Category: Articles

“Revolutionary” Corduroy

By Sue Huesken Members of the living history community are always searching for modern equivalents of period fabrics. Corduroy is one fabric often overlooked for use in Revolutionary War portrayals. Florence M. Montgomery in her excellent book, Textiles in America 1650-1870, defines corduroy as: “A kind of coarse durable cotton fabric, having a piled surface,…

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Coping with Snow

By Don Hagist This article is reprinted, with permission, from “The Brigade Dispatch” Ever wish you could be out enjoying your hobby of playing soldier during those long winter months, instead of shoveling snow? Probably not, but don’t start now without researching some of the realities of the situation. If you established a credible impression…

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Bringing Life into the World

By Karen L. Hayden The arduous life of a midwife in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries is portrayed in the Pulitzer Prize winning book, A Midwife’s Tale. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich hits a home run with her work based upon the diary of Martha Ballard: 1785-1812. Though her diary starts after the Revolution, there is still much…

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The Diary of Job Whitall

By Sue Huesken Diaries are a wonderful source of primary information on all aspects of 18th century life. They are also great fun to read. Job Whitall’s diary written during the American Revolutionary War gives a unique picture of life by the writer. Job Whitall was a Quaker living in Gloucester County, New Jersey. He…

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Philip Morin Frenea

Contributed by Jack Gardner Philip Morin Freneau was a patriot as well as one of America’s first romantic poets. Here are two pieces of his work: “To the Memory of the brave Americans, under General Greene, in South Carolina, who fell in the action of September 8, 1781”Inspired by the Maryland Line At Eutaw springs…

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