Event Concept

[plankmaker]

I have a concept for an event that could possibly have it all. It would be the bee's knees, the event of the century, and, a real stem winder. It would allow all reenacting types, including, but not limited to:

1. The hand ringers who seem to be worried about everything and never seem to fail to uncover a conspiracy around every corner.

2. The bizarre uniform and gear owners. Since this is early war Richmond, with historical documentation on the various militia uniforms abounding in the City at the time, ANYTHING GOES! Have at it boys.

3. This is a must attend event for anyone who really enjoys getting up on a soap box and give good bluster. There are numerous examples of politocos during the original event getting up and laying it on thick only to disappear when the real activities commenced.

4. This was of all things a social event, so picnic baskets and ball gowns on the hills overlooking are encouraged.

5. This was basically a mob action, so drunkedness and violence will not only be acceptable it will be encouraged.

The event need not be held on original ground. All that needs to be had is a body of water, a dock and a large hill. Logistics are being worked out with the officials at Winged Deer Park on Boone Lake. The event will be called, "Pawnee Sunday at Boone Lake." Bounties will be paid for Schooners and Stern Wheelers.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

From the Richmond Dispatch, 4/22/1861, p. 1
The Excitement Yesterday. - The annals of Richmond present no parallel to the excitement that prevailed yesterday, and no sterner evidence could be furnished of the realities of warfare, except actual bloodshed, than the scenes of the Sabbath through which we have just passed. Early in the morning, armed men were hurrying to and fro, companies assembling at their various rendezvous, and the rolling drums harshly discorded with the chimes of the church bells. Men were drilling in regiments, companies and squads; and many a female face was suffused with tears, while witnessing the preparations for the departure of loved and cherished members of the domestic circle.

After most of the companies had been dismissed at noonday, the tolling of the Capitol bell announced that they were again wanted for immediate duty. A report spread over the city that a steamer, with Federal troops, was coming up the river, to seize the ammunition brought here on the evening previous, from Norfolk. In a very short time, troops were in motion, and cannon were conveyed to the wharves, with the intention, probably, of giving the mercenaries a warm reception. -- Citizens armed themselves with rifles, pistols, shot-guns, and other weapons, and hurried to the same point; but we saw no alarm on any countenance - nothing but a determination to fight, and a hope that the report would turn out to be true. The throng at Rockets swelled to thousands, while on the neighboring hills were assembled a vast multitude of ladies and children, attracted by the exciting rumors, though scarcely believing that anything like an enemy was approaching our city. The Governor rode down and gave such orders as were necessary, and steamers were held in readiness for any service required. Cavalry companies scoured the country below; the Howitzer corps, Company F, and A company from Manchester marched down on the opposite side of the river. The Young Guard and the Virginia Life Guard were drawn up on the wharf. Several militia companies were also in the neighborhood.

That there was good reason to apprehend something of a sanguinary character, we have no doubt. The ammunition barge was towed up in to the Dock, and the powder will be kept in a place of safety until needed. In times like these we must be prepared for any emergency, and every rumor deserves careful and considerate attention.












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[brown30741]

Too bad it's Eastern. Not quite everything, but you're getting closer.

[indguard]

"Too bad it's eastern..."

Ha, ha. And now the nitpicking starts!

Never a win, NEVER!

LOL

[plankmaker]

We will try to overcome the nay sayers, by providing period correct food, prepared in a period correct manner. After preliminary talks with the VIMS folks, we will have to find a reasonable facsimile for the terrapin steaks however.

Being an event planner and event organizer is not for the weak or the weary. But havin a crack staff that includes, Riley the Dog, and several other important "minds" in the hobby. All obstacles shall be overcome. We will not let the scary mountains or big muddy rivers impede our goal of putting on an event that will be inclusive to all. Late registrations and walk-ons will be welcomed. However, they will be required to be the persons found guilty in City Court.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

[sbl]

"In times like these we must be prepared for any emergency, and every rumor deserves careful and considerate attention."


Duct Tape hadn't been invented yet.

[plankmaker]

While duct tape hadn't been invented yet, bombast was well known. The following article will be required reading for anyone wishing to portray a politico who is to address the crowd:

http://library8.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Famwh%2Famwh0016%2F&tif=00546.TIF&cite=http%3A%2F%2Fcdl.library.cornell.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmoa%2Fmoa-cgi%3Fnotisid%3DABL5306-0016-106

Anyone suspected of being a spy or conspirator will be confined to the recreated Castle Thunder to be constructed around the jungle gym. Riley the Dog has accepted the challenge of performing the part of Hercules the Black Dog of Castle Thunder fame.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

[plankmaker]

Riley is taking his part in the event very seriously and is researching his impression well.

Captain Gibbs, commandant of Castle Thunder, had generally at his heels "the monstrous savage Russian bloodhound" as he was very unjustly stigmatized by the Federal soldiers who took him prisoner at the evacuation and who turned some profitable pennies by exhibiting him in New York and New England as a specimen of the cruel devices of Southern officials to worry and torture prisoners.

There was absolutely nothing formidable about the dog but his size, which was immense. He was one of the best-natured hounds whose head I ever patted, and one of the most cowardly. If a fise or a black-and-tan terrier barked at him as he stood majestic in the office-door, he would tuck his tail between his legs and skulk for a safer thrown him, and he was quite a playfellow with the prisoners when permitted to stalk among them.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

[sbl]

THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE AT MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, ROBBING OUR SPECIAL ARTIST OF HIS SKETCHES

HARPER'S WEEKLY. JUNE 22, 1861.
OUR ARTIST OVERHAULED AT MEMPHIS.

OUR artist, Mr. DAVIS, whose name has been brought prominently before the public by Wm. H. RUSSELL, LL.D., of the London Times, met with an unpleasant adventure on his return from New Orleans. On his arrival at Memphis, Tennessee, he was waited upon by the Vigilance Committee, who inquired, after the fashion of those bodies, who he was, where he came from, what he was doing, where he was going, and whether he didn't need any hanging. Having obtained answers to these various queries, the Committee then proceeded to inspect

Mr. Davis's trunk, which they overhauled with commendable thoroughness. Finding at the bottom of the trunk a number of sketches made for us, they examined them minutely, and each member, by way of remembering Mr. Davis, pocketed two or three of the most striking. As the only revenge Mr. Davis could take on these polite highway robbers, he sketched them in the, act of despoiling him, and we reproduce the picture on page 394.

Click for the image...

http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1861/june/vigilantes.jpg

[Tiger_rifles]

Plankmaker, What about a "TROLL" impression? It seems I am more than able to pull this off, I even have a long beard made from some bison hide! Does this hill has a cave? Please write into the scenerio that if you wish to keep the trouble making troll away, keep a candle burning, or all kinds of damage could take place! I will start working on a "Hump" right away!

[plankmaker]

Not sure about a troll impression, although there is a bridge right close. Are you a modest man? Would you have a problem running through the throngs of people in your under garments screaming insensibly and then plunge into the lake and then have your body shipped to Alabama? If this sounds like something you'd like to try, do I have an impression for you:

From the Richmond Dispatch, 10/8/1861, p. 2, c. 4
Suicide. – An Alabama soldier, named Geo. Sheridan, who had been under medical treatment in one of the hospitals on 4th street, south of Main, yesterday, while laboring under mental aberration, escaped from his attendants, and dressed only in his under clothes, made his way to the canal, at the Armory Bridge, jumped in, striking his head against a stone wall as he descended, and drowned himself. He was pursued from the hospital, and when on the bridge was stopped by some one in front of him. But the pursuer could not overtake him, and when his way was impeded, he at once leaped over the balustrade, and succeeded in killing himself. The body will be sent to Alabama for interment.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

P.S. Madness is terribly under represented in the hobby.

[mtodriscoll]

This quote got my attention:

"...so drunkedness and violence will not only be acceptable it will be encouraged."

With advertising like that, you'll be sure to garner all manner of rabble, making others think twice about attending.

[sbl]

More under clothes! The Wild West and Dickens Faire people have us beat

http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/127/l_1529b8c85bda27dcfa58e6b22362b810.jpg

[Tiger_rifles]

Not sure about a troll impression, although there is a bridge right close. Are you a modest man? Would you have a problem running through the throngs of people in your under garments screaming insensibly and then plunge into the lake and then have your body shipped to Alabama? If this sounds like something you'd like to try, do I have an impression for you:

From the Richmond Dispatch, 10/8/1861, p. 2, c. 4
Suicide. – An Alabama soldier, named Geo. Sheridan, who had been under medical treatment in one of the hospitals on 4th street, south of Main, yesterday, while laboring under mental aberration, escaped from his attendants, and dressed only in his under clothes, made his way to the canal, at the Armory Bridge, jumped in, striking his head against a stone wall as he descended, and drowned himself. He was pursued from the hospital, and when on the bridge was stopped by some one in front of him. But the pursuer could not overtake him, and when his way was impeded, he at once leaped over the balustrade, and succeeded in killing himself. The body will be sent to Alabama for interment.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

P.S. Madness is terribly under represented in the hobby.


Let me check my life insurance.....I'm not sure I am covered for this! Also, at my advanced age, me just in my "Under clothes" is not a pretty site.
I am also not a very strong swimmer, so if the worst should happen it may be best just to leave me in the James. But if we are going for 100% historical correctness, I do have some friends in Mobile that could accept the body.

Thank you Sir for thinking of me for such an important role in your Event. Can you tell me will cotton, lien, silk, flannel, or wool under clothes be required?

Please let us know when registration opens.

[plankmaker]

Scott,

That's the spirit, ou are starting to get into the swing of this event. there are plenty of documented impressions of this type. However, chosing to do such an impression may get you different treatment and reactions at future events.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

From the Richmond Dispatch, 10/25/1861, p. 2, c. 3
Extraordinary Freak. – Considerable excitement was occasioned on 12th street, below Main, yesterday afternoon, by the appearance of a man dressed in woman’s clothing. He soon made himself scarce, and the police did not succeed in tracing him to his hiding place.
From the Richmond Dispatch, 5/13/1862
An Example Made. - It has been well known for some time past that cyprians, resident and accumulated since the removal of the seat of Government to this place, as well as loose males of the most abandoned character from other parts of the Confederacy, have been disporting themselves extensively on the sidewalks and in hacks, open carriages, &c, in the streets of Richmond, to the amazement of sober-sided citizens compelled to smell the odors which they exude, and witness the imprudence and familiar vulgarity of many of the shame faced of the prostitutes of both sexes. Smirks and smiles, winks, and, when occasion served, remarks not of a choice kind, in a loud voice, denoted the character of the female occupants of open carriages, gotten up in humble imitation of the powers that be. The mayor, in answer to many complaints, having determined to enforce the vagrant law, has caused one lewd character - a female - to be taken up for obtruding herself in an obnoxious attitude before decent people. It is to be hoped that she will not be the only example.

[plankmaker]

Mr. Bennett,

Being that the fabric of the undergarments in question was not specifically mentioned, I would go with silk since it is an early war event. Please remember that things were much more modest back then and that the color should not be overstated. Bright red or pink are definitely out and bunny or teddy bear prints would just be wrong.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

[Tiger_rifles]

Mr. Bennett,

Being that the fabric of the undergarments in question was not specifically mentioned, I would go with silk since it is an early war event. Please remember that things were much more modest back then and that the color should not be overstated. Bright red or pink are definitely out and bunny or teddy bear prints would just be wrong.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN


I just saw some cotton materal with Confederate Flags and crossed rifles, will that work?

[plankmaker]

As long as you do not use, under any circumstances, use the over represented CSA bikini pattern.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

[sbl]

Dang, I can't find the photo of the Russian cowgirl reenactors.

I think the San Franciscans know how to historically cut loose.


http://dad.cochems.com/dickens08/DSC_8791.jpg

[plankmaker]

Scott,

I'm thinking that garb such as that would be perfectly fitting for the following scenerio:

From the Richmond Dispatch, 5/6/1862
Complained Of. – A hospital under the auspices of the Young Men’s Christian Association has, for some time past, been established on 10th street, next to Crawford’s old saloon. It seems that a resort for lewd females has been established opposite thereto, in rear of Duval’s drug store, and the managers of the hospital have complained to the Provost Martial that the attention of their patients is very much diverted from their legitimate business of sickness by the antics cut up by the lascivious residents of the domicile alluded to. They disport themselves at the windows and doors in a half nude state, and in various other ways contribute to disgust the sober sided managers of the hospital. Sometimes the patient soldiers, throwing off the restraints which would seem to be imposed by the term in question, and exude therefrom afterward in a condition that forbids the supposition that their beverage was water only. The authorities of the hospital have asked the Provost Marshal to abate the nuisances, and is quite likely that he will.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

[sbl]

Perhaps CW/WBTS reenactors are too tight-@rsed for this scenario? ;)

[Spinster]

From the Richmond Dispatch, 10/25/1861, p. 2, c. 3
Extraordinary Freak. – Considerable excitement was occasioned on 12th street, below Main, yesterday afternoon, by the appearance of a man dressed in woman’s clothing. He soon made himself scarce, and the police did not succeed in tracing him to his hiding place.
.

Ahem. Modesty precludes me from touting such things in the normal course of business, but I've become somewhat adept at making period correct ManDresses to measure.

A good bit of preplanning is required on the wearer's part, as I tend to generate several weeks of communications on there being possible mistakes in the measurements, before circling the cutting table like a crazed ferret until I get up the courage to put scissors to cloth. FYI Slat Bonnets are your friend.

[plankmaker]

But this event will also allow for suspense and intrigue. There was a lot of that going on in Richmond during the early war. Or, you can just start vile false rumors and run with it. They did that too. You know, them civvies could be downright sneaky.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

From the Phoebe Pember and Phillips-Myers Collections, UNC. Reprinted and annotated in A Southern Woman’s Story (1959), Bell I. Wiley, ed.
Marietta, 29 November, 1862

I have been waiting to write you, dear sister E.[1], till I could tell you where to direct to me, and only received a letter today giving me information that will direct my future movements. I leave here next Wednesday or Thursday to take charge of one of the Hospitals at Richmond.

You know how unpleasantly I have been situated at Papa's house, and owing to his indifference, I see no chance of better*ing my position while there, -one child takes pattern after the other, and any little difference or conflict of opinions results in a desire that they may never have to live with me, or be with me, or something of the kind. I hope that Mrs. Anzi will have told Brother[2] some of the occurrences that took place here this summer. I was loath to go away under the false accusa*tions made against me, for I felt the force of the old proverb, “Give a dog a bad name.” Mrs. Nott and Mrs. Anzi heard all that went on with their own ears and saw with their own eyes and so did all the house here, -they were as kind and sympa*thizing as if they were my own family. I can never forget Mrs. Anzi's affectionate kindness.

You may imagine how frightened and nervous I feel con*cerning the step I am about to take and how important in its small way it will be to me, for I have too much common sense to underrate what I am giving up. I care more for the worldly interests [?] I give up, than the labors I take upon myself, but I have had such kind friends that it makes me brave, and I look forward with pleasure to any life that will exempt me from daily jealousies and rudeness. I shall speak to Papa today and really believe that the step I take will be a relief to him.

I have not thanked you for my gloves; they were a great ac*quisition and are the only pair of any kind that I have had for ten months. How could you come out of New Orleans without some black cloathes [sic.] for me? I would pay any price for any of the necessary things for mourning. Do if you have any*thing in the way of shoes, boots or gloves, or anything at all not wanted let me buy it, it will be the greatest favor that can be done me, nothing could come amiss. You may think how badly off I am when I am having a petticoat quilted of an old gingham dress, and Mrs. Gen. Lovell[3] and Nancy are sitting in my room finishing off my dresses made of common home spun for which I gave one dollar a yard, to wear in the place of flannel.

I hope that you will write to me and cheer me up, for I have not the most enlivening life before me, and if I have time to answer letters they will be my chiefest pleasure. I hear a great deal of Richmond gossip-and that it is a very scandalizing place for gay and fashionable women. Mrs. Joe Johnson[4] is quite a leader of tea, and Mrs. McLane, Gen. Sumner's daugh*ter, is the chere ami of Mrs. Jeff. Davis. Mrs. McL. was sus*pected of being a spy and sent on to Richmond under surveil*lance, but very private, as her husband stands high in the army, and when around there Mrs. Greenhow was paid to watch her.[5] They make a very amusing story of it, however, for the report says that Lincoln pays Mrs. McLane for her in*formation and Jeff. Davis pays Mrs. Greenhow for watching her, and Mrs. G. is also paid by the Federals for not seeing too much and lastly that the two ladies are in collusion and divide the spoils.

I have not told you of my pecuniary affairs. I am to have board and lodging in the Hospital and at a boarding house ad*jacent and forty dollars a month, which will clothe me. I have entire charge of my department, seeing that everything is cleanly, orderly and all prescriptions of physicians given in proper time, food properly prepared and so on. I had the choice of the large Hospital at Cotoosa Springs, formerly the Hotel under Dr. Foster, the Chimborazo Hospital at Rich*mond, or one at Atlanta, and chose the Richmond one, be*cause it was divided among half a dozen ladies who would be companionable perhaps. Cotoosa is very bleak and lonely & I have no warm clothing, besides Dr. Foster is a friend, very pleasant, handsome and intelligent, and as we would be com*paratively alone and eat together, that would not do. Tell Fanny[6] that she has never remembered me in any of her let*ters, give her my love, also to your husband. I am sorry that I did not see Brother while he was here, except for a moment in Mrs. Anzi's room. I don't wonder that you feel attached to people so kind as those you are among. I am writing in great haste. I have just finished a letter to Mrs. Randolph accepting the place of matron and want to get both of them in the mail.

Anything in the way of clothing that you do not need please let me have. I will thankfully pay double, and feel no delicacy I have plenty of money, but no effects. If you prefer silver I will exchange with you. I was going to beg for my Balmoral back again, but John told me it was defunct. Should the fate of war take me to Washington, I shall join my fate to Elsie's. Please answer my letter here; I may not go as soon as I think. My duties commence the 1 December. Anyway I shall leave word to have my letters forwarded to Richmond.

With a great deal of love and hopes that we may meet again & that you will believe that nothing but the strongest pressure could force me out into the world in such a painful and labori*ous life, believe me affectionately yours,

Phebe


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[1] Eugenia (Mrs. Phillip) Phillips.

[2] Samuel Yates Levy

[3] Probably Mrs. Mansfield Lovell, whose husband was in command at New Orleans before the Federals occupied that city.

[4] Mrs. Joseph E. Johnston, nee Lydia McLane of Maryland.

[5] Mrs. Rose O’Neal Greenhow was a famous spy for the Confederacy. Mrs. McLane, daughter of General E. V. Sumner, was a favorite in Richmond war-time society. Mary Boykin Chesnut, in one of several references to her in A Diary from Dixie states (June 27, 1861): “Mrs. McLane is here. Mrs. Davis always has clever women around her.”

[6] Phoebe's niece, daughter of Mrs. Phillip Phillips

[sunnylady408]

Perhaps CW/WBTS reenactors are too tight-@rsed for this scenario? ;)

Sir I must disagree. I am a CW reenactor but due to the types of ladies clothing you are talking about at my age it would not be a pretty site to see me in such clothing. Let us save that for a younger lady, if I may so suggest. Now if you gentlemen are in need of a cook for this senario please let me know and I will gladly oblige you with some home cooking.

[plankmaker]

They was always looking for cooks at the various hotels and hospitals. The pay wasn't bad for the time either, but you do have to remember you will be paid in shin plasters.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

From the Richmond Dispatch, 11/2/1861, p. 2, c. 6
WANTED -
COOKS,
At the Spotswood Hotel.
Two COOKS, one of which must be capable of taking charge of the kitchen. To suitable parties, a liberal salary will be paid.
Apply at once to
T. W. HOENIGER.
no 2 – 2t

From William A. Carrington CSR (M331): Inspection report, dated 12/8/62, of South Carolina Hospital, with drawing.
213 Main Street, Richmond Dec 8th, 1862
Surgeon E. S. Gaillard
Medical Director,
Sir:
I have the honour to report that I on November 29th inspected the State Hospital called the South Carolina Hospital situated in Manchester on Main Street near Mayo's Bridge. It was first occupied Sept 20th, 1861 and rented for 15 months at $75 per month. The owner is the present Steward, S. F. Pilkinton. The lease expires consequently on Dec. 20th 1862. The building consists of a large factory fronting Main Street, 4 stories high, back of this some 30 feet a 2nd 2 stories high, each connected by a flat platform on the level with the 2nd floor. There is also a small shed on the right side of the house. The first floor of this house consisting of two rooms is for kitchen and laundry, the 2nd for dining room and room for quarters of two assist Surgeons who reside in the house. There is a small bake house with oven attached in the yard, which cost last summer $125, the price now of six barrels of flour. It is estimated that the bakers make 33 1/3 per cent in their general barter of lb for lb and at this rate the oven soon pays for itself, and it saves the Government what it wants in fact rendering it not necessary to provide 1/3 as much flour for the inmates of the Hospital as before. The oven serves also for the baking of meats, and the ordinary allowance of cooks suffices, one acting as Baker. This economical device should be more common than it is. All should not have them and I will recommend them in such hospitals as I think advisable, hereafter.

Of the Main Hospital building a large portion is open and unoccupied, except for a reception room and passage way. There is partitioned off an office, storeroom and ward room, and not on the same level but a few steps elevated and in the extreme corner is the privy and urinal which is that used in the factory previous to occupance, and though small in excellent condition.
The 2nd floor has the first ward and Apothecary shop. The 3rd floor has the 2nd ward and a bath room, and the 4th floor has the 3rd ward, a linen and matrons room. The windows are large and sufficient and the pitch of the wards high.

The Medical Staff consists of:
Middleton Michael Surgeon in charge
Parker Assist Surgeon
Bissell, A., Assist Surgeon
Jenkins, Assist Surgeon

There is also a Dr. Earle acting partly a[s] Assist Surgeon, but he has no contract.

The morning report has uniformly reported 1 Steward, 20 nurses, 3 cooks and 1 Laundress, which allowing 1 Wardmaster as nurse, one Clerk and one Apothecary each as same would be the allowance for 170 patients, the capacity of this Hospital being 167. The same number of Attendants have been reported since I was Inspector of Hospitals, certainly were on Oct 30th and 31st. On inspecting the muster and pay roll which was settled for Capt. Hardy Q.M. and a copy of which has been forwarded to the Adjutant Genls Office. I find that it was made out for from Sept. 1st to Oct. 31st inclusive and certified to on honour and signed by the Surgeon in charge as exhibiting the true state of the Hospitals department for the period therein specified 59 nurses (one as wardmaster), 3 cooks, and 1 Steward were mustered and paid for the full 2 months to each and every one. The Hospital Steward is appointed by the Sec of War and receives on the Muster and pay roll $21 per month and $54 additional from the Hospital fund.

The wards are not numbered or marked, the beds each are designated by a full card, which in addition to the card adopted by the Medical Director, his birthplace, residence, and age - omits death (time of) of the patient.
The Surgeon in charge visits and supervises the wards and other parts of the Hospital daily, divides off the duties among the Assist Surgeons, requires one to be constantly on duty, requires due discharge of the duties of the Steward and other attendants and has the Hospital records preserved in good order.

The effects of deceased persons are generally handed over to their friends, but some are on hand which should be turned over to the receiver. It is evident that the wards are kept cleanly and orderly, a long list of rules are posted and separate rules for the wardmaster, patients, Apothecary and Surgeons. There is an evidence of comfort in all the Stewards department, but a lack of that exactness and military neatness necessary in a military Hospital. The Dispensary is in good order.

I have to report a direct disobedience of Par 57 Medl Regns, Surgeon Michel told me that he never had sent to the Surgeon General any monthly statement of the Hospital fund account and in this regard I consider the paying $54 extra to the Steward without the knowledge or consent of the Surgeon Genl as an error against the same law. Officers have been admitted and charged $5 per week for the benefit of the Hosl fund; they have at the same time been included in the aggregate of the patients and attendants drawing rations at the commissary, this is an abuse which will be stopped by the order that Officers shall no longer be admitted, and that those inmates be transferred to the pay Hosls. Large donations have been made to the Hospital fund, which I was informed was near $3000 and a accumulation of 9 bushels of salt and 200 lbs of coffee exists.

There is a corporal and 4 guard supplied by Capt. Peters. There are 4 female nurses and one white female superintending the laundry, They will be matrons no doubt under the operation of genl Order No. 95. Chaplain Hix has been appointed by the Sec of War and regularly assigned to this Hospital for duty. He should be directed to embrace Howard's Grove in his ministration as the other So. Ca. Hosl.

There is a dead house as the other Hospitals in Richmond. The last monthly report for November shows an aggregate treated of 244, Returned to duty 1, Furloughed 69, Discharged 11, Transferred to other Hospitals 0, Died 3, Remaining 143.

The certified pay roll for Sept and Oct shows 3 enlisted men, only from the fact that 3 are entered for $50 bounty unpaid, 25 nurses receive $15/mo, 2 Cooks $18/mo, 1 Cook $15, 1 Steward $21, 16 nurses receive $15 per month.
There is an ambulance and horses attached to this Hospital, they are, I am informed, the private property of the Hosl Steward. In private quarters during the month of November, 24 are reported and of these one change occurs; on the 2nd and every succeeding day 23 are reported.
Very Respectfully,
Your Obedient Servant,
Wm. A. Carrington
Surgeon & Inspector of Hospls

[sbl]

Sir I must disagree. I am a CW reenactor but due to the types of ladies clothing you are talking about at my age it would not be a pretty site to see me in such clothing. Let us save that for a younger lady, if I may so suggest...........

Dear Madam,

Of course the impression is subject to the good sense and good taste to those volunteering to participate. ;) ('WINK")

[plankmaker]

Scott,

I also think a minstrel show should be incorporated into the event. For this act I have some specific individuals in mind for the front and posterior of the elephant.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

A JOLLY MINSTREL TROUPE.

“The Libby Prison Minstrels” were deservedly a popular band, whose weekly performances were largely attended and warmly applauded. The troupe was organized under and governed by strictly professional rules. Being directed by a zealous and competent stage manager, whose word was law, no mere superiority of military rank was permitted to secure professional preferment in the troupe. Nothing, indeed, but the positive possession and display of musical or dramatic acquirements could command prominence, and as a natural though droll consequence it was common to see a second lieutenant carrying off the honors of the play as the “leading man” and the colonel of his regiment carrying off the chairs as a “supe.” Indeed, I knew a gallant major and most estimable gentleman who in the first season of his engagement did not deem it beneath his dignity night after night to personate the hind leg of a stage elephant. This elephant by the way deserves especial mention not only because of the peculiar difficulties which attended his construction, but because both intellectually and physically he differed in a marked manner from all elephants we had previously seen. The animal was composed of four United States officers, which certainly gave him unusual rank. One leg was the major before mentioned, the second a naval officer, the third a captain of cavalry and the last leg was by a happy thought of the astute manager “taken off” by an army surgeon. A quantity of straw formed the body, tusks and trunk being improvised from the somewhat meagre resources of our “property room.” The whole was covered ingeniously by five army blankets. Indeed, the elephant, considering the difficulties surmounted in his creation, was, as seen by the light of the “footlights,” consisting of four candles set in bottles and empty condensed milk cans, pronounced by the critics of the Libby Prison Chronicle “a masterpiece of stage mechanism.”

The stage was erected at the northern end of the kitchen and was formed by joining the four long tables. The curtain was made by a number of army blankets sewed together and was in two parts, parting in the centre and being suspended by small rings to a horizontal wire over the heads of the orchestra. It could be drawn together and apart at the manager’s signal bell. Ample space was provided for the “dressing” and “green” rooms, and although the scenery was not gorgeous nor extensive it was sufficient for the dramas produced during the season. The audience were expected to bring their own seats, there being “Standing room only,” as conspicuously announced on a placard posted in front by the management.

[sbl]

I love this stuff! It belays our usual picture of these guys from their formal photos.

[plankmaker]

Scott, Scott, Scott,

Shame on you, don't you know that al persons of the CW era were stoic and would never indulge in silliness. You are preaching blasphemy I tell you, pure blasphemy. Nothing like this could ever have occurred during such serious times:

A SIDE-SPLITTING SCENE.

It happened one evening, when it was determined to compliment the efficient management with a rousing benefit, that the two officers whose duty it was to personate the hind legs of the elephant were unable to appear, on account of sudden illness, and their places had to be filled at the last moment by two other officer, who volunteered for the emergence. This was an acknowledged kindness on the part of the volunteers, but their acceptance of the parts without sufficient rehearsal proved exceedingly hair-raising to the management and positively disastrous to the elephant himself, or, to speak more accurately, themselves. At the appointed time, however, the elephant appeared, his entrée being greeted with the usual round of applause. In spite of the lack of preparation the wonderful tricks of the animal were creditably performed and enthusiastically recognized by the crowded house. The anxious manager in the wings was happy as he gave the signal at last for certain strange convulsive actions of the animal revealed the painful fact that a very positive difference of opinion existed between the fore and hind legs as at which side o the stage the exit should be made. In vain the perspiring manager hissed from the wings, “To the right, gentlemen; for God’s sake to the right!” A murmur of excitement ran through the audience, the convulsions of the animal grew more and more violent and excited people in the audience shouted loudly:

“The elephant’s got a fit!”

“The monster is poisoned!”

“Play the hose on him!”

“Down in front!”

“Police!”

A perfect babel ensued, in the midst of which the seams of the blankets at last gave way and the shrieking audience witnessed the extraordinary spectacle of an elephant walking of in four different directions, each leg fiercely gesticulating at the other and exchanging epithets certainly more pungent than parliamentary. The despairing manager had no alternative but to ring down the curtain, but in his excitement he pulled the wrong rope, the sky fell down on the heads of the orchestra and the show ended for that evening. The manager being a strict stage disciplinarian at once called a meeting of the several sections of the elephant, the result of which was that three of the legs resigned and the remaining leg (the major) was reduced to a “supe.”

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

[sbl]

Hahahha!

http://www.old-picture.com/civil-war/pictures/Fight.jpg

[plankmaker]

Nope, nothing off color or poking fun at one another either.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

In striking contrast with the narrow selfishness of the poker players was the great good done by “The Libby Minstrels.” This troupe had been organized by Capt., now Col., Maas, of the Eighty-eighth Pennsylvania, then a resident of Reading, and now, I believe, a clerk in the Philadelphia Custom House. Capt. Maas was a quiet, unobtrusive man, but he had the talents - every prisoner in Libby certainly believed so - of a first-class comedian. He was a wonderful mimic, a master of the negro and Pennsylvania Dutch dialects, and he could tell a funny story and sing a comic song in a way that made the listeners forget for the time their hunger and their rags.

Capt. Chandler of New York - I cannot recall his regiment at this moment, but I hope the brave fellow is living and well - had a violin which he had bought from the Confederates when money was more plentiful and the rules less strict. In his line Capt. Chandler was an artist, and the belief was very general among the prisoners that he was better than Paganini at his best, and that he could have given any living fiddler points and then beaten him with the greatest ease.

Among 1,300 men, some of whom had been actors, and all of whom were eager to further and maintain the enterprise, there was no trouble in organizing a minstrel troupe of a superior class. Beef ribs supplied the bones, and these were the most conspicuous instruments in the orchestra, Chandler’s fiddle and Maas’s extemporized banjo comprising the rest.

The entertainments were given at night in the cook room. The tables were arranged at the Casey Street end, so as to make a stage; blankets were tacked up for scenery, and charred wood from the stoves supplied the place of burnt cork, and gave the actors an appearance of the genuine thing. A majority of the audience stood in a solid mass, the shorter men up front and the taller ones to the rear. As a printed programme was out of the question, “the interlocutor,” who acquitted himself with professional dignity, always announced the changes, and there was a very general belief that to save the tax on his memory he made them up as the performance went on. Songs, sentimental and comic; dances, principally comic; stump speeches, broadly comic; railroad collisions with nothing tragic in them, and jokes - old, but all the better for that - constituted the principal features.

Many of the Confederate officers came in to these entertainments, and their presence was always made the occasion for war jokes and satire against the prison management, which they had the sense to take good-naturedly. As there were no ladies in the audience, many of the stories had what Thackeray calls “a strong garrison flavor,” but it should be said in justice to the performers, to whom we were indebted for so much pleasure, that they were broad without being vulgar and humorous with being obscene. The audience lent a hand by asking the interlocutor questions and joining in the choruses. I recall the following conversation between a tall man at the back of the room and the manager on the stage:

Tall Man - Brother Johnsing, may I ask a question?

Brother Johnsing - Before I replies to dat ar’ proposition I wants some information, Sah.

Tall Man - What is it?

Brother Johnsing - Did you buy a reserved seat, er is you a deadhead?

Tall Man - A deadhead, I’m happy to say.

Brother Johnsing - Fire away, Sah, deadheads am privileged folks in dis building; dey are de on’y ones kin leave it widout bein’ exchanged.

Tall Man- Ain’t you hungry?

Brother Johnsing - Monstis hungry; has yeh found anything to eat?

Tall Man - If Jeff Davis released you on condition that you did not take up arms again during the war, would you accept?

Brother Johnsing (in thundering tones) - No, Sah! I’ll allow Ize on’y a d-d nigger, but I ain’t got’s low as dat yit.

This declaration from the stage was greeted by three cheers, and “three cheers more,” followed by a tiger that might have been heard at the Executive Mansion on the hill.

I recall a snatch of one song entitled “Ham Fat,” that always made me feel hungrier, and which, as Capt. Maas sang it, was always accompanied by long-drawn “Ahs!” and the smacking of a thousand pairs of lips in concert:

“They took me in at Gettysburg upon a July day;
They confiscated all my kit, and trotted me away.
But when I get out of Libby I’ll go to Uncle Sam,
For he’s got the bread a-bakin’ and he frying ob the ham.”

Chorus - by full company and audience.
“Ham fat, ham fat - tinkleam a tan;
Ham fat, ham fat - how are you Sally Ann?
Oh, creep down to the kitchen softly ez you can,
For de meat is brown and sizzlin’ in the ham fat pan.”

These minstrel entertainments were always through before the guards announced 9 o’clock and shouted “Lights out.” At the close the performers came to the front and one or sometimes a quartet, would sing “Rally Round the Flag, Boys,” “We Are Coming, Father Abraham,” “Glory, Hallelujah,” and “The Star-Spangled Banner,” every man throwing his voice into the chorus in a way that stirred the heart, and reminded the Methodist prisoners “powerfully of camp-meeting times,” so one of them expressed it.

[RJSamp]

Nope, nothing off color or poking fun at one another either.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN
I recall a snatch of one song entitled “Ham Fat,” that always made me feel hungrier, and which, as Capt. Maas sang it, was always accompanied by long-drawn “Ahs!” and the smacking of a thousand pairs of lips in concert:

“They took me in at Gettysburg upon a July day;
They confiscated all my kit, and trotted me away.
But when I get out of Libby I’ll go to Uncle Sam,
For he’s got the bread a-bakin’ and he frying ob the ham.”

Chorus - by full company and audience.
“Ham fat, ham fat - tinkleam a tan;
Ham fat, ham fat - how are you Sally Ann?

Oh, creep down to the kitchen softly ez you can,
For de meat is brown and sizzlin’ in the ham fat pan.”



The main body works well with the tune from Goober Peas..as does this portion of the Chorus:
“Ham fat, ham fat - tinkleam a tan;
Ham fat, ham fat - how are you Sally Ann?

Then the rest
"Oh, creep down to the kitchen softly ez you can,
For de meat is brown and sizzlin’ in the ham fat pan.”

could be the first lines of the 2nd verse.....

Try it!

[plankmaker]

Methinks someone may be getting it.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

[plankmaker]

OK, OK, in another thread, someone requested that racing be incorporated into the scenerio. Prior to the war, Camp Lee was the Agricultural Society's Fairgrounds. The fairgrounds included stables, housing and a very nice track for trotters. There you go, now we can include racing, gambling, and several other vices to the event. Bye-and-bye iff'n you look back trotters were very popular back then. Especially the horses from those little islands off the Eastern Shore. Think Misty.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

The Suburban Resorts Around and in Richmond – A Swing Around the Circle.

Blest be Gambrimus, who discovered lager beer! He hath his breweries in every land; his disciples fill every salon where lager spirts from the surcharged cask, and where Teutonick blood flows in Teutonick veins, measured only by the capacity of the mugs.

We Americans, who swill the extract of cornwheat and rye concocted into the fiery stuff that puts fight into our fists and fury upon our tongues, may learn a wholesome lesson from our German friends, whose lymphatick temperaments take more kindly to the beverage, one touch of which makes the whole world friends.

The city is encircled by a cordon of beer gardens, or resorts where lager flows as a specialty. Among the most prominent of these are the Hermitage Fair Grounds Trotting Park, the Spring Park (formerly Buchanan Springs,) Hattorf’s Resort, and a number of others that we shall mention shortly. The Trotting Park, ??? Camp Lee [next line is illegible] of Messrs. Ledley & Hayward, two gentlemen well known to the citizens of Richmond. They have gone to great expense, influenced by a desire to subserve the wants of Richmond and vicinity. The old buildings of the Agricultural Society, subsequently occupied by the Confederate Government, have been removed in part and partly restored, and the most wholesome effect of whitewash, paint and repair is observable upon all the unique and imposing collection of buildings that remain. Indeed, the visitor to Camp Lee at the present time would scarcely recognize the place, such a pleasant transformation has been wrought in the buildings and adjacent grounds. – The undergrowth has bee cleared of weeds; the sward has been leveled and improved, and an air of attractiveness and repose imparted to every feature. The main central building has been nicely transformed into salons, bar, tables for harmless gaming, etc., while just across the beautifully shaven lawn are apartments specially provided for the use of private parties. To the west looms up that somber clump of oaks beneath which, during the war, all the military executions usually took place. This is an historical quarter, but unless visitors desire to visit this spot they need not stray within sight of it. Beyond is a little retired knoll, hid away by rank weeds, where a number of the wards of the Bureau,

“Weary of Life’s march,”

Have hidden themselves away. The race track lies to the east of the main enclosure, which contains about sixty-three acres. The enclosure was put up by the Agricultural Company, who are the owners of the grounds, but Messrs. Ledley & Hayward, the lessees, have expended a liberal sum in the decorations of the buildings and grounds. Te track is half a mile, circular, beautiful graded and sand??? and during these balmy mornings gentlemen who are the fortunate owners of fast turn-outs may be seen spinning like a top around the place. The track is pronounced by jockeys one of the best in the States. A great many gentlemen, who never appear on the “turf,” “time” their nags upon it, usually about sunrise on a fair morning.

Staid, slow-paced Richmond society would perhaps be shocked at the sight of such gentlemen as D. W. T, F. M. C, A. V. B., H. G. F., C. C., and others whose initials we could give, dashing along, ribbons taut, and dust flying from iron-shod heels, impelled by the exclamations of “Hi! Hi!” “Ge lang!,” Don’t tell it in Gath, but the same gentlemen have appeared, and will appear to-morrow, in St. Paul’s and other sanctuaries. They’re none the worse for that little circular ride which tested the mettle of their respective steeds.

Rivalry is everything in business and on the “plank,” and he who scores 2.40 on that highway may hold as good a passport to heaven as some who rise at 7 A. M. on Sunday morning and busy themselves with hymn books instead of horses.

Since the opening of the Hermitage Trotting Park, in April, several very successful races have come off between noted horses, which have given the park quite a reputation. Among the horses entered and run were “Grey Sam,” “Fanny Baker,” “Katie Darling,” “Napier,” and “Wm. E. Mulford.”

Harry Wright, of Wirght’s Varieties, is the owner of “Grey Sam;” he is a horse of ordinary capabilities, easily beaten when well matched.

“Katy Darling” is owned by Mr. Ralph Baker. She has run her best, and is not expected to exceed her last time, which is less than that of “Grey Sam.”

“Napier” is owned by Mr. William Ledley, and he is the acknowledged king of the Richmond course. He is groomed at the Hermitage stable and Mr. William Walls, the tutor of Hiram Woodruff and other noted turfmen, has charge of him. Mr. Walls is very abstemious, thinks only of his charge and how to drive him so as to win, and in this respect he resembles Hiram Woodruff, whose equal has never appeared in the United States.

Mr. Parker Wescott is the reputed owner of the horse “Mulford,” but there is a charge among turfmen that Mr. Wescott played “foal” with his horse against “Napier,” entered by Mr. Ledley to have been ridden by Walls. Mr. Wescott wants Walls for his driver, and because Walls would not “break a rein” with Ledley, he flew the track and paid the forfeit of fifty dollars, we believe. Hence Mr. Wescott is in bad odour on the turf, and a challenge of one thousand dollars, made by Ledley on the heel of his forfeit, has not been met. Wescott has ever been a great boaster, but if this “put up” is not covered, Wescott will appear no more in the trotting park of the Hermitage [next two lines illegible] in upon him against any horse that can be introduced. “Napier” is a roan, well built, with a tremendous forward movement; slightly sprinkled with grey on the hinder parts. Sired by Kossuth, out of a Messenger mare, he comes of exalted pedigree. He is nine years old, and not yet in his prime. On Monday last his trainer, Walls, the best driver in the South, “worked” him for exercise six miles around the course in twenty minutes, according to correct time. This was extraordinary. Negotiations are now going on with a party in Baltimore, the owner of two of the fastest trotters in the North, and a competing trial between “Napier” and some of Fiora Temple’s stock will come off at the Hermitage course next fall.

Before bidding adieu to Hermitage Trotting Park, we would say to gentlemen with a hankering after twinkling wheels and flying dust, that nowhere can a more agreeable day be spent than at this resort.

[brown30741]

Can I register to be a Christian Reformer protesting sport and betting?

[plankmaker]

Yes, you may. but at a former event that I helped organize, we also had some reformers who were rather vocal and received like treatment from other participants along with select vegetables. What is your stand on tomatoes?

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

[brown30741]

I will bring followers to pray a hedge of protection around me, or if they can't pray hard enough, they can become a literal hedge of protection.

[Parault]

Yes, you may. but at a former event that I helped organize, we also had some reformers who were rather vocal and received like treatment from other participants along with select vegetables. What is your stand on tomatoes?

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN
Mark, can I protray one of those intoxicated vegetable connoisseurs? I can get started doing research on "How to throw tomatoes in 186?" I will be available when the event starts, after doing copious amounts of study.

[plankmaker]

Yes, and ith the throwing of vegetables and such, we will also need individuals who are willing to do a pettifogger impression, as distasteful as it my be.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

From the Richmond Dispatch, 3/20/1862, p. 2, c. 4
Pettifoggers. – Richmond, like many other cities of similar size and pretensions to respectability, is not entirely exempt from the presence of a lot of pettifogging, two-cent lawyers, who are seen usually in all their peculiar glory in the lower courts, the advocates of dubious and uncertain rights, and who as such obtain from the follies, vices, and crimes of their fellows the means of a precarious subsistence, and who, entirely innocent of law, give birth to the most astounding legal propositions, the coinage of their own ingenius heads. Unluckily the Bill of Rights, Constitution, or some other paper, has given these gentry a sort of constructive right to badger witnesses, and bore courts and juries to a degree that would seem insufferable to ordinary comprehension. It seems a pity that Gen. Winder did not have the power to draft into the army some of the hundreds of worthless characters now in this city. Were the legal limbs included in such a conscription, we are sure that the Commanding General would see at once the propriety of putting them in the front ranks as dangerous weapons. If as dangerous to the enemy as they are to their clients, they would soon kill them off.

[Miss L]

Now if you gentlemen are in need of a cook for this senario please let me know and I will gladly oblige you with some home cooking.

How are you at baking? I'd be willing to riot for bread...

[sbl]

There's an impression!

http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/images2/apr2_richmond_riot.jpg

Does poverty and hunger make one lose their sleeves?

[plankmaker]

OK, we can incorporate a bread riot scenerio, Which will be your guiding impression, a prostitute, professional thief, Irish and Yankee hag, or a gallows-bird?

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

From the Richmond Examiner, Saturday, 4/4/1863
The reader will find in the report of evidence in the Police Court, the true account of a so-called riot in the streets of Richmond. A handful of prostitutes, professional thieves, Irish and Yankee hags, gallows-birds from all lands but our own, congregated in Richmond, with a woman huckster at their head, who buys veal at the toll gate for a hundred and sells the same for two hundred and fifty in the morning market, undertook the other day to put into private practice the principles of the Commissary Department. Swearing that they would have goods "at Government prices" they broke open half a dozen shoe stores, hat stores, and tobacco houses, and robbed them of everything but bread, which was just the thing they wanted least. Under the demagogue's delusion that they might be "poor people," "starving people," and the like, an institution of charity made a distribution of rice and flour to all who would ask for it. Considering the circumstances, it was a vile, cowardly, and pernicious act; but the manner in which it was received exhibits the character of this mob. Miscreants were seen to dash the rice and flour into the muddy streets, where the traces still remain, with the remark that "if that(ital) was what they were going to give, they might go to h__l." It is greatly to be regretted that this most villainous affair was not punished on the spot. Instead of shooting every wretch engaged at once, the authorities contented themselves with the ordinary arrest, and hence the appearance of the matter in the police report of the morning.

If it were the only thing of this sort which has appeared in Southern cities, it would not be worth attention. But as the reader has already seen from our columns, some two weeks ago there was one in Atlanta, immediately followed by one in Mobile; which was succeeded by another in Saulsbury; then in Petersburg; and the very next day by this in Richmond. Now if these were unconcerted tumultuous movements, caused by popular suffering, they would not, could not, have this regular gradation of time from one city to another in the line of travel from South to North. It is impossible to doubt that the concealed instigators in each case were the same. Having done the work in one city, they took the cars to the next. That they are emissaries of the Federal Government is equally difficult to doubt. For sometime past the Northern press has teemed with intimations of some wonderful secret machinery which was at work to overthrow the South. This is what they meant. No doubt the next arrival of Northern newspapers will be filled with lies about these thief-saturnalia which will shame MUNCHAUSEN. As three hundred Yankee prisoners went off by flag of truce yesterday, the whole story, with al the additions which malice and invention can supply, has already got as far as Old Point.

No doubt either, that they will be represented as "bread riots!" Bread riots! while this and every other city of the South has always had large appropriations for the poor uncalled for; when labour is so scarce that everything in human shape that is willing to work can make from two to four dollars in the day; when seamstresses refuse two dollars and a half with board, because the said board does not include tea and butter! Plunder, theft, burglary and robbery, were the motives of these gangs foreigners and Yankees the organizers of them.

One thing is certain, that of any exhibition of the sort occurs again, it must be put down in such a manner that it will never be repeated. There would never have been but one if the ammagistrates and citizens of the town in which they occurred had done their duty. A most contemptible notion, that such disturbance is a shame, which must be hidden - (as well try to hide the sun!) - led them to coax and wheedle the audacious miscreants engaged in it. That course ensured their recurrence. It always does so. When an individual permits himself to be black-mailed by a scoundrel, he is always bled again and again till he is exhausted; so too, a community which permits itself to be bullied by its criminal population, must expect to find it bolder every day until it rules all. We know that a street rabble, of which a cowardly king was afraid, once got such possession of Paris that it produced an anarchy of blood and horror which lasted two years: lasted till the mob met a Corsican lieutenant who was not afraid of it or aught; when it vanished in a whiff of powder-smoke and never was heard of again. - Times of revolution and war are always fertile in this species of crime, and unless checked properly it becomes exceedingly dangerous to the public cause. There is only one way to check it properly. The opportunity to do so should not be avoided, or approached reluctantly, but eagerly sought and pursued to its very utmost extent of availability.

It is useless to dwell on this truth. For citizens who have arms in their hands and yet permit their money and property to be ravished from them by cowardly burglars and thieves, because they are incited too come in a gang of fifty in broad daylight, instead of by twos or threes at midnight, we have no sympathy. If the officers of the law, with the ample force and power in their hands, have not enough decision and energy to do more than arrest highway robbers and disperse a mob of idlers at their heels, whose presence there deserved immediate death quite as well, no words or arguments can furnish them with the pluck they lack.

[sbl]

The article looks like a reaction to a reaction rather than how to solve the problem. Good thing we don't think like THAT anymore. ;) ("WINK!")

[plankmaker]

The bread riot court cases make interesting reading. They sound almost as entertaining as Richmond City Council meetings from the early to mid-90s.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

From the Richmond Examiner, Saturday, 4/4/1863 , p.1
MAYOR’S COURT - April 3rd, 1863 - The following named parties were charged with engaging in a riot on Thursday, and encouraging and inciting others to engage in the said riot.

Frank Wallip, Benjamin Slemper, Mary Woodward, Mary Waster, Mary Butler, Sarah Coghil, Martha Burnett, Sally Mitchell, Lawrence Martin, Alexander Jenkins, Morgan Burns, Henry Cook, Alexander H. Murray, John Jones, W. J. Lusk, James Hampton, A. D. Briggs, Thomas Samani, C. Lannegan, Elizabeth Ammons, Lucy Jane Palmeter, John D. Lowry, Margaret Denning, William Farrand, Francis Farrand, John Hopkins, Susan Kelly, Mary Jacobs, Martha Fergusson, Jennett Williams, Mildred Imry, Martha Smith, Francis Brown, Anna Bell, Andrew J. Hawkins, Peter Blake, Sarah Champion, Mary Jackson, huckster.

The case of William Farrand and wife was first taken up.

Mr. John D. Harvay testified that on Thursday he saw three boys go into Farrand’s house shortly after the riot began; two of the boys had a pot of butter each, and the third boy had six or eight pair of women’s shoes. After the riot was over, he and Mr. Isaac Walker, and Officer Perrin went to Farrand’s house and found the shoes but could not locate the butter.

Cross-examined by Crane - There was a riot yesterday. Mrs. Farrand denied that any boys had brought any shoes or butter there, but after the shoes were found she acknowledged the boys had brought the shoes there.

Officer Perrin testified that after Mr. Harvey found the shoes he found two other pairs and a quantity of dry goods under Mrs. Farrand’s bed; this boy, John Hopkins was there and had in his possession a new pair of pants and this hat, which has been identified by Mr. Hicks as a hat that had been taken from him during the riot.

Mr. Isaac R. Walker corroborated the testimony of the previous witness, and added that he had found a package of money marked “$1,050” in a band box; Mr. Farrand claimed the money; Farrand was drunk; only knew where the shoes and other goods came from from the fact that on the way to the cage, some one ran out of Mr. Knote’s and said, “there are the shoes taken from us this morning”; Farrand keeps a grocery, sugar, cakes, &c.; there were nine pairs of shoes, some men’s, some women.

Mr. Charles H. Wynne went with Mr. Harvey and others to Farrand’s; Mrs. Farrand protested that no goods had been brought there; to Farrand’s credit, be it said, he was decidedly drunk; when the shoes were found, Farrand said a Miss Hinchman brought the shoes there; just as she said that this boy, John Hopkins, came in, and Mrs. Farrand said, “there is the boy that brought the shoes here” ; the boy had a new pair of shoes on his arm, which he said he had bought from little Jonny Camp; as the goods of all sorts were about to be removed from the house, a man named Roane, an employee at the Government shops came in and claimed the goods as his; Farrand lives in the last house on Fourteenth street, next to Mayo’s bridge.

The prisoners were sent on to the Hustings Court .

The case of Anna Bell was next taken up.

The prisoner was dressed in a handsome suit of mourning, with a long flowing veil.

Mr. Charles H. Wynne testified, that during the riot yesterday, he saw the prisoner, then dressed in colors, with a chicken bonnet, in the act of going into Mr. Ezekiel’s store; he accosted her politely, and knowing her requested her to go home, as it was no place for her; she insisted that she would go in, and threatened to blow his brains out if he interfered; her son, it was, who sold the pants to the boy Hopkins.

Mrs. Bell stated that she did not go into the crowd to take anything, but to look after her son, and to keep him from getting into a scrape as he was very bad.

The prisoner was sent on to the Hustings Court .

The case of Thomas Samani, William G. Lusk, and James Hampton, charged with aiding in the riot, was called up.

Mr. Charles H. Wynne testified that he saw Thomas Samani aiding a crowd of women to break in the door of Mrs. Minna Sweitzer’s store, on Franklin street, below the market, he was the only man engaged in the assault upon that store; just as the door gave way, from the repeated blows of Samani and the women, witness seized Samani by the collar and carried him to Castle Thunder.

Mrs. Sweitzer testified that Samani and a parcel of women broke into her store with hatchets, breaking the door and windows; she lived in the house.

Mr. Jos. Taylor testified that he saw W. J. Lusk get into the window of a store just below Randolph’s book store, and pull the women up into the window; after the door of the store was broken open and the crowd rushed in, Colonel Baldwin called on the citizens to put down the riot, and witness rushed forward with others, and tried to hem the rioters in the store; women rushed out with shoes which we took from them; a number of satchels were also thrown out of the store, which we gathered up and threw back; the prisoner started to come out of the store, and witness exclaimed “here is the ringleader” and seized him; prisoner had a large hickory stick with which he attempted to strike witness; witness was positive that prisoner was the man who aided the women to get into the store.

Mr. C. H. Wynne testified that he assisted Mr. Taylor to arrest the prisoner; he fought so violently that he had to put a pistol to his head and threaten to shoot him; when prisoner found resistance useless, he denied that he had any connexion with the riot, and said he was a patient, in very bad health, at the Winder hospital.

Prisoner is a tremendous muscular fellow, who might sit for a picture of health.

Mr. C. H. Wynne testified that he had arrested James Hampton, a youth of fifteen, with a lard firkin full of coffee, which he had stolen from either Pollard & Walker’s or Tyler & Son.

The case of Benjamin Slemper, a German belonging to the City Battalion, was called.

Mr. L. H. Fitzhugh, Sergeant-at-Arms of the Confederate States Senate, testified that he was standing near Knote’s shoe store when it was broken into by the mob; the mob was pouring in through the broken windows; witness saw the prisoner and the Irishman got away; witness handed prisoner over to another citizen, and went back and arrested another rioter. Slemper stated, in answer to questions, that he was not a regular member of the Battalion, but was serving as a temporary substitute.

All these prisoners were sent on to the Hustings Court .

The case of Mary Jackson, a huckster in the market and the leader of the women’s riot was called. The prisoner was a good specimen of a forty year old Amazon, with the eye of the Devil.

Mr. John P. Tyler, Clerk of the Second Market testified that he had for some time heard that there was to be a meeting of the women; Mrs. Jackson told him the intention of the women was to go in a body to the provision stores and demand goods at Government prices; they meant to take them; did not advise Mrs. Jackson on the subject; witness on Wednesday night informed the Mayor that there was going to be a meeting of the women; never informed the Mayor that Mrs. Jackson had said the women were going to take goods from merchants or anything of that sort.

Mr. A. A. Hughes testified that he heard Mrs. Jackson tell two women in the market that the goods of merchants were to be taken at Government price; though he believed it to be a joke, tried to discourage the idea of violence; Mrs. Jackson said it was no joke, and asked me to lend her a pistol; I told her I would; she said she meant to be armed; and that she would be assisted by the military in Richmond; Mrs. Jackson stopped and communicated the plan to some twenty women; had no idea of lending her a pistol; regarded the whole matter as a joke.

Officer Griffin testified that the first he heard of this affair was from Mr. Tyler; on the morning of the riot Mrs. Jackson accosted him in the market, and told him “he’d better keep out of the street to day; as the women intended to shoot down every man who did not aid the women in taking goods,” advised her to go home and behave herself; officer Kelley came up also and advised to behave during the riot saw Mrs. Jackson on the corner of 1st and Broad streets with a bowie knife in her hand; she said in the market that morning that she would have bread or blood; when he saw her on Broad street she was in the midst of an excited crowd of women; walked up to her; Mr. Chalkley came up at the same time and took her in custody; she had the bowie knife under her shawl with a piece of paper around it.

Officer Kelley heard Mrs. Jackson make the threats about taking the merchant’s goods; went to her and told her the people of this town would not stand anything of the sort, and that if she persisted in it she would get into trouble; hoped what he had said would influence her; the next he heard of her she was under arrest; there was present a woman who would prove that Mrs. Jackson had told her that every woman who did not join the riot would be mobbed.

Mr. Robert E. Redford testified that he saw Mrs. Jackson in the market on Thursday morning, between eight and nine o’clock, with a bowie knife and a six-barreled pistol; the pistol was not loaded at the time.

The prisoner was sent on the Hustings Court . - She is the same party who, two weeks ago, bought two veals at the toll gate for one hundred dollars and offered the same for sale at two hundred and fifty dollars, on the same morning.

[Tiger_rifles]

Mr. Campbell,
I truely can not see this event being held anywhere in the Eastern States, and I think I have found the perfect location for your event!
Elko, Nevada!!! Its about 2.5 hours drive West of Saltlake City on I-80. This may seem way out of bounds......but hear me out.
Elko is one of dozens of old mining towns that run across Northern Nevada, and today it would be one of a dozen old "Ghost Towns" if it were not for the forward thinking town fathers that got prostitution and gambling legalized in that county! I hear tell from some of the "Travelers", (truckers and gamblers that have been banned from Vegas!), that on two city blocks of downtown Elko there are 3 Brothels, 2 casinos, and a half dozen bars! I also have been told of a large city park near by so we can set up a "Tent City", or "chanty town", we can just turn all the city trash cans into fire pits!
Another big plus is that Elko is out in the middle of the dessert and has a very small police force. With the level of tumult and pandemonium you are planning for, if held in lets say the Richmond, Va. area, the modern local police could round us all up in no time. And even if we were able to out pace them, they could simply call in the "Troops" at Fort Lee, poss. Ft. A.P. Hill and then we would have another scene from "Gangs of N.Y."/ Draft Riot on our hands. (Not saying all this would not be fun, but what would we do for the 150th of this event?)

What say you Sir?

[plankmaker]

In order to have the full effect of the panic related to the impending approach of the gunship Pawnee, a body of water is required. Sorry no dice. While a shanty town would probably look a little like Rocketts Landing, it would be entirely too fancy and high class. Some of the goings on in that part of town are what legends are made of.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

From the Richmond Dispatch, 12/2/1862, p. 1, c. 4
Row at Rocketts. – Frederick Lindsey, 1st Texas, and Matthew Pittman, 1st Georgia regiment, were arrested by members of the Provost Guard for raising a muss at Rocketts. Lindsey, after his arrest, had to be left, having had his skull broken by a skillet in the hands of a female whose house he had entered. Both the parties arrested were drunk. The one able to walk was lodged in Castle Thunder.

[Tiger_rifles]

In order to have the full effect of the panic related to the impending approach of the gunship Pawnee, a body of water is required. Sorry no dice. While a shanty town would probably look a little like Rocketts Landing, it would be entirely too fancy and high class. Some of the goings on in that part of town are what legends are made of.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

From the Richmond Dispatch, 12/2/1862, p. 1, c. 4
Row at Rocketts. – Frederick Lindsey, 1st Texas, and Matthew Pittman, 1st Georgia regiment, were arrested by members of the Provost Guard for raising a muss at Rocketts. Lindsey, after his arrest, had to be left, having had his skull broken by a skillet in the hands of a female whose house he had entered. Both the parties arrested were drunk. The one able to walk was lodged in Castle Thunder.

I see what you mean Sir. No, Sorry there is no water in these parts but the Great Salt Lake. And if you have been it.......... its more "Salt" then "Lake".
Respectfully submitted,

[sbl]

Rocketts Landing, I didn't know and I had to look...

http://www.old-picture.com/civil-war/pictures/Richmond-Virginia-054.jpg

[sbl]

I'll bet you could be found "dead in a ditch" there.

[plankmaker]

Dead in a ditch, or worse. Here is some more info on it.

http://www.rockettslanding.com/history.htm

There are quite a few pictures of captured cornfed cannon staged t Rocketts awaiting shipment following the fall of Richmond.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

[sbl]

Maybe the Lincoln and Tad statue could have gone there. ;) ("WINK!")

[plankmaker]

Naw, no room and too high rent for that now. Since the Annabelle Lee left for richer pastures in DC, Rocketts has been transformed into high $$$ apartments and condos. However, iff'n you want some good BBQ, Poes Pub is (or was the last time I was there) still in business, and for a great dinner there is always Millies down a ways across the street.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

[sbl]

That's what's happening in any smart town with a waterfront. It limits public access and spoils the view BUT, it's good for bringing $$$$ in to areas where you might have been found dead in a ditch.

Could you use an 1860s policeman? Maybe my repro uniform still fits.

[plankmaker]

Scott,

Iff'n you can get into the uniform, we can probably arrange to find some peeps to arrest. You might have to work on your ducking skills.

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN

From the Richmond Sentinel, 6/24/1864, p. 1
Throwing Stones. - Like all other classes of the community, the boys have felt the demoralizing influence of the war. Their increased viciousness is in nothing more conspicuously displayed than in the matter of throwing stones and engaging in rock battles in the streets and public places. In the Capitol Square, as little regarding the sentinel on duty there as if he were a dummy, they make the Clay statue and the Washington monument targets for their missiles, and on the President’s, Navy, Gamble’s and other hills about the city, they engage in mimic warfare with slings, sticks and stones continually. These practices have grown to be so serious a nuisance that complaints, both loud and deep, come in to the Mayor daily, and he has determined to exert his power to put them down. The police are ordered to arrest every boy, big or small, caught throwing stones or other missiles. The first capture under this order was brought before the Mayor yesterday, in the person of a boy fourteen years old, named Joe Berry. Officer Kelly had caught him on Gamble’s Hill, engaged in throwing stones from a sling, at some boys on the opposite heights, known as Penitentiary Hill. - The Mayor fined the boy’s father five dollars and required him to give security in two hundred dollars that his son should keep the peace. If the boy is caught throwing stones again his father will have to pay the money.





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[sbl]

Mark, My PC is showing that site with messed up links. "?????"

[plankmaker]

Working fine on mine. You sure you don't have a nut loose on the keyboard?

Mark Campbell
Piney Flats, TN