Just ordered my fez from R.L. Kelly & S.A. Miles Co. Could not be more excited. I am amassing somewhat of an amazing hat collection.
In addition to my kickass straw hat, I was also lucky enough to have this green one (hover over the picture and you’ll see the ‘next’ arrow) made for me by the best camp chef/most kickass civil war reenactment matriarch ever, Mrs. Valentine. Has the touch of the feminine in it, which suits me well.
I had the pleasure of attending symposium on Chancellorsville on Thursday night at Stevenson Ridge (more on that later), but for now here are two more pics from the weekend.
Here I am in my fifer’s getup about to go out on the field on Saturday I believe. Having absolutely no context for what battle reenactments are like (this was my first big one), it kind of seemed a little crazy. My comrades said it wasn’t all that well organized, especially in terms of the federal camp organization. Oh well, I didn’t really notice, but like I said I’m a n00b.
I was also lucky enough to be in a tintype with my other unit, the 23rd USCTs based in Spotsylvania. This was taken by Bob Szabo, who recently photographed Robert Redford it seems! Super cool.
I look sooo mad in that one.
Well organized or no, I personally had an absolute blast this weekend. And no ticks!
My fife & drum corps, Calvert Arms, at 150th Chancellorsville.
The best part about this is all of the other guys trying not to laugh at his jokes.
At least I wasn’t this bad during my first time out. Although because the event was really small, I did leave my nose stud in.
FARB ALERT COME AT ME HATERS
I was reading this really interesting article on the Disunion blog on Rape in the Civil War, and I came across Gen. Butler’s Order No.28. That rat bastard!
“HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF
New Orleans, May 15, 1862.As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been subject to repeated insults from the women (calling themselves ladies) of New Orleans in return for the most scrupulous non-interference and courtesy on our part, it is ordered that hereafter when any female shall by word, gesture, or movement insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States she shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation.
By command of Major-General Butler
GEO. C. STRONG, Assistant Adjutant-General and Chief of Staff.”
According to Wikipedia “plying her avocation,” means soliciting herself for prostitution! Holy shit!
This Disunion article by Terry Jones about Butler’s time in New Orleans explains: “The proclamation did not have any sexual implications, even though it permitted Butler’s men to treat an offending woman as a prostitute. The order simply meant that a soldier was not obligated to treat the woman as a lady. If the woman cursed him, he could curse her back; if she spat at him, he could spit back. While the Woman’s Order seems rather mild by today’s standards, it has to be viewed in context: all respectable women were considered ladies, and to have the highest-ranking general in the Army give his men permission to treat them as common prostitutes was outrageous.”
The article of the Rape article, Crystal Feimster, says the order “threatened rape of women who resisted occupation by insulting Union soldiers.” Perhaps that was not the case, but it seems to me the language in that order could certainly be interpreted as such.
I was kind of into Gen. Butler for coming up with the Contraband concept and helping pass the KKK act, but now I’m like, wth dude.
I was on my way to get my car fixed when I saw one of the thousands of Civil War Trails signs that litter the side of the road. Litter is really the wrong word, they “sprinkle” the country side. Anyway, next to a Dairy Queen and other unsightly evidence of modernity, I pulled over. People honked at me as I stood on the side of the road and took in history, creepers.
These were the only two signs to indicate that there was a big house here, once occupied by Mrs. Robert E. Lee and Mrs. Jefferson Davis during the war. Despite action in Fairfax, it remained “unmolested.” It burned down in 1926, whoops.
I walked back to my car and thought “My day has been historically enriched.”
Huzzah!
Here are the accompanying images to the audio tour featured in The Civil War Tours Podcast: Episode 4. Special thanks to Ann Shumard and Bethany Bentley for making this interview possible!
In this episode of the Civil War Tours Podcast, we bring you an interview and audio tour with curator Ann Shumard of the National Portrait Gallery. The exhibit is called ‘Bound for Freedom’s Light: African Americans & the Civil War’ and it runs through March 2014 (although I say Feb 2013 in the episode, uh that happened already)! See it for yourself in person or view all of the images of the exhibit on the blog [civilwartours(dot)tumblr(dot)com]
Music used in episode: Rain and Snow//Obray Ramsey, Rye Whiskey//Carl Martin, and Fox on the Run//Honey & the Crabapples (my bluegrass band!)
Baby’s First Reenactment (w/Calvert Arms Fife & Drum Corps.)
New episode of the Podcast tomorrow!
On this episode of the CWT podcast, I talk to Williams Professor Charles B. Dew about his book on the motivations behind southern secession, “The Apostles of Disunion.” Also, I share upcoming Civil War events and exhibits in the next few months.
Music featured in episode: Rain and Snow//Obray Ramsey, Mole in the Ground//banjodan99, John Riley the Shepard//Adam Hurt, Alabama Waltz//Hank Williams I.
