The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Civil War Homefront-- Part 2: Mourning Dress and Salt

Mourning customs, especially as economic ability and social status stood, could go on for as much two years.  I remember Scarlett O'Hare in "GWTW" saying how unhappy she was to be still wearing mourning clothes for her first husband (of course, anything more than a couple days would be too much for her).

Re-enactor Linda Humphries wore a dress of mourning with fabric that she made and said was "no longer made. It made a very sturdy, dull fabric- you didn't want to wear things that were bright."

Her dress was dark, but not black.  Black dye was an imported good and homemade creations to produce the color were unstable.

Eating in the Confederacy became a big problem.  Saltworks on the coast were under heavy demand to produce enough to preserve meat, especially when it could be had.

--Old Secesh

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