Valentine’s Day during the Civil War.

It’s Valentine’s Day and many of us are busy planning sweet surprises: flower arrangements, chocolate, and lovely cards for our sweethearts. Although we should all value our loved ones on a daily basis, we sometimes need a special day to make an extra effort to let them know how much they are needed and appreciated in our lives. Valentine’s cards are a big part of this special day, modern love letters you could say. In a time where handwritten notes or love letters have been replaced by electronic greetings and standardized cards, it’s still nice to get a customized proclamation of love.

During the Civil War era Valentine’s Day cards were popular among the lonely soldiers and their waiting wives and sweethearts. The country had many plants that manufactured cards, targeting soldiers away from home. Some of the cards showed sweethearts parting and others pictured battlefield tents. Other Valentines were more creative, such as a heart split in two, reflecting the absence of their loved ones and the soldiers longing for their homes.

Troops encamped in tents made window Valentines with flaps to reveal a soldier inside waiting for his sweetheart with open arms. Another popular novelty during the Civil War was a Valentine containing a lock of hair from a girlfriend or wife far away, which the soldiers treasured. Something known as a Puzzle Purse was invented during this time as well. These were formed by folding the four corners of a square envelope inward and writing a message on the inside of each flap. Many times the puzzle contained a piece of jewelry or a lock of a lover’s hair.

Remember your loved ones on this special day and put some thought into doing Valentine’s Day the old fashioned way; write a nice poem or make a handmade card from you to your dearest.

Christmas During the Civil War

Christmas is upon us once again and everyone is busy preparing food for the Holiday feast or doing last-minute shopping at the mall or online. It’s hard to imagine the soldiers during the Civil War, spending Christmas away from their families.

Many holiday traditions we enjoy today became commonplace during the Civil War, including Christmas trees, Santa Claus, gift-giving, caroling, and holiday feasting. Christmas was celebrated in both the United and the Confederate States but the day didn’t become an official Federal holiday until five years after the war ended in an attempt by President Ulysses S. Grant to unite the north and south.

One of the most popular Christmas traditions, the Christmas tree, had become popular in the years leading up the war, and in the early 1860s, many families started to decorate them. Many families spent lonely Christmases during the war but most of them still had a Christmas tree, which became the centerpiece for the home. The trees were often small and sat on a table, adorned with homemade decorations such as strings of dried fruit, popcorn, pine cones, colored paper and silver foil. It was only a matter of time before the Christmas tree made its way into military camps, decorated by the soldiers with salt pork and hardtack.

Christmas, however, also made the pain of being separated from loved ones more acute. As the Civil War dragged on, bountiful meals were replaced with deprivations and familiar faces were missing from the family dinner table. Soldiers were scavenging for firewood and singing drinking songs around the campfire instead of caroling in church. Children in the devastated South received fewer presents, many of them homemade such as carved toys, cakes or fruits. Children worried about the Union blockade stopping Santa Claus on his way south and excuses for the lack of Santa included one where the Yankees had shot him.

Christmas carols, hymns and seasonal songs were sung during the period both at home and in the camps. Some of the popular ones such as “Silent Night”, “Deck the Halls”, “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” are still sung today.

Given our present day technology, it’s hard to imagine how difficult it must have been for soldiers and their families to be separated during Christmas. So this year, no matter how much eggnog Uncle Ken has had or how ugly the sweater your mother-in-law gifted you is, let’s all take a moment to appreciate our loved ones during the Holidays!

Charleston: 150 Years After The Great Fire

Monday marked the 150^th anniversary of the “Great Fire” of Charleston in 1861. The fire caused as much damage to our genteel city as the Civil War itself—if not more. The fire started late on the night of December 11, 1861, and burned a path through the heart of the city until 5 a.m. on December 12. By the time the fire ended it had destroyed more than a third of the city.

No one ever knew for sure how the fire started. One account has the fire starting from a cooking fire lit by slaves for their master, who had fled before the Union soldiers advancing in the coastal islands. Mysterious fires were often blamed on slaves during the Civil War era, but the Great Fire of 1861 was believed to have started from that cooking fire at Russell and Company’s Sash and Blind factory on Hasell Street. The fire spread quickly, fueled by a windy Nor’easter and an endless supply of wooden buildings—and because most of the city’s firemen had left to join the army. Many people were able to save some of their belongings, but few could stop the fire from destroying their homes.

It took weeks to tally the city’s losses, but in the end the burned area covered 540 acres and over 500 hundred buildings. Locals estimated the damages at the time to be $7 million dollars.

With the city in shambles, the people of Charleston turned out to help. Business was suspended and planters sent produce into town for the needy. “Soup houses” were opened to feed those left homeless and relief committees were established to house the homeless and to raise money for the victims. Even the Georgia legislature sent money.

For the remainder of the Civil War Charleston lay in ruins. The effects of the fire were long lasting and rebuilding was slow in the decades following the Civil War. Damages caused by the fire often came to be associated with damages from the war and photographs of the burned city were often misrepresented as damage caused by Union guns. In reality, however, the Great Fire of 1861 did more damage to our city in one night than the “Lincolnites” could have ever hoped for.

We’re in the midst of the Sesquicentennial…

2010 to 1015 marks the Sesquicentennial observance and celebration of the Civil War, and there are many events happening in the Lowcountry for the occasion to remember the happenings of 1860-1865.

As we near the 2011 holiday season, I often wonder what Christmastime was like for Charleston residents in the midst of the Civil War. One way to explore this is to take in “Christmas 1860,” an event at the Edmondston-Alston House on December 2 and 9. The historic home will be decorated in a similar fashion to the way it was in 1860, and historians (dressed to the nines) will tell stories about the Holy City during the Civil War period.

This event will take place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. both dates, and it will save you a few bucks to purchase tickets in advance ($17.50, versus $22.50 at the door).

In the meantime, we still have Thanksgiving to get through… but I’m always thinking ahead!

For more information about Christmas 1860, visit www.edmondstonalston.org.

See you out there… and bundle up! It’s getting chilly.

We were still consumers… even during the Civil War

Downtown Charleston during the Civil War

A lot of people are surprised to learn that the atmosphere in downtown Charleston today isn’t necessarily that different than during the Civil War. If you walk down to King Street today, I bet you’ll see hundreds of folks strolling amongst the restaurants and shops. And back then, you’d see the same thing. The shops and stores were open, and there was really a sense of normalcy that most people wouldn’t expect to exist during a time of war.

So while Charlestonians were dealing with war, most of the time they were going about their normal activities. They still had dreams, they still had goals, and yes… they still went shopping.