I’m so far behind today on comments here and elsewhere, but I shall persevere! Oh, my stars. Petticoats and pinafores. Ringlets and ruffled drawers. Little girls were so sweet. Now, I’m not quite that old, but I well remember my aunt fixing my hair in rag rollers to make ringlets for church. Once the ringlets…
Whoa ho. We’re half way through the month. Apparently I don’t know how to write a short blog post. sigh. During the war of 1812, the British burned the United States Capitol building in August, 1814. Congress built a Federal-style brick financed by Washington real estate investors as temporary quarters. The building became known as…
I adore Victorian fashion and etiquette. Men wore more colorful garb than a person might imagine. I think the Netflix show Ripper Street does a very good job on costuming. Etiquette rules were very well defined. A lady never lifted her skirt high enough to show more than one ankle while stepping up. A gentleman…
I adore Victorian fashion and etiquette. Men wore more colorful garb than a person might imagine. I think the Netflix show Ripper Street does a very good job on costuming. Etiquette rules were very well defined. A lady never lifted her skirt high enough to show more than one ankle while stepping up. A gentleman…
Jeb Stuart was well known for his audacious raids. In one raid they captured quite a bit of gear from a Union camp, including a trunk belonging to a Union captain. Later, he decided to sit down with his setters Nip and Tuck and go through the trunk. Inside, he found some interesting letters. Aside…
Watercolor by Grant at age 18 done while he was at West Point. Education was a interesting thing in antebellum America. Most children didn’t go to school past the eighth grade, but could and did enter college at young ages due to their advanced academics. Children in the fifth grade read at present day college…
Sanitary Commission Cooking Tent at Fredericksburg, VA (You thought I forgot, didn’t you? No, I was on babysitting duty and didn’t have research material at hand.) We walk into our kitchens each morning not thinking about all the conveniences at our fingertips. For the participants in the Civil War, hunger was a constant companion, especially…
Thomas Jordan, like most Confederate generals, started out in the Federal army. It was a tough decision for many to leave the army they loved, but they could not bring themselves to raise arms against their homes. What man would not defend his home and loved ones? For certain, some southerners did join the Union,…
Thomas Jordan, like most Confederate generals, started out in the Federal army. It was a tough decision for many to leave the army they loved, but they could not bring themselves to raise arms against their homes. What man would not defend his home and loved ones? For certain, some southerners did join the Union,…
The Merrimack was in the Gosport Navy Yard at Portsmouth, Virginia when the war broke out. It had been scheduled for repairs, but congress denied the funds, leaving her there in port. The Confederates sank lightboats between Craney Island and Sewell’s Point, which blocked the channel away from the port on April 16, 1861. On…