Guarding your interests..
Transcription
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 [email protected] 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 [email protected]. 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected]. 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected]. 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'[email protected] or [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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. , , M E WATCHDOG PO BOX 1675 WARREN, MI 48090-1675 Guarding your interests.. . ADDRESSSERVICE REQUESTED SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION The Watchdog. (ISSN 1067-2729) is published quarterly by The Watchdog Quarterly, Inc., a nonprofit corporation in the State of Michigan. Subscriptions (US and Canadian) are $15 annually, with $13 for each additional year. Foreign subscriptions are $20 (US) per year. Back issues are $2 (before 1999) and $4 (1999 and beyond). An index is available upon request. Send subscription requests, inquiries and submissions to the address above. T h Watchdog accepts no paid advertising. Contributors and writers receive no compensation for their articles other than free copies of the issue with their article. All net profits are donated yearly to battlefield and historical preservation organizations.Contributorsare solely responsible for the accuracyof theirresearch, the opinionsexpressed in their article and do retain copyright to article content. SPRI Bill Christen, Publisher & Editor-at-fault Lynn Kalil, Assistant Editor Bob Braun, Associate Editor Charlie McCulloh, Associate Editor Mike Murley, Associate Editor Lee Rainey, Associate Editor Rick Simmons,Associate Editor Jomarie Soszynski,Associate Editor John Yingling, Associate Editor Larry See, Web Site Editor 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 .. F'hBUHALl' Flippin Jacket and otller items IN THE FIEL- -.-A .0th Antietam Event rnformation Dressing Yc tys: Options for Living -- -- HAS YOUR SUBSCRIPTION EXPIRED? A There is a number after your name on your address label that looks like X.Y (X = volume, Y = issue, for example: the SPRING 2002 issue is (10.2). This number indicates the last issue of your subscription.. .unless you renew. If the box on the left is checked, your subscriptionhas expired and you have received this issue as acourtesy. CONTACT BY TELEGRAPH e-mail: [email protected] web site URL: www.watchdogmview.com web site design by Leelanau Communications, Inc., Andrew MacFarlane, Pres. -. " r I Expertly printed by John Chmelko of Eastown Printing Service, Centerline,Michigan Copyright O 2002 All rights reserved