refugee images

[PogueMahone]

Re: refugee images

I'm going to steer this in a different direction ...

Talking about carts and looking at all the images of refugees, I see oxen, mules and horses for pulling carts and wagons.

Is there any documentation out there for the use of other types of livestock? Specifically goats and dogs.

[Emma Bilgewater]

Re: refugee images

Judith and Linda,

Count me in for an immersion event out here in the west! I'm game for anything - but will admit, the handcart thing makes me shudder!

Janet Wragge

[LindaTrent]

Re: refugee images

I had the wrong assumption that you meant your property in Indiana. We've been to Frankfort, but not for some time.

No, we actually live in Ohio.

I sure wish you had a case of gold fever, although I'm not sure what to expect this time since so many faces and buildings have changed, yet it would be great if you were here!

I posted on the West Coast Campaigner's forum back in October of '07 what I look for in an event (post 29) and so far no one's told me of anything coming up that matches that criteria. But if you know of anything, please let me know. My ggg grandfather was a 49er and I'd be thrilled to come out to California to see what his life might have been like.

I've also been trying to see if there would be enough interest for a Mormon handcart event, now we're getting this back on track with refugees. :) Maybe in Wyoming, Idaho, or Utah.

I had some frequent flyer points from flying out to visit my mother in Phoenix, and we also got a credit card that increased those miles just be using it once. Now Hank and I have enough points to fly anywhere in the continental US. So if you know of anything give me a holler.

Linda.

[Drygoods]

Re: refugee images

Mrs. Trent,
I had the wrong assumption that you meant your property in Indiana. We've been to Frankfort, but not for some time. I sure wish you had a case of gold fever, although I'm not sure what to expect this time since so many faces and buildings have changed, yet it would be great if you were here!

[LindaTrent]

Re: refugee images

Judith replied while I was typing. :) Anyway, it looks like right now there isn't going to be an event.

Linda.

[LindaTrent]

Re: refugee images

When?

Where?

What is the scenario?

Hi Joe,

I dunno yet. Judith just said that she'd love to travel back east, but can't because of all the stuff she has to bring. I'm seriously offering to set up an event if, and only if, she'd like to attend an eastern event. It would probably be the Sullivan House in Frankfort, KY if I can get it again. Everything else is up in the air right now, but I'd need a commitment from Judith first.

Linda

[Drygoods]

Re: refugee images

Mrs. Trent, Oh be careful what you wish for, we may just arrive on your stoop! I'd love to attend an event of yours, and sent you a note about it. This year I'm doing rather less with my work and more with interpretation which makes me happy, although a bit poorer for it. Give me a chance, I'll show.:D

[PogueMahone]

Re: refugee images

Ron,

If the family has small children, the mammy was there for them. In my reading for Bummers, I've come across accounts of soldiers encountering mammys and Aunties that were staying with the family, despite the assurances of the soldiers that they were free.

Also of note, in one of the images you see an ox loaded with bundles. I suspect the average small farmer saw the ox as one of his most valuable possessions and brought it along to save it from plunder.

Why not bring out your other valuable assets, including slaves?

Just because you are a Unionist doesn't mean you aren't a slave owner, too.

[ephraim_zook]

Further example of artistic license?

It seems odd to me that in Joe's original illustration, and in three of the four images Hank presented there appears to be an obligatory "mammy", regardless of whether the refugees portrayed were union or not. And in Hank's fourth picture there is a colored man travelling with the group.

Is it implicit in the pictures then that the refugees, regardless of their refugee status or socio-economic group didn't plan on doing any hard work themselves? Or did the artist(s) give free rein to their imaginations? It almost looks like the same mammy in several pictures.

Ron Myzie

[PogueMahone]

Re: refugee images

Oops, I think I said just about everything except that Judith, if you're interested I will put on an event, and you won't have to bring a thing except yourself and your clothes, and whatever accessories you'll need. It'll probably be organized as an inn, so no need to bring a thing. Beds, lighting, plates, dishes, chamber pot, etc. will be provided. There will be a nominal fee to donate to preservation of the building and food, but otherwise it should just cost you to get east.

Linda.

When?

Where?

What is the scenario?

[LindaTrent]

Re: refugee images

Because I'm retired from organizing events, I will not organize anything that requires a boat-load of pre-event work for me, and I won't guarantee more than three reenactors, though others could be invited *if* you're interested. :D This is also dependant of me being able to get the house I'd want, and will have to be worked around other events we're currently committed to. It would also have the same rules and guidelines and standards as all my other events.

Oops, I think I said just about everything except that Judith, if you're interested I will put on an event, and you won't have to bring a thing except yourself and your clothes, and whatever accessories you'll need. It'll probably be organized as an inn, so no need to bring a thing. Beds, lighting, plates, dishes, chamber pot, etc. will be provided. There will be a nominal fee to donate to preservation of the building and food, but otherwise it should just cost you to get east.

Linda.

[LindaTrent]

Re: refugee images

Here in CA, I only know two places off hand that I participate that allow us to use the period buildings, however we are not allowed to use the antique furniture, and so I truck in my own things.

Are there any reenactors out there who own land who wouldn't mind having an event and a log house built on it? That's what I found when I did Struggle for Statehood. In return for the use of the land we had a pre-event work weekend where several participants and their families came and helped erect a log house. We didn't get the sides chinked and daubed, and the roof still required to be shingled, if I recall correctly, but those were things that were able to be done during the event, and the landowner gets a free storage building.

I'd love to travel back East, but 600 miles is the limit on my household goods, any farther and I'm too exhausted when I get there being too tired to set walls up.

Because I'm retired from organizing events, I will not organize anything that requires a boat-load of pre-event work for me, and I won't guarantee more than three reenactors, though others could be invited *if* you're interested. :D This is also dependant of me being able to get the house I'd want, and will have to be worked around other events we're currently committed to. It would also have the same rules and guidelines and standards as all my other events.

What do you say?

Linda.

[Chip]

Re: refugee images

The number of men involved would have depended upon the time, place and circumstances at hand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dakota_War_of_1862-stereo-right.jpg

This photo shows a cross section of men in Minnesota before the draft started to pull a higher percentage of the men into the ranks. This photo speaks volumes about having to leave fairly quickly.

Chip Uhlir
SCAR

[Drygoods]

Re: refugee images

Mr. Trent,

Well, that is the ideal, having a place that let's us stay in a period setting and then using your own things outside &c.. Here in CA, I only know two places off hand that I participate that allow us to use the period buildings, however we are not allowed to use the antique furniture, and so I truck in my own things. Those places are a historic fort, and two different parks. Use of the structure and our own beds, funiture, dishware &c., provides less stress, and it much like a real period living. If me or my friends break dishes, I have no guilt or worry, but few others would go to extremes like this.

[Hank Trent]

Re: refugee images

The hard part is the finances, and where to store your prefabricated building during the rest of the year when not in use.

Just to clarify, I wasn't primarily talking about prefabricated buildings. Personally, I don't think that's necessarily the best answer overall, simply due to the expensive it puts on participants and the suspension of disbelief it still requires. Though admittedly I don't think I've been to an event with any sort of portable buildings that were supposed to be anything other than what they were, i.e. tents with wooden fronts or floors in a semi-camping situation.

When it comes to portraying actual permanent houses, what seems to happen more often at events I've been to, is

--constructing permanent but cheap buildings on site, such as half-finished log cabins (Struggle for Statehood, Bummers) or

--furnishing shells of buildings already on site to make them appear lived-in (TAG, the Pre-Trial event, etc. etc.) or

--using museum buildings on site and working around restrictions such as antique furniture that can't be used (Westville, Kentucky Trial, events at historic forts, etc. etc.), or

--temporarily using historic buildings that are currently occupied by or designed for modern residents and working around the modern usage (Burkittsville, Shaker Village, etc.)

So what of the aged reenactor? Not every civilian slept on the ground when on the road, and older folks cannot do this, so what will be done to satisfy accurately that form of impression?

See all the above. In general, those structures are supplied by the event, so the reenactor neither has to spend thousands for a portable house, nor do without.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net