Confederate Col. John S. Green

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2nd Lieutenant
Joined
Oct 27, 2012
Location
California
This is one of my favorites.

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John "Shac" Shackleford Green was born on June 9, 1817, in Rappahannock County, Virginia and became a farmer. In response to the April 14, 1861, surrender at Fort Sumter, President Lincoln raised the call for 75,000 volunteers to put down the southern rebellion. In turn, Green enlisted in the Confederacy on April 22, 1861. After the formation of the 6th Virginia Calvary, he became a Captain in Company B.

Green was promoted to Major, April 30, 1862 and to Lt. Colonel on July 16, 1862. He served as a commanding officer in the field with Thomas Flournoy, a former United States Congressman and unsuccessful candidate for Virginia Governor.

Green became a Prisoner of War and was paroled on September 22, 1862. He was acquitted by court-martial of disobedience of orders and breach of arrest on September 17, 1863. Green resigned on April 23, 1864 for the good of the service. On this General Jeb Stuart wrote that Green "deserves credit for his patriotism. The service will be benefitted beyond a doubt by its acceptance." His resignation was recorded as of May 19, 1864.

After the war Green lived in Norfolk until his death at the age of 73 on January 1, 1891.

The 6th Virginia Cavalry, in which Green served, has an interesting and colorful history. Formed a few months after the battle of First Bull Run (First Manassas) they participated in many major battles as part of the Army of Northern Virginia for the rest of the war. The year after they were formed they fought in Second Bull Run (Second Manassas), Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, among others.

The Sixth Virginia Calvary, joining Jubal Early, played a part in many of the operations in the Shenandoah Valley and Appomattox. When Lee surrendered on April 9th, 1865 only three men of the 6th Cavalry surrendered. The rest broke through the Union lines to continue the Southern struggle. Soon they too realized that it was a lost cause and disbanded without surrendering.
 
I'm interested in their hair.. it's mostly always longer and combed to one side or the other. And oily, due to lack of washing.. which helped it stay in place better. In a lot of the photos it looks like a hat has just been taken off too.
 
I'm interested in their hair.. it's mostly always longer and combed to one side or the other. And oily, due to lack of washing.. which helped it stay in place better. In a lot of the photos it looks like a hat has just been taken off too.

I think washing of any kind (not just hair) was not that common in the 19th century. I think some of that came from the belief system that bathing was unhealthy, but I suspect also that it had a lot to do with lack of running water in homes.

It's been a few years since I have done any camping, but that always seemed to be the first thing to go. It was just too difficult to get sufficient water for a bath and without running water a shower was not even possible. I think it would be similar to camping all the time, except that your structure was nicer than a tent. While it is most obvious in the photos (as you pointed out) in hair, I think at the time you would have been able to notice it first by the smell (that is if you could smell them over yourself).
 
I think washing of any kind (not just hair) was not that common in the 19th century. I think some of that came from the belief system that bathing was unhealthy, but I suspect also that it had a lot to do with lack of running water in homes.

It's been a few years since I have done any camping, but that always seemed to be the first thing to go. It was just too difficult to get sufficient water for a bath and without running water a shower was not even possible. I think it would be similar to camping all the time, except that your structure was nicer than a tent. While it is most obvious in the photos (as you pointed out) in hair, I think at the time you would have been able to notice it first by the smell (that is if you could smell them over yourself).

On the point of bathing, I remember as a child in the 50's, my mother was divorced from my father and we lived with my grandparents outside Lewisburg, WV. They had no running water and bath night was a tub on the kitchen floor with water hand carried and some heated on the wood stove. You hoped you were not last in line as the tub was not emptyed and refilled after each bather. That is how it was done and Im thinking also in the 1860's. Given the effort I don't find it surprising that they did not bath on a daily basis.
 
On the point of bathing, I remember as a child in the 50's, my mother was divorced from my father and we lived with my grandparents outside Lewisburg, WV. They had no running water and bath night was a tub on the kitchen floor with water hand carried and some heated on the wood stove. You hoped you were not last in line as the tub was not emptyed and refilled after each bather. That is how it was done and Im thinking also in the 1860's. Given the effort I don't find it surprising that they did not bath on a daily basis.


I agree. You hear a lot of people talk about the idea that germs where unknown and that benefits of washing and bathing was little understood, but I think an equal part of it was just the sheer physical labor involved.

I do not envy you growing up heating water on a wood stove with no running water. I'm sure you empathize with the hardships of the Civil War era more than most.
 
I agree. You hear a lot of people talk about the idea that germs where unknown and that benefits of washing and bathing was little understood, but I think an equal part of it was just the sheer physical labor involved.

I do not envy you growing up heating water on a wood stove with no running water. I'm sure you empathize with the hardships of the Civil War era more than most.

We did evolve after my mother remarried and we moved to White Sulphur Springs. We had all the modern conviences on my 4th birthday. We did still have contact with several relatives who refused to change. I have to admit I liked the old ways, but do not follow them today. I had an uncle who incidently served in the, battle of the bulge, who said it was not sanitary to go to the bathroom in the house. Though my aunt convinced him to install an indoor bathroom he continued to use the outhouse for the rest of his life.
 
We did evolve after my mother remarried and we moved to White Sulphur Springs. We had all the modern conviences on my 4th birthday. We did still have contact with several relatives who refused to change. I have to admit I liked the old ways, but do not follow them today. I had an uncle who incidently served in the, battle of the bulge, who said it was not sanitary to go to the bathroom in the house. Though my aunt convinced him to install an indoor bathroom he continued to use the outhouse for the rest of his life.

I have never lived in a house without running water, but did live in one that only had a wood burning stove for heat. When my wife and I first lived together (and this was only in 1989) the house we rented had a wood burning stove, no other heat of any kind. It got cold enough the first winter that the water in the Christmas tree in the house froze.

It was difficult to plan for heat several hours in advance. We had to start building the fire about 3-4 hours before we anticipated it being cold. Same with turning off the heat. We had to stop stoking the fire so it would cool down.

My brother and his wife visited one year and insisted on throwing more and more wood on the fire. I told him that it was too much and that we needed to stop putting on wood, but he did not listen. The temperature outside was in the low 30's, but he had put on so much wood that when we sat down for dinner we had to open all of the doors and windows and change into shorts & T shirts to combat the heat! What really sucked is that he burned up about a weeks worth of wood in one night.
 
I have never lived in a house without running water, but did live in one that only had a wood burning stove for heat. When my wife and I first lived together (and this was only in 1989) the house we rented had a wood burning stove, no other heat of any kind. It got cold enough the first winter that the water in the Christmas tree in the house froze.

It was difficult to plan for heat several hours in advance. We had to start building the fire about 3-4 hours before we anticipated it being cold. Same with turning off the heat. We had to stop stoking the fire so it would cool down.

My brother and his wife visited one year and insisted on throwing more and more wood on the fire. I told him that it was too much and that we needed to stop putting on wood, but he did not listen. The temperature outside was in the low 30's, but he had put on so much wood that when we sat down for dinner we had to open all of the doors and windows and change into shorts & T shirts to combat the heat! What really sucked is that he burned up about a weeks worth of wood in one night.

Ha, rookie mistake. I got a fisher wood stove 39 years ago when we bought this house. On the first trial we did the wide open test and had to open all the doors and windows in feb. After we learned that the jacked steele outer and fire bricked lined liner worked in concert, we knew we could load up the fire box and shut back the drafts and enjoy 10 to 12 hours of heat on one arm load of wood. Since we remodled the kitchen the wife does not like the mess but during power failures she is grateful for the heat. I know the fisher will heat the whole house so I love to use it..

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Ha, rookie mistake.

Yeah, my big mistake was not telling my brother to stop. I loved that stove, worked great. When we first moved in I was a bit concerned about it (no experience) and decided to not use the stove. Instead I bought a 50,000 BTU outdoor space heater and set it up on top of the wood burning stove. I bought a can of propane and fired it up. My wife (girlfriend at the time) came running into the room. It sounded like a jet engine. The heat was amazing. She started yelling at me (which was not easy with the thing blasting away) to turn it off. She was really ticked that I would bring an outdoor heater inside. I figured as long as I left a window open and put it on top of the wood stove, what was the harm. Well that did not work.

After I returned it I started chopping some wood (we had some on the property) and using the stove. I was amazed just how well it worked. It really sucked on those cold mornings though getting up at 5 or 6 AM to start a fire so we could be warm when we got out of bed.

Can't say that I miss it though. Getting a bit old these days to be chopping and carrying wood.
 
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