Indigo, Blackberries, Shoes and Bonnets

[tulip]

"There was some pleasant rivalry as to who should be the most successful in producing the brightest and clearest tinge of color on thread or cloth. Most of the women of southern Alabama had small plats of ground for cultivating the indigo bush, for making indigo blue, or indigo mud, as it was sometimes called. The indigo weed also grew abundantly in the wild state in our vicinage. Those who did not care to bother with indigo cultivation used to gather, from the woods, the weed in the wild state when in season. . . We used to have our regular indigo churnings as they were called.

When the weed had matured sufficiently for making the blue mud, which was about the time the plant began to flower, the plants were cut close to the ground, our steeping vats were closely packed with the weed, and water enough to cover the plant was poured in. The vat was then left eight or nine days undisturbed for fermentation, to extract the dye.

Then the plant was rinsed out, so to speak, and the water in the vat was churned up and down with a basket for quite a while; weak lye was added as a precipitate, which caused the indigo particles held in solution to fall to the bottom of the vat; the water was poured off, and the mud was placed in a sack and hung up to dry. It was just as clear and bright a blue as if it had passed through a more elaborate process.

The woods as well as being the great storehouse for all our dye-stuf, were also our drug stores. The berries of the dogwood tree were taken for quinine as they contained the alkaloid properties of cinchona and Peruvian bark. A soothing and efficacious cordial for dysentery and similar ailments was made from blackberry roots; but ripe persimmons, when made into a cordial, were thought to be far superior to blackberry roots. An extract of the barks of the wild cherry, dogwood, poplar and wahoo trees was used for chills and agues. For coughs and all lung diseases a syrup made with the leaves and roots of the mullein plant, globe flower, and wild-cherry tree bark was thought to be infallible. Of course the caster-bean plant was gathered in the wild state in the forest, for making castor oil.

Many also cultivated a few rows of poppies in their garden to make opium, from which our laudanum was created; and this at times was very needful. The manner of extracting opium from poppies was of necessity crude, in our hedged-around situation. It was indeed simple in the extreme. The heads or bulbs of the poppies were plucked when ripe, the capsules pieced with a large-sized sewing needle, and the bulbs placed in some small vessel for the opium gum to exude and to become ins****ated by evaporation. The soporific influence of the is drug was not excelled by that of the imported article.

Bicarbonate of soda, which had been in use for raising bread before the war, became a thing of the past soon after the blockade began; but it was not long ere some one found out that the ashes of corncobs possessed the alkaline property essential for raising dough. Whenever soda was needed, corn was shelled, care being taken to select all the red cobs as they were thought to contain more carbonate of soda than white cobs. When the cobs were burned in a clean swept place, the ashes were gathered up and placed in a jar or jug, and so many measures of water were poured in, according to the quantity of ashes. When needed for bread-making, a teaspoonful or tablespoonful of the alkali was used to the measure of flour or meal required. . .

Our shoes, particularly those of women and children were made of cloth, or knit. Some one had learned to knit slippers and it was not long before most of the women of our settlement had a pair of slippers on the knitting needles. They were knit of our homespun thread, either cotton or wool, which was, for slippers, generally dyed a dark brown, gray or black. . .

Our hats and bonnets were of our own manufacture, for those we had at the beginning of the war had been covered anew, made over, turned and changed till none of the original remained. As we had no flowers of sulphur to bleach our white straw bonnets and hats, we colored those we had with walnut hulls and made them light or dark brown as we wished. Then we ripped up our tarlatan party dresses of red, white, blue or buff, some all gold and silver bespangled, to trim hats with. Neighbor would divide with neighbor the tarlatan for trimming purposes and some would go quite a distance for only to trim a hat. For the plumes of our hats or bonnets the feathers of the old drake answered admirably, and were often plucked as many will remember for that very purpose. . .

<u>A Blockaded Family - Life in Southern Alabama During the Civil War</u> by Parthenia Antoinette Hague 1888.

[longstreetlass]

Connie,

I really like the material you have quoted here. I have been so tempted to play with the beautiful color of green that comes from boiling artichokes. I have wondered if I could dye white cloth with it.

I suppose green was one of the easier dyes to obtain, and the woman quoted here would have done a near-professional job of extracting the color.

Thank you for the post. It is thoroughly enjoyable.

LongstreetLass

[jac]

I could be really off here, but I thought I heard once that Indigo is a cancer causing agent.
Might be worth checking out before trying something yourself.

[tulip]

Actually indigo is reputed to be an anti-cancer herb. However, you bring up a good point Jack. Trying any untested recipe or following instructions from advice books of the 19th C is not a good idea. No FDA or consumer watch groups then and certainly no testing as to efficacy, benefits, side effects.

[redeye]

Thanks for these bits of war-time ingenuity, Connie. It's interesting how creativity was put to the test in matters of survival such as raising dough or making shoes, but also in small vanities such as the attempt to renew the hats. I feel that keeping beauty alive, if possible, is important for the spirit in trying circumstances, especially in a society that relied so much on fine appearances and formality and (I think) was probably trying to prove that nothing could make them abandon their ways. A very interesting portrait of a special kind of fighting spirit.

[tulip]

"Soon after completing and wearing our home-made muslins, news came into our settlement that a steamer had run the blockade and that the city of Eufaula had secured some bolts of prints and other notions. The Saturday following the report, Mr. G---- ordered Ben to harness up the horses and we were driven to Eufaula, not to buy, but simply to have a look at these imports.

Sure enough, on the shelves in the store that had long lain empty, there were tastefully disposed a few bolts of English prints, some ladies' straw hats, a bolt or two of fine bleached stuff, some calico and a few pairs of ladies' shoes. . .

When we had held aloft our knit and cloth-made shoes and slippers, with the words, 'What do we care for the blockade when we can makes such as these?' We had little dreamed that our firmness would so suddenly collapse before three bolts of calico and a few pairs of black morocco shoes, lined with red and deep blue leather, laced high and scalloped around the top edge. Yet so it was, for when the merchant unfolded to our view his brand new prints, looking so fresh and novel, we four had nine yards a piece cut off, paying twelve dollars per yard for it. It was something over a yard wide, and as we knew nothing of the ruffling, puffing, plaiting, tucking or shirring of overskirts or polonaises outside the blockade, nine yards were amply sufficient for a dress.

The design of that print is yet vivid to my memory. The background was a pale blending of violet with white; the foreground was dotted with violets of deep purple color. I bought the same day a plain brown straw hat, paying one hundred dollars for it, and a half quire of small white note-paper for forty dollars. A pair of morocco gaiters cost one of the daughters three hundred and seventy-five dollars. . .

Our neighbors as soon as it was noised about in that quiet settlement . . . that we had new store-bought calicoes, all paid us a visit in order that they might see how a new print looked amidst so much home-woven cloth; and a bit of scraps left was given each visitor. I sent a small scrap of my new calico -- our war-time calicoes, as we then and afterward called them -- in a letter to my relatives in Georgia. Whenever any one was so fortunate as to secure a new print, small scraps of it were sent in letters to friends and relatives, so rare were new calicoes."

<u>A Blockaded Family - Life in Southern Alabama During the Civil War</u> by Parthenia Antoinette Hague 1888, pgs 90-93

[thea_447]

Judith McGuire told about clothing:
We can't get a muslin dress for less than $6 or $8 per yard; calico $1.75, etc. (The prices continued to climb as the war dragged on.) This last is no great hardship, for we will all resort to homespun. We are knitting our own stockings, and regret that we did not learn to spin and weave. The North Carolina homespun is exceedingly pretty, and makes a genteel dress; the only difficulty is in the dye; the colours are pretty, but we have not learned the art of setting the wood colours; but we are improving in that art too, and when the first dye fades, we can dip them again in the dye.

[thea_447]

Judith McGuire of Richmond continues:
"Almost every girl plaits her own hat, and that of her father, brother, and lover, if she has the bad taste to have a lover out of the army, which no girl of spirit would do unless he is incapacitated by sickness or wounds. But these hats are beautifully plaited of rye straw, and the ladies' hats are shaped so becomingly, that though a Parisian milliner might pronounce them old-fashioned, and laugh them to scorn, yet our Confederate girls look fresh and lovely in them, with their gentle countenances and bright, enthusiastic eyes; and what do we care for Parisian style, particularly as it would have to come to us through Yankee-land? The blockade has taught our people their own resources."

Side-bar: I love the South and the Confederacy but I can't see these Steel Magnolias tolerating anyone with a mere wound lying about. Bet they had 'em back at the front as soon as their Rebel legs would gamely march out. -T-

(Message edited by thea_447 on December 29, 2003)

[thea_447]

Parthenia Antoinette Hague reported:
"The woods, as well as being the great storehouse for all our dye-stuffs, were also our drug stores. The berries of the dogwood-tree were taken for quinine, as they contained the alkaloid properties of cinchona and Peruvian bark. A soothing and efficacious cordial for dysentery and similar ailments was made from blackberry roots. An extract of the barks of the wild cherry, dogwood, poplar, and wahoo trees was used for chills and agues. For coughs and all lung diseases a syrup made with the leaves and roots of the mullein plant, globe flower, and wild-cherry tree bark was thought to be infallible. Of course the castor-bean plant was gather in the wild state in the forest, for making castor oil."

"Many also cultivated a few rows of poppies in their garden to make opium, from which our laudanum was created; and this at times was very needful."

[thea_447]

Cakes for the Holidays.

A lady correspondent of the American Agriculturist gives the following receipts for making good cake for the holidays:
Welcome Cake.—Stir a cup and a half of sugar and half a cup of butter together, with three well beaten eggs. Sift a teaspoonful of cream of tartar, and half a teaspoonful of soda with three small cups of flour; this, with half a cup of milk, must be mixed with the above, and baked in a moderately quick oven. By adding raisins and currents, ½ lb. of each, a very good fruit cake may be made.
New Year's Cake.—1 cup of butter, 1 of sugar, 1 teaspoonful of cream of tartar, ½ teaspoonful of soda, and caraway seeds to the taste. Flour must be added till the dough is fit to roll—these require a quick oven.
Spice Cake.—1 cup of sugar, 2 of molasses, ½ cup butter, a teaspoonful of spice, and one of soda dissolved in a little milk; add flour till it is quite stiff; then roll thin and cut in cakes. Bake quick.
Wealthy Cake.—Take ½ pound of butter, ¾ pound of sugar, the same of flour, 4 eggs, 2 lb. of seeded raisins, 1 pound of currants, ¼ pound of citron, 1 gill of brandy. Spice well with nutmeg and ground cloves. Bake slowly three hours. This cake will keep six months. Icing for the cake: beat the white of two eggs to a froth, then stir in half a pound of powdered sugar. Flavor with a little essence of lemon, and spread on with a knife when the cake is cold.

(My source did not indicate where the "American Agriculturist" originated. Methinks these cakes would only have been dreamt of in the South during the WBTS.)