Tag: common people

Camp Life

On By kittycalashIn Laundry, Living History, Reenacting4 Comments
The Jolly Landlady in Hyde Park. Paul Sandby, 1780. British Museum 1904,0819.622
The Fair Stationer in Hyde Park, 1780. Outline engraving by Paul Sandby. British Museum 1880,1113.1915
The Fair Stationer in Hyde Park, 1780. Outline engraving by Paul Sandby. British Museum 1880,1113.1915

Still wondering what to do in camp that’s not cooking or sewing? Technically, you shouldn’t be cooking if you’re a woman: that was a soldier’s job, though I recall seeing a reference to women cooking when all the men were pulled into the line during an engagement. A card file would help me, but for now, all I have is my scattered memory.

But if you’re tired of mending and making shirts (one of the most boring tasks, I find– all straight seams and very predictable), there’s more to do than laundry.

If the event represents a longer encampment, you could run a traveling coffee house or tavern. There’s the Widow Black in the Mid West, but I haven’t encountered this yet in New England. You could be a Jolly Landlady, or as the British Museum has it,  “a voluptuous lady stands in foreground to left, holding up a glass to a soldier on horseback.”

The Fair Stationer in Hyde Park 1780. Outline etching with watercolor, Paul Sandby. British Museum 1904,0819.576
The Fair Stationer in Hyde Park 1780. Outline etching with watercolor, Paul Sandby. British Museum 1904,0819.576

The Fair Stationer shows us Lloyd’s Coffee House and what looks like a carriage body on blocks, converted to a news stand. You could sell newspapers and writing paper, pamphlets and poem and songs. It’s an impression that would take a lot of thinking and research for the American colonies, but could be very interesting. the transmission of news and information and the transport of mail and packages presented challenges. How were they overcome?

I’m also struck by the number of dogs in Sandby’s images. If it’s not the same dog, over and over, I would guess that in the 18th century as in the 20th, soldiers had pets that traveled with them, both common soldiers with common curs and officers with hunting dogs. The camps must have been disastrously messy, with fatigue details to clean them.  We can’t have dogs at reenactments, but we could have more outraged sergeants. It’s hard, though, because to do these things well, you have to know and trust the people you’re doing them with (and that includes yourself).

Finding Bridget Connor

On By kittycalashIn History, Laundry, Living History, Reenacting8 Comments
Two washerwomen, one of the sketches made in Edinburgh and the neighbourhood after the rebellion of 1745 Pen and black ink and grey wash, over graphite. Paul Sandby, British Museum Nn,6.10.+

Regimental Orders, July 23rd 1782
At a Regimental Court Martial whereof Capt Francis is president, Briget Conner a Woman Belonging to the 10th Massachusetts Regiment was tried for purchesing a publick Shurt from a Soldier in Sd. Regiment found Guilty and Sentanced to Return the Shurt to the person from whom she purshest it and loos what She gav for the Shurt.
The Colo approves the opinion of the Court and orders it to take place Immediately

Regimental orders July 25th 1782
Bridget Conner a woman Belonging to the 10th Massachusetts Regiment is Directed to Leave Camp Between this and to Morrow Morning at Roal Call for her Insolence to the officers of sd Regiment on pane of Being Treated with Severity

The entries above are from the orderly book kept by Captain Stephen Abbot who served under Colonel Benjamin Tupper of the 10th Massachusetts Regiment. (This is a Continental Regiment, so the entry for the book in the holding library’s catalog is, um, confusing.)

The entries were sent to me by Mr Cooke as a place to start working on Bridget Connor (name confusion, it is Connor). I checked the Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War, and what did I find? Francis Connor.

Francis Connor. Where did he come from?
Francis Connor, in the middle. Where did he come from?

Francis Connor was in Benjamin Tupper’s (10th) Regiment. He enlisted on December 25, 1781, and was reported deserted on July 25, 1782, the same day Bridget is directed to leave camp. Do you think Bridget might be Francis’s wife? I think she might be, and I am inordinately pleased about it.

It is a sad but true thing that it is easier to find a man in the 18th century records than it is to find a woman. (See Jill Lepore’s new book about Jane Franklin Mecom.) But with a husband to look for, maybe I can find more about Bridget. And if I can find more about Bridget (and even if I don’t) I can start asking the questions that create a more engaging impression or interpretation.

  • Where did Bridget live before they joined the 10th?
  • Where was she born?
  • How old was she?
  • What did Francis (if he was her husband) do for a living?
  • Did Bridget work? (Probably- but at what?)
  • Why did she join Francis in the Army?
  • Did she have previous run-ins with authority?

I have guesses about Bridget and Francis, and even if I can find no more than what I’ve found, I can create plausible stories about their lives to make the past more real. For history, though, I prefer telling truths to making up stories.

Families and Hatters: more sale portraits

On By kittycalashIn Clothing, History, Living History, Research
Lot 627, Sale N09106, "Esmerian."
Lot 627, Sale N09106, “Esmerian.”

Another lot from the Sotheby’s American Folk Art sale is this pair of paintings by Jacob Maentel. (There’s an entire series of paintings by Maentel, all worth checking out.)

Particularly fun in this family portrait? The two little girls wearing dresses made of the same fabric. One of my former colleagues and co-conspirators always wanted to dress interpreters in clothes made of the same fabric, dresses, waistcoats and other items, as if we’d bought a sole bolt of fabric one year. Well, there it is, above: one length, two little gowns.

Lot 576, Sale N09106, "Nesmerian"
Lot 576, Sale N09106, “Nesmerian”

For my friend who makes hats, here is the portrait of Hatter John Mays of Schaeffertown, also painted by Jacob Maentel.

Top hats aplenty, bows on his shoes, and gold watch fobs. I’d say Mr Mays is doing quite well.

“All sorts and conditions of women”

On By kittycalashIn Clothing, History, Laundry, Living History, Reenacting, Research

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Ever on the track of laundresses and working women, I came upon The Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Modern Painting, Volume 1 (of 4), by Richard Muther. I was rewarded with  a laundress and a cook holding a spider. Daniel Chodowiecki, a German artist, seems to have been as drawn to the common people as Paul Sandby. The caveat of course is that is he German, so details may not always be correct for American interpretations (pinner aprons, for example).

Still, we have the classic washtub-on-a-table set up, and the laundress is barefoot, which makes very good sense, though my feet hurt just from thinking about standing barefoot on the stubble of the field at Saratoga.

Encampment of the Loyalists at Johnstown, a New Settlement, on the Banks of the River St. Lawrence in Canada, taken June 6th 1784, James Peachey.
Encampment of the Loyalists at Johnstown, a New Settlement, on the Banks of the River St. Lawrence in Canada, taken June 6th 1784, James Peachey.

Laundresses come with style, too, though I am asking myself, “Is that a fabulous hat, or is your head just in front of some balled-up, sleeping livestock?” Was is discernible is that her hair is down, and she is leaning on the washtub. The tent seams are also clearly visible, and she does have the iconic washtub on a table set up.

Encampment of the Loyalists at Johnstown, a New Settlement, on the Banks of the River St. Lawrence in Canada, taken June 6th 1784. James Peachey
Encampment of the Loyalists at Johnstown, a New Settlement, on the Banks of the River St. Lawrence in Canada, taken June 6th 1784. James Peachey

In another detail of the same image, we have a woman who is clearly wearing a black bonnet, tending a kettle on a fire. Here’s yet another piece of evidence for the three sticks-two kettles-no matches set up, and for the tinned kettles being left to get black on the outside.

What is she wearing on her body? There’s a white (or a least white-grounded) kerchief, and what looks like a grey or drab petticoat. But is that a short gown, jacket or bed gown? I’d say jacket, mostly because of the fit, but it’s hard to say at this distance. Whatever word you care to use, she’s wearing a reddish-brown garment fitted to her torso that appears to have a side-back seam.

Once again, tent seams are visible. This tent, just like the one in the other detail, also has some large off-white item thrown over the end. Could it be a blanket, out to air in the sun?

I do also appreciate the short blue jacket/white trousers of the man or boy to the left of the woman, since I know a guy who possesses those clothes and prefers trousers to breeches. He appears to be drinking from a cup as he carries a kettle, presumably of fresh water.

Encampment of the Loyalists at Johnstown, a New Settlement, on the Banks of the River St. Lawrence in Canada, taken June 6th 1784, James Peachey.
Encampment of the Loyalists at Johnstown, a New Settlement, on the Banks of the River St. Lawrence in Canada, taken June 6th 1784, James Peachey.

The entire view of the Loyalists’ camp is here, with a zoomable image. The drawing is full of details applicable to camp life interpretations, from women’s bonnets to fishing rods.

As I contemplate the troublesome Bridget Mahoney, I find the detail below of a solder and a woman rather pleasing.

Does she solemnly swear she is up to no good?
Does she solemnly swear she is up to no good?