girls. We
know that by later childhood most boys are dressing in relatively
adult clothing. What does the neatly dressed male toddler wear?
The July 1857 Godey's Lady's Book notes that attractive
dresses for boys to age five are made with full skirts, short
sleeves, and a belt or girdle at the waist, or in long-sleeved,
high-necked "blouses," (described further as a bodice and skirts
cut "as one," full and having no waist seam) belted or girdled at
the waist, with decorated drawers beneath them. (Nothing is
said whether these drawers were white underdrawers, or
decorated, short trousers. Illustrations show both.)
A brief note in the August 1857 edition of Godey 's suggests
that infant dresses were worn into childhood, with the dress let
out at shoulders and waist for extra width and length, making a
dress for a one-year old fit a three-year old boy.
Peterson's Magazine (1861) notes several times that the
same boy's dress with long (knee length) skirts and jacket can
be worn with skirts (underskirts) or "knee pants, according to
the age of the child." Suits consisting of wide, full, short trousers
banded below the knee (much morifull than the knickers of the
later century) worn with a long vest and coat are also noted as
being suited to boys who are "too young to be breeched, and too
old to wear frocks and pinafores," giving voice to the masculine
sensibilities of little boys.
Many garments for ages two to five are listed, "for a child,"
with no sex given preferential listing. It can be assumed, then,
that the garments themselves (typically dresses or frocks, often
with decorative jackets) are suited to either.
These same sorts of comments are made through the end
of the war in 1865 regarding boy's clothing: frocks, tunics and
over-blouses, belts, sashes and girdles, petticoats and drawers
and knee-pants. We do not often want to lean too heavily on
fashion notes; these sometimes have a bad reputation for showing
the "ideal" and not the commonly worn. One mitigating factor
18
in considering fashion notes is the time-span: the notes are
describing similar items for a period of nearly a decade, with
few changes beyond trim or particularly popular fabrics.
These same varieties are also seen in photographs from the
era. A casual survey of thirty-three randomly selected images
of boys ages one to five years old (to a mother's eye), shows
twenty boys wearing some form of skirts. Three boys (appearing
to be between two and four years old) also wore "knee pants":
very full, straight trousers hemmed to between the knee and
mid-calf, and often decorated to compliment the dress. [Editor's
note: As a general rule the location of the hair part (center:
female and side: male) is an indication of gender. The images
used to illustrate this article were chosen from those of "little
gentlemen7' in the editor's collection, which also had additional
identification (unless otherwise noted).]
FIG 1. Earl Miller, CdV by Benjamin Franklin Battels,
Akron, Ohio, circa 1865.
The dresses range from very unisex styles (bateau or jewel
necks, full or smooth bodices and defined waists, which would
look just as becoming on a small girl) to decidedly masculine
styles (A-line frocks belted at the waist, or "blouson" styles
falling full from the shoulder and belted at the waist.) Plaids,
checks and other manly fabrics seem popular.
The remaining images show boys in knee pants and long
trousers. One common garment worn with the pants is a waist
to hip length jacket, fastened only at the neck, with no lapel or
collar and curving away from the center at the hem. The sleeves
are generally smooth-set at the armscye and cut generously
through the elbow and wrist. This jacket is seen over white and
E WATCH1
'
SPRING 2001
colored bodices or shirts, with or without a coordinating
vest, and in every incarnation from extremely embellished
to very simple. In the fancier varieties, a dark necktie is
worn in a bow at the collar.
How does all this translate, in practical terms, for the
reenacting family? The picture that emerges is one of
pleasant harmony; accuracy may be satisfied by dressing
small boys in frocks, tunics or dresses, worn with petticoats
until toilet training is accomplished, and with short or long
trousers (depending on the weather) afterward. The use of
plaids, checks and militarily styled embellishments such
as braiding, applique, buttons and bands adds a masculine
note to fairly unisex frocks.
There are certain advantages to dresses during toilet
training; chiefly, that white underdrawers make only one
layer for small boys to maneuver downward, rather than
several. Once the first, urgent days of training are past,
trousers are worn. Underdrawers are also quite inexpensive
to make and replace and are easily bleached back to white
when they inevitably become soiled at the knees. If made
with functional tucks at the hems. They also accommodate
toddler growth spurts better than do trousers. The resultant
shortening of dresses during a growth spurt generally
renders them a perfect length for "tunics" over trousers
once the spurt, and training, are accomplished.
Another advantage to dressing boys accurately is the
increased opportunity for public interaction. Many passersby
will remark on the "sweet little girl," giving mother or father
a brief chance to educate: "Actually, little James will stay
in frocks until he is fully toilet trained, and then he'll move
into trousers." If a first-person scenario is called for, more
details can be given in a "here and now" manner; if third
person is acceptable to the event structure, it is a good time
to note boys' dresses in modem memory.
One caution: small boys who are accustomed to the
breezy feel of drawers and petticoats may be reluctant to
give up their comforts in the summer!
mh
-4
- ---- -- -__.___
FIG 4a (left) and FIG 4b (right). "Richard Andrew Linden" (written
on back of both images), in his skirt, CdV, circa 1863-1865 (no
backmark). He appears again in a fashionable outfit on a CdV by D.
Pierce, circa 1864-1866 (revenue stamp affixed).
FIG 3. "Horace's boy, Three
years old" (written on back), in
his skirt and jacket, CdV, circa
1865 (no backmark).
!
Elizabeth Clark
Elizabeth Clark is an historic dressmaker and designer specializing in
children's clothing of the mid-nineteenth century. More articles on children's
clothing can be found at www.elizabethstewartclark.com
FIG 2.
"Bertie, 15l/2
Months."
(written on
back), in his
dress,
CdV by T.R.
Burnham,
Boston,
Massachusetts,
circa 1865.
i
iC-/"
b 3
--
FIG 5. "Uncle Henry" (written on back),
wearing shirt and short pants buttoned
together, CdV by Geo. D. Knecht,
"Excelsior, Traveling Artist" (imprint),
Allentown, Pennsylvania,
circa 1865-66.
,
,
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IN THIS ISauB...
review of Knopp's Coi
es & Horse Equ
LOOKING AT ORIGINALS...Keadv mnrln"Blockade Run'' '~L...~,,,.P
Weaves
urns, CC
; and Pa
en More Obser
- usual QUERIES
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F'hBUHALl'
Flippin Jacket and otller items
IN THE FIEL- -.-A
.0th Antietam Event rnformation
Dressing Yc
tys: Options for Living
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