Sassy Civil War Heroines

After our last meet-up, Caroline and I decided that we needed to do that kind of thing more often, so we decided to have one during the Olustee Festival, which I mentioned in Caroline's birthday post.  This will be a Lolita meet-up, and I left Caroline to figure out the theme because she's really good at it (waaaay better than I am).  Caroline's idea is that our outfits should be inspired by female civil war heroes.  Inspired is the key word there so we'll have a lot of room for creativity.  When I went searching for my heroine, I found so many interesting and inspiring ladies that it was hard to choose.  I narrowed it down to these top three.


1) Kate Warne

Kate Warne was the first woman that stood out to me.  She worked for the Pinkerton Agency as the first female detective in the United States.  She was so very mysterious and went by so many different names that no one is sure what her real name was.  Before the war she helped to foil an attempted assassination of president-elect Abraham Lincoln.  During the Civil War she did intelligence work for the Union, going where men usually couldn't.  She continued to work as a detective after the war.



This is believed to be the only photograph of Kate Warne, who is supposedly the person leaning on the pole (disguised, obviously).



2) Martha Coston

I was also intrigued by Martha Coston.  She wasn't actually very involved with the Civil War, but her invention was.  Martha married a promising inventor when she was only a teenager.  Sadly, her husband's work killed him, and she was left alone with four children at the age of 21.  Not long after that her mother and one of her children died, and her husband's money ran out.  Desperate, she looked through her husband's plans to see if she could find an invention to sell.  All she could find was a meager set of plans for night signals to be used at sea.  Despite barely anything to go on, Martha decided to work at making the signals.  It took her years, and a ton of failures, before a final product was tested by the Navy.  And it worked!  She received a patent for her signals and the Navy began using them just after the beginning of the Civil War to help blockade southern ports.

Martha Coston

3) Sarah Emma Edmonds

The last woman who caught my eye is Sarah Emma Edmonds.  She was originally from Canada, but she ran away from home to get out of an arranged marriage her abusive father was forcing her into.  She came to the United States and settled in Michigan, but when the Civil War broke out she disguised herself as a man, called herself Franklin Flint Thompson, and enlisted in the Union army.  While in the military Sarah first served as a male field nurse, then later became a spy.  She was a master of disguise, able to become any character she wanted, black or white, male or female.  Her career came to an end when she contracted Malaria.  She didn't want to be discovered as a woman so she left the military and went to a private hospital.  She planned on returning but her alter ego was seen as a deserter, so she remained Sarah and became a female nurse.  She later wrote about her exploits in her book Nurse and Spy in the Union Army, and her story has been retold in several works of fiction, such as Ann Rinaldi's Girl in Blue.


Sarah Emma Edmonds posing as Franklin Thompson.



All of these ladies are awesome because they defied the social norms of their times and helped to defend their country.  Which one will I choose?  Regardless, it will be an honor to have any of these ladies as my inspiration.





Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Warne
https://noticingbones.wordpress.com/2012/10/10/kate-warne/
http://www.americancivilwarstory.com/martha-coston.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Emma_Edmonds
http://www.fold3.com/page/778_female_civil_war_soldiers_spies/stories/#2327/

From Dreams

My life is just SO exciting that I couldn't even find anything to write about this week.  Since Friday night I've been struggling to find something, anything, to write about.  Though it's small, and will most likely be short, I finally figured something out.

Last night I finished my dream journal.  Last summer I decided that I would try to start writing down any of my dreams that I could remember in hopes of having some more story material, and to just laugh at what my sleeping brain comes up with.  I was still in the throes of an obsession with creating books, so instead of finding a little journal I liked I decided to make one instead.

I did the basic book-making last summer when I was still in Tallahassee, but I never got around to finishing the cover until yesterday.  I used my favorite technique, which I could probably do in my sleep now, and the whole thing turned out very similar to a book I made in this post.

I'm really happy with the way it turned out.  I did it with plain cream-colored paper, and then found some really crazy fabric in my mom's scrap pile that I wanted to cover it with.  It immediately made me think of dreaming when I saw it.  I had to use a special glue to keep the edges of the fabric from fraying, and I also had to pre-punch the holes before I started sewing, because the paper used for this kind of book is super thick.

I wrote in it a little bit last summer before I finished it, but I forgot about it for a while, so it only has a few entries in it.  It will definitely be taking up residence in my night stand from now on.  Since a lot of my stories come from my dreams, whatever mess I dream is going to be really important one day, like this gem:

July 18, 2014
We were running around a hospital getting into
trouble.  We stole a baby and they kicked us out.

I wonder what kind of story I can write with that?

In Which We Celebrate Caroline's Birthday, And Maybe Teacups

Caroline's Birthday was earlier this month, and since we haven't seen much of each other since my birthday we tried to organize a meet-up.  It was difficult, and even though it happened a week and a half after, we did it!  This is the reason why I'm doing this post today and not Friday.

We met yesterday morning, downtown in our hometown.  It's been a little dead in that area in the past few years, but there are still some good little treasures down there.  We went in a consignment shop and a "high-end antique store." (This is what I'm calling it, because it just looked expensive.)  My favorite place we visited, though, was Rowand's.  It's an antique mall that's been around for many years, and I've always enjoyed visiting it.

We dressed Mori Girl for the day.  The theme was Woodland Creatures, but we only followed it loosely because neither of us really have anything animal-like.  We both ended up in dark Mori, coincidentally.  Caroline wore a fox pin for the theme and I dressed in black and grey and called myself a wolf.

 

My Camera was making everything blue before I fixed it.  Skirt from Old Navy.  Black sweater from JC Penney.  Belt from Kohl's.  Necklace made by me.  Everything else is thrifted.

I love her velvet skirt! VELVET!

The ladies at Rowand's were preparing for the upcoming Olustee Festival, which is the biggest event of the year for Lake City.  It's a festival commemorating the Battle of Olustee, the biggest Civil War battle in Florida.  There will be tons of vendors selling things, battle reenactments, people wearing Civil War costumes, a beauty pageant, and a fun run.  People come from all over the country to be in the reenactment.  At Rowand's they were decorating the big front display windows with props and clothing.  There was a beautiful crinoline period dress in the display, and Caroline and I both agreed that we would totally wear it.  I just wish the glare on the glass hadn't made the pictures so awful.

Isn't it lovely?

We spent a while perusing the place.  There were teacups galore, and I wanted every single one of them.  I nearly bought one, but I restrained myself.  Instead I just took pictures of every one I saw.  There were so many that I think I'll just show you some of my favorites.

I love the design on this one. 

I almost bought this one because it was only $9. 

This was one of the most beautiful teacups I saw. 

I really loved the one on the bottom left. 

 

This was probably the most unique one in the store. 

I almost missed this one hiding in a case. 

Loving the dogwood print. 

These were so cute and tiny! 

See, look how tiny it is compared to my hand!

There were plenty of other things to see there too.  There was a collection of Civil war clothing upstairs that I totally forgot to photograph.  Special me.

There were a lot of little figurines of children doing strange things.

I think this child is feeding a squirrel. And her friend is practicing his karate chop.

I don't know what they're picking. 

Or what's going on here. 

That girl on the right looks like she's about to fall asleep. But her outfit is cute.

The girl on the right has such big eyes it's creepy.  And the other girl has tied grapes to the gift she's carrying.

Downstairs there was a section that had glass cases filled and topped with jewelry and other smallish things.

 

There was a whole section of pipes. 

And this cool horn. 

 

I loved this bowl of old photos.  We found some Mori Girls in there. 

I also loved this collection of cameos.  I need more brooches. 

The one in the center with the three girls was my favorite. 

 

 

I also want a pocket watch. 

 

 

I really liked this scarf clip, which I first thought was a brooch.  I ended up buying it later on.

Caroline loved this doll, but I thought she was creepy.

Along with this wall of masks. 

And this clown.

 The creepy clown was guarding this beautiful lace bonnet.

And these curtains. 

And this awesome antique sewing machine.

There were a couple of old baby carriages.  Caroline really wanted to buy the dolls in this one. 

This one ad a funny little umbrella on it. 

I wanted these teapots that I almost missed.

 

 

Apparently this place is for all your Rococo needs. (For your inner Lolita)

This mirror was so ornate. 

I really want a silver tea set. 

I think this was supposed to be a fox. 

I'm pretty sure this was a bell.  I just wanted it because it's pretty and there's German on it.

A picture of a Shirley Temple doll printed on a plate.  I don't know who would buy this. 

 

I would put these prints in my Mori Girl house. 

A view as we were going upstairs. 

I wanted to buy this collar but it didn't have a closure and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get it over my head.

We both wanted this pretty chair. 

I loved this bag.  It was in such good condition.  I did need a brown purse.  I bought it.

While I ended up buying the purse and the scarf clip Caroline bought a beautiful dickey that had a pretty collar.  Later we went to lunch at Applebee's and had frozen yogurt at Mochi.  Some people there stared at us, but the Rowand's ladies had been so nice to us that we didn't care.  After that we perused the many thrift stores that Lake City has.  Caroline didn't buy anything but I found a couple of patterns that I can't wait to sew on.  They were vintage and only a quarter each.  It was a really great day and I can't wait to do it again.  Caroline is going to try to come back for the Olustee Festival and we might try to be Lolitas!  In the mean time I'll dream about all those teacups at Rowand's.