Trip to Gettysburg

This happens to me a lot: Sometimes I have so much fun, I have nothing to write about. At first, this may seem counterintuitive but thinking deeper on it, it makes a lot of sense. If you are too busy having fun, you are not thinking about how you are going to write about the fun you just had.

We all know people who are good storytellers, who can make the mundane seem extraordinary. You know that person who can write about something with such imagination and passion that you'd believe that the thing that they just did was the most interesting thing in the world? You might even wish you were with them. Until you remember that you were with them and it was really boring. I'd like to call this the Facebook Effect, as this seems to be the case with a lot of the content on Facebook, but I feel I've been harsh to Facebook as it tends to unfairly represent all social media. Many sites refer to this "everyone is having more fun than me" sensation as the "fear of missing out."

This is the opposite of that. This is when you experience and learn so much that you don't even know where to begin. You have so much to say that words fail you. In time, I'll be able to sieve my experiences and write about them, but right now, I am overloaded with Civil War bliss and can't think of anything to write. Normally when this happens, I just post photos.

I finally got to do some of the historical stuff I have been wanting to do. I visit a lot of historical sites during the summer, but most of the time, it is while reenacting. Reenacting is fun, but sometimes I really just want to see the historic sites and learn about the history. There is something very special about standing on the ground where something momentous took place.

Yesterday and today, Andy and I did the full tour of Gettysburg. It is always raining when we go and we have never been able to visit all of the things we'd like to see. We normally do the "quick and dirty" tour and leave. Yes, it was raining today, but we decided we'd do it anyway. :D Gettysburg is normally a lot of fun, but we very much enjoyed getting to see much more than we normally do.

P.S. Just so this post doesn't unfairly represent our experiences, I leave the following disclaimer:  

It was cold. It was raining. I slipped on a rock near Spangler's Spring; hurting my ankle, knee and pride. Our hotel was renovating. We locked our keys in the car (and lost the spare.) We had numerous camera troubles, in particular places of personal interest, such as the monument dedicated to the regiment that Andy's ancestors were in. We spent a good 40 minutes in the muddy woods looking for a rock formation. Our directions to the hotel were wrong. :D               

Stealing History

There is a new, awful news story in my sidebar. I'm afraid that I am going to have to make "Stealing History" a regular installment on here. First there was E. Forbes Smiley, the thefts from the Wisconsin Historical Society then Lowry, now we have this man pictured at left.

On December 15, this man stole $7,000 worth of Civil War relics from The Battles for Chattanooga Museum at Point Park, Tennessee. This man opened a glass display case and stole a small display frame containing original belt buckles.  

Not much is known about the thief, although the theft was caught on camera. There is a $1,000 reward. You can view a video of the theft here. 

Many museum thefts can be solved because the artifacts taken are generally one of a kind and memorable to people who frequented the museum. The belt buckles stolen here will look little different from other Civil War belt buckles, as they were mass produced. The video is surprisingly clear, hopefully someone will be able to identify the thief before the buckles disappear.

Unfortunately, this will keep happening again and again as museums are underfunded and understaffed. Few museums can afford extra security or to track down missing objects. History pieces are poorly protected and fetch high prices as almost every history lover is also a personal collector.     

Confederate Prices "What a Dinner Cost in 1864"

When reading primary sources from the Civil War, people of the time often mention the prices of various items. Many times you can feel their astonishment such as Kate Cumming, a confederate nurse who admitted in her journal that while at a wedding she saw a gown made from Swiss muslin and could not help but wonder about the price, "The article was very scarce at present; the last I heard of cost fifty dollars per yard." She also tells of items so scare that they could not be had at any price.





However, it is very hard to put these prices into comparable terms. The blockade seriously affected the supply of many items including fabric, medicines, books, and foodstuffs. When these items became available, the prices could be high or low depending on area and scarcity. Frequently, items would be available in pockets. Milk might be available in one town and scarce in the next and the prices reflected the supply.    

The type of money also was reflected in the prices. Confederate money fluctuated frequently. Union money was more stable, but when traveling in the south, some people were hesitant to accept it.

What could $13 a month army pay buy?

- 8.67 pounds of cheese ( $1.50 a pound)
- 130 apples ( 10 cents a piece)
- 52 oranges ( 25 cents an orange)
- 13 small pies ($1 a pie)
- 17.3 pairs of wool socks ( 75 cents a pair)
- 6.5 bottles of bad whiskey, ($2 a bottle according to William McCarter in My Life in the Irish Brigade.) 
-156 Cartes de Visite ($1 per dozen at the cheapest in Philadelphia, according to West Philadelphia Hospital Register published in 1863. 
- 3.54 "dates" with a lady of the night (3 for $11 according to Hugh D. Cameron of the 3rd North Carolina Cavalry as stated in The Story the Soldiers Wouldn't Tell by Thomas P. Lowry.)
-Soap, candles, coffee, flour, tea, and sugar in the South? Priceless. 

The prices above are generally from Northerners, traveling in the South. Due to the shortages and the inflation of confederate currency, it is very difficult to put an amount on any goods. Dolly Burge, who was living in Georgia wrote in her diary in November of 1864 that she "Paid seven dollars a pound for coffee, six dollars an ounce for indigo, twenty dollars for a quire of paper, five dollars for ten cents' worth of flax thread, six dollars for pins, and forty dollars for a bunch of factory thread." Burge was originally from Maine and was used to the prewar, northern pricing. We gain the best comparison of Confederate to Union in "five dollars for ten cents' worth of flax thread." 

There is a really interesting summary of the inflation in the Confederacy from 1861-1865 at Confederate Inflation Rates.  This site has a chart that shows the purchasing power of a Confederate dollar throughout the war.

Why do we watch a ball drop on New Years Eve? New Year's and Time Balls

As the end of the year approaches, we are all busy preparing for parties and New Year’s resolutions.  At 11:59, we’ll look to Times Square (or watch it on TV) and anxiously watch as the ball begins to drop. But what are we really watching? What started out in 1907 as an advertising ploy has become a national tradition. 

The Times Square Ball was erected in December of 1907 to advertise for The New York Times. It has been dropped every year since except for 2 years during WWII due to mandated blackouts.  The ball has been remade 6 times since the first dropping. 

While dropping a ball seems like a bizarre custom to us today, it seemed obvious to the creators in the 1900s who were familiar with real time balls (also known as signal balls.) Time balls, wooden balls held on poles above tall buildings near bodies of water, had been used since 1829 to help seamen calibrate their marine chronometers and watches. Marine chronometers of the time were imperfect and needed to be reset each time in port to keep navigation calculations correct.  

A popular time ball, erected at Greenwich Conservatory in 1833, dropped daily at 1 pm to a sea of waiting ships. It became the standard for time. Time balls in the United States dropped at 12 PM. 5 minutes before the hour; the balls were raised half way to signal the hour was approaching.  When the hour struck, the ball was released. Many seamen would stare at the balls, waiting for the drop, like we do today counting down to the new year. 

Happy New Year! I hope everyone has a fun and safe celebration tonight. 

Virtual Christmas Tour of Longwood Gardens

 Merry Christmas!

A few days ago, a friend took me to Longwood Gardens to celebrate the end of the semester. I am a native Pennsylvanian who lives about 30 minutes from Longwood Gardens; but I haven't been there since I was little. For some reason, we tend to write off the places that we are close to as nowhere near as exciting as those places farther away. :D

I wish I could have wrote more, but it's Christmas. I hope all of you have a good holiday and enjoy the photos.