Block 8
Confederate Silver
8" Version
Confederate Silver, a basic patchwork design, recalls the deprivations that started to appear in Louisiana. After a year and a half of war even the basics were hard to come by .
In the fall of 1862 Sarah Morgan left part of her family boarding in the town of Clinton , while she accepted the hospitality of her sister-in-law's family at Linwood Plantation, near Port Hudson on the Mississippi, held by the Confederates.
Linwood was photographed for the first edition of Sarah's diary.
Albert G. Carter finished building the house in 1848. His daughter Lydia married
Thomas Gibbes Morgan, Jr., Sarah's brother.
The young women were invited to view a dress parade, although the General
extending the invitation warned them he could only send a "Confederate
carriage," a wagon drawn by a mule.
A mule team and the driver
Drawing by Edwin Forbes
Library of Congress
September
24, 1862, Linwood, East Feliciana Parish
"Now,
in present phraseology, 'Confederate' means anything that is rough, unfinished,
unfashionable, or poor. You hear of Confederate dresses, which means last
year's. Confederate bridle means a rope halter. Confederate silver, a tin cup
or spoon. Confederate flour is corn meal….
"And
what a sad sight the Fourth Louisiana was, that was then parading! Men that had
fought at Shiloh and Baton Rouge
were barefooted. Rags was their only uniform for very few possessed a complete
suit, and those few wore all varieties of colors and cuts. Hats could be seen
of every style and shape from the first ever invented down to the last one
purchased evidently sometime since. Yet he who had no shoes looked as happy as
he who had, and he who had a cap had something to toss up, that's all."
Linwood is the white square
Block 8
Confederate Silver
Snapshot of Sandi Brothers's 12" version
with a 1" frame, set on point
The pieced block has a BlockBase number.
BlockBase #2301
But it is so basic that a name hasn't been published.
Cutting 12"
There is only one pattern piece.
Cut 2 squares dark and light 13-1/4" (13 3-16" if you use the 1/16th" default)
Cut each square into 4 triangles with 2 cuts. You only need two triangles of each shading.
Cutting 8"
Cut 2 squares dark and light 9-1/4" (9 3-16" if you use the 1/16th" default)
Cut each square into 4 triangles with 2 cuts. You only need two triangles of each shading.
To piece the block think diagonally and join 2 triangles to make a larger triangle.
Optional
applique:
Applique a
star or a heart after piecing.
Go back to the
January 5, 2013 post to see a JPG with the heart and the star.
Northern cartoonists satirized the Confederate solider
in 1862. Despite deprivations they hung on for three more years.
Has any historian ever hypothesized scenarios in which the Confederates might have proposed a gradual end to slavery and a sort of truce to save their economy? Was that ever even thought of? I can't help feeling they brought this all upon themselves with their insistence upon maintaining their small,select elite class with all its power and privileges.
ReplyDeleteHad some questions about your blog. Could you email me at mthomas@quailbell.com
ReplyDeleteThanks!