Roles for Women

[Jake Hill]

I was currently a single soldier and I have a fiance now we really loves this hobby or in our case lifestyle. And she wants to have an impression, but she doesn't want to portray the wealthy lifestyle. She wants to have a refugee impression. What would be her attire?. What could she do instead of sitting there and being bored. What activities can she perform? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[cwbelle]

I'm very encouraged that there is someone new to the hobby who wants to start out authentically (most important!) and also with a specific impression in mind.

As any of the ladies on this forum will likely ask you, does your fiance sew or is willing to learn? Sewing her own clothing is one of the best ways (in my oppinion) for a civilian to obtain an authentic wardrobe. Although there are several good places to purchase authentic clothing as well (posted on a previous thread not too long ago I believe), it will probably be quite a bit more expensive and harder to get the appropriate fit.

First she'll need the proper underclothes, this is extremely important as it defines the look and fullness of the dress (at the very minimal these would consist of a chemise, a couple petticoats and a corset--a little later she might wish to add a corded petticoat which is very helpful for mobility). For a refugee impression I would then suggest a plain cotton working dress and slat bonnet. All of this is fairly simple to construct with basic sewing skills and good patterns.

A wonderful source of information would be Elizabeth Clark's website (once again!), however I've had some trouble accessing it recently so I hope others have had more luck.

http://www.elizabethstewartclark.com

Mrs. Clark has several wonderful articles on impressions including the lower class, the working dress and also several free patterns that your fiancee may wish to look over.

Best of luck and a warm welcome to her!

Sincerely,

[Jake Hill]

Ms. Clark
Thank You for your advice and the website was great. It gave us a good start. She is currently working on the sewing and that is a slow progress. So is there any approved vendors that we can purchase the appropriate garments? I apologize for my ignorance in the civilian subject I never thought about it until I had to, but they were great contributors to the soldiers and society during that time period. Also any activites she could perform at camps or living histories? She said if she was going to sleep out in the elements then she did not want ot be bored.
Thank You

[edharmon]

How authentic would you say that the free patterns available on her website are?

[cwbelle]

For clothing vendors check out the previous thread titled "womens clothing vendors". It is a great discussion from a little while ago, with many links, and was started by a soldier requesting information for a civilian very similar to what you are now asking.

For a quick reply, a good option to start with is the vendors list on the (Altantic Guard Soldier's Aid Society) AGSAS website: www.agsas.org

I completely understand her desire to "do something" at events. I would suggest looking into cooking or perhaps washing/mending, or any other necessary tasks that would have to be performed, even while on the move as a refugee. A good option is to look into period diaries or other sources for possible/specific scenerios (depending on how close she would have been to military camps/battlefields).

Please, do encourage her to create an account and join the discussion. Later on I'm sure many other ladies on this board will have excellent bits of advice and answers to her questions.

As to whether Mrs. Clark's (though it would be an honer, she is not related to me) patterns are authentic, her research and knowledge of the civilian clothing of the era is amazing and I am continually impressed. She is one of the moderators on this board and so I feel she would be the best one to support her patterns. As always though, another's research should not replace your own personal research.

Respectfully,

[cavman63]

Sir,

I am the soldier Lisa-Marie referred to who asked a similar question for a friend a while back. I whole heartedly agree that your girlfriend should ask questions here and she will get the answers she needs. My friend did so and is now well on her way to accurate portrayal of a civilian woman. Elizabeth Clarke was of great help to her enen went so far as calling my friend to talk in person. There are no finer people around to help you and her out.
just my 2 cents.

[TeamsterPhil]

As to the question of what roles/activities an authentic refugee have at events - that answer depends on the event and sometimes the companions of the civilian. If it is a mainstream event, it's just as much a "carpe eventum" as it is for the soldiers. At the more authentic events, it is much easier to portray a refugee properly (if, in fact, the event has need for refugees).

At the Picketts Mill event coming up in May, the civilians will truly be refugees - they have chosen to leave their homes before the area is overrun by "thousands" of soldiers on both sides. They will spend the weekend attempting to avoid getting caught in the path of the advancing armies, tryign to keep their "family" together, securing shelter, possibly trying to find others in the same situation, trying to keep themselves fed while "on the run", trying to keep within a decent distance of a water source -- in other words, all the things that a refugees would do in 1864.

Phil Campbell

[Emmanuel Dabney]

I must pipe up...

"Refugee" does not equal, poor white trash (no offense to anyone). Somehow in the last few years, people have decided that being wealthy=farb and not fun. Well, yes, too many mainstream people want to be Scarlett and her friends; but how often do WE attend these mainstream events? Why does silk nowadays equal bad?

Refugee is anyone who is fleeing the home for short or long periods of time. Mary Chesnut would not like to be categorized as a faded cotton, raggedy dress wearing refugee in Lincolnton, NC.

It's fine to portray the less wealthy, that I don't knock. However, let's try as authentic civilians to curb the thought that refugee meant sitting in the woods in your falling apart clothing. As I always say, for long periods, what does the woods have to offer you as a refugee?

Putting my soapbox away,

[KarinTimour]

Congratuations to the new member of the hobby -- does she have a computer or could she use yours? We'd love to meet her on-line or in person so that we can start a dialogue directly. Of course, it's wonderful that you're so supportive, and we welcome everyone, male or female who wants to learn more about civilian lives and portrayals.

As Emmanuel mentioned, "refugee" is someone who had to leave home because the armies are coming too close. This could be someone refugeeing with 20 wagons of furniture, china, slaves, livestock and library, or it could be someone who thoughtfully started packing about a month ago, or it could be someone who was trying to stay on the farm in hopes of being able to save it through the occupation, and then lost their nerve or changed their mind at the last minute and had only time to grab the kids, a bag of food and one blanket to get out of Dodge a step ahead of the troops. Judith McGuire is a good example of a "Packed 20 wagons and left for Cousin Lizzie's" refugee -- she had to leave very early in the war, but talks about weeks of packing beforehand, and spends much of the war living with very comfortable families, in their spare rooms.

Refugees could be Unionist, if she is portraying someone from East Tennessee or parts of Missouri. Largely they are Confederate, since the Union Army did much of their movement and occupation in the Confederacy. Or she could be a secret Unionist living in the Confederacy, in which case she would be outwardly Confederate.

If she is interested in more immersion events, at some she can refugee, at others she won't be welcome as a refugee. Picket's Mill has refugees, Harper's Ferry rarely does. McDowell has travellers, or neighbor families who have come into town for the next week or so because they didn't want to be isolated as the armies moved through.

But it sounds from your description as if she is more likely to be attending more mainstream events. Where is she located? Perhaps there are more authentically minded civilians in her area or state that she could hook up with. As Phil mentioned, for authentic civilians it is very much "carpe eventum" at mainstream events -- if you have other civilians you can meet up with and camp together, you can sometimes carve a little more authentic outpost out of an event that would otherwise be simply sitting for a weekend in a field sewing, punctuated with trips to the sutlers and trips to "watch the afternoon battle."

If she is alone, it would probably be a good idea for her to think about doing third person interpretation, and putting together a few presentations that she would enjoy doing for the spectators, demonstrating various crafts or period skills. Sewing, knitting, cooking, laundry, basketmaking, are all things that she can demonstrate. Some will involve much more dollars than others -- laundry involves at least two tubs, and probably an authentic bucket or two, a scrubboard and each of these things is pricy. Sewing,knitting, crochet, tatting are all very inexpensive, but also pretty sedentary. Cooking is fun, but hot. I'd advocate avoiding candlemaking, soapmaking, dying unless she is very confident and has at least one person to help -- they all involve potential liability hazards. Soapmaking involves lye, candlemaking involves large amounts of hot wax, dyeing can involve caustic dyes, though there are some that don't require caustic ingridients, it still requires some practice before hand. Spinning is terrific fun, but involves a spinning wheel if you are going to do it authentically, which is going to run you at least a couple hundred dollars. Carding wool, however, only involves wool cards, which you can get from an antique store or spinning supply store for $40-50. If she can connect up with a spinner, they would likely be overjoyed to find someone interested in carding some wool for them to spin, might have the cards to lend and might even provide the wool.

Sewing is fun, but if her sewing at home is going slowly, sewing outside, with people asking questions, the breeze ruffling the material to be sewn, losing pins, etc. could be a bit of a challenge. Or it might be a lot of fun. I'm not very expert in sewing, but I made my slat bonnet entirely at my first two events, and got a lot of comments about hand sewing in the process.

Spectators are often entranced with an explanation of the clothing and how it works and why you wear it. If I"m at a mainstream event with another woman who is dressed in a more "wealthy" or "middle class" impression, we can demonstrate the differences in our dress for the spectators literally from morning to night. Corded petti vs. cage crinoline vs. covered hoop, fashion bonnet vs slat bonnet, apron vs. no apron, silk vs. cotton vs. wool for dresses, accessories, etc. Pinning up your skirts vs. having servants so you don't have to do the dirty things or answer the door, etc.

Once I put together a little collction of Southern food vs. Northern food, another time had salt cod there, because that was what the Yankee army was likely to give starving Southerners who were forced by hunger to take the oath. Lots of people in the North have never seen dried hominy. Lots of Southerners have never seen salt cod in a dried slab. Everyone likes to talk about food.

From your description of the impression she wants to make, it sounds less like she wants to be a "refugee" and more she wants to portray a working class woman -- wife of a farmer, laborer, etc. That's my impression, by and large, mostly because most of my family were then and remain still people who work with their hands. The GI bill transformed the education level in our family in my parent's generation. And I'm very bad at sitting still for any length of time -- I like to be up and doing.

As Phil mentioned above, at an immersion events you've got your hands full keeping body and soul together for a weekend -- building somewhere to sleep, wandering around carrying all your posessions with you at all times, including your food and bedding, hiding from the army, negotiating with the army if you can't get away from them, cooking meals, trying to figure out what you're going to do next, or planning for what might happen next.

At mainstream events, you're stationary (you often are sleeping in a tent and will be sleeping in the same location each night), you're often camping in "civilian camp" and the main activities are shopping, eating and "going to see the afternoon battle." You can sometimes negotiate with the civilian coordinator ahead of time to have a separate area for demonstrations, a little distance from civilian camp. Other times you can't, and if you want to do a demonstration or show things to spectators, you spread them out in front of your tent and wait for them to find you.

It's very helpful to have at least a few people who are on the same "page of the book" as you are regarding authenticity and what you want to get out of the event together.

Hope that was helpful,
Karin Timour
"The Stories Behind the Socks" Conference on Women and the Civil War, Richmond, Virginia, June 2004
Period Knitting -- Socks, Camp Hats, Balaclavas
Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society
Email: Ktimour@aol.com

[Jake Hill]

Ms. Timour
Thank You for the great advice. We mostly attend the mainsteam events so she can paticipate, but I did not know that she could be a refugee at Picketts Mill. That is exactly what she wants to portray now that we have finally found the right course we can really start working on her impression. And we are located in South Alabama and there aren't many authentic events in this area, heck there are hardly any events down here. But we mostly travel to Ga. and Tenn. And I have one more question to anyone how common was it for refugees to pick up discarded military equipment when the refugees were behind the army (i.e. haversacks, canteens, and knapsacks and so on)? We are in a great debate over this and neither of us can find any solid evidence. If this is a great mistake in the equipment question then I humbly apologize.
Thank You