Sleeping at home in cold weather

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Well, I found this tonight while looking up something else and thought as we enter winter it would be a good little bit of information to consider. The early winter of 1857, Virginia experienced an extreme deep freeze. Rivers froze, snow piled up and quite frankly it was a winter disaster (not wonderland).

Edmund Ruffin noted in his diary the following:

"Jan. 18, 1857--....We could scarcely keep warm sitting by the fire. Temp at 7 (degree sign) at 9 A.M. and 3 (degree sign) 4 P.M."

"Jan. 19th--....I passed a wretched night, with cold feet. Yet I went to bed comfortable, with a good fire burning until burnt out--& with as much covering as could do any good--6 blankets, & 2 more over my feet, which were pulled up when needed, & also a doubled cloak over all, on my knees & feet. Woolen night socks , & over them a woolen wrapper, both well warmed, covered my feet, & yet before the fire had burnt out, I was awakened by cold feet, they continued to grow colder until I had fire & arose in the morning."

Ruffin's diary has been edited by William Scarbourough and was published in three volumes. I found this online through JSTOR.

[Hank Trent]

Interesting that he talks about the fire burning out. You'd think he'd be well-supplied with servants whom he could request to stoke it a few times during the night.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Emmanuel Dabney]

I guess even Edmund Ruffin, Sr. let the slaves rest SOMETIMES!

[Trish Hasenmueller]

It sounds like someone started the fire before Ruffin arose in the morning. I'll bet they had more than cold feet, trying to stoke up that fire.

Trish Hasenmueller

[Emmanuel Dabney]

I am constantly amazed at the extreme cold through the Cheseapeake region in January/February 1857. People walked (or more like skated) across the James River and portions of the Cheseapeake Bay. All the rivers in Eastern Virginia were frozen over and transportation nearly stopped. It was several weeks before railroads ran again and even then, steamers were still moving either VERY carefully or not at all.

I guess this won't happen again (and since I don't really like cold, especially not extreme cold, I don't think I'll care)...

[ElizabethClark]

It's 7* here this morning--last week we had a cold snap that didn't reach above 0* during the high point of the days. We still had the window cracked open for sleeping. Cold is one of those relative things, I think. :)

It is indeed interesting the lengths to which this poor chilled man went with his bedding. Em, does the diary say anything about the sudden cold causing any problems with firewood/coal supplies? How long was the cold snap that year?

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Before things crashed and burned for the umpteenth time (thanks to you, Internet!) the question was posed as to which house Ruffin was sleeping at.

I looked up yesterday in Scarbourough's edit of the diary and found that he was with his son, Edmund, Jr. who owned Beechwood (and Evelynton-Charles City County) in Prince George County, Virginia.

His son Julian owned Ruthven nearby to Beechwood. Edmund during the war relocated his family to Marlbourne in Hanover and then to Redmoor which he bought in1863 in Amelia County and subsequently sold in 1866.

[Pvt_Jack_Bauer]

To go along with this posting, I was watching a show on the discovery channel and they were explaining of a "Little Ice Age" that hit the northern hemisphere for a few hundred years. Parts of the North were actually just coming out of this deep freeze around this time in the 1850's. Luckily it was around this time and not any later...I am sure both armies would have suffered far worse than normal winters!

[PogueMahone]

Ruffin must not have read Charles Heath's primer on sleeping on campaign! :rolleyes:

All these blankets and socks, but no mention of a head covering?

Mr. Ruffin needed a spooning pard.