Consider being a bride during the year 1865. The War Between the States was in its last days, and supplies were next to impossible to get. Most people had very little or no money, especially in the South, making the time period very difficult for social events. If brides of today think prices are high, just check out the cost of items during this time of war!
The late Mrs. H. O. Milton wrote about her wedding and the war’s end in Macon, Georgia. From her memoirs we are able to gain a perspective about what life was like during those days in 1865. Mrs. Milton writes that her wedding took place in the parlor of the home on College Hill in Macon; she states that the city was one vast hospital, with thousands of sick and wounded. Also, every public building was filled, and hundreds of tents were spread in all directions, she further adds. In her memoirs, Mrs. Milton informs the reader that “sickness and suffering were all around us, while nearer and nearer came the advancing Federal enemies. In looking back to that time it seems to me that I led a sort of dual life. In the morning we went to the hospitals to give what aid and comfort we could to the suffering soldiers. When the day was over there was a change.” The change she spoke of came at night when the town was full of young officers and surgeons who invited the townspeople to dance. Mrs. Milton informs the reader that the people put on their faded finery and went dancing! Furthermore, one of those “good-looking young surgeons” won her heart, and they prepared to marry. But, the next question was what to do about clothes.
In that day, the bride’s trousseau, which was her outfit of clothes, linen, jewelry, etc., was as important as her wedding dress. However, by 1865, the clothes which had been worn during the war years were threadbare, and there was no way to get new ones. Even so, some family members and close friends had carefully packed away a few items which were too good to be worn every day; and these were given to Mrs. Milton to be turned and remade for her. From her memoirs, we find that a blockade runner had gotten through with some cloth so that a new cloak with brass buttons could be made for her trousseau. The cloak cost $1000 in Confederate money, with the buttons costing $80. That price would have been “highway robbery” before the war!
picture: strapless wedding dressesThe real problem for the trousseau was the accessories, because there were none to be purchased for any price. Mrs. Milton wore shoes on her wedding trip which were made of coon skin by one of her family’s old slaves. As for gloves, she was given three pairs as wedding presents; all of these were “homemade and not only handsome, but well fitting.” Her hat, which was almost new, was retrimmed with feather flowers which cost $340.
From a Chattanooga newspaper article dated 1947, we are told that the bride was wearing a gown of white lissome designed with a voluminous hoop skirt. (Lissome is a supple, limber, and flexible cloth.) Mrs. Milton’s memoirs also tell that the waist was of white silk, fashioned with points in the back and front and with full “angel sleeves.” Also, a bertha (wide collar) of lace fell from the bride’s shoulders, and she had a veil of lace which was caught with a wreath of tiny white roses. Then, there was the groom, who wore his Confederate officer’s uniform, and the bride wrote, “no man ever wore a costume more becoming or one which reflected more honor on its wearer.”
In spite of the sadness reflected from the war, we are told that the wedding was a happy affair, with many people filling the parlors in the old house. Mrs. Milton writes that the men were nearly all in their Confederate uniforms, and the girls wore dresses which looked bright, no matter how often they had been turned and dyed. She stated that the dining table was filled with food, and that they had an almost forgotten rarity, ice cream. There had been a snow the day before, and enough was gathered to make a kind of ice cream. They also had the last of her mother’s good sherry wine, which had been saved (probably well-hidden) for a special occasion.
During this time in history, thread was one of the expensive items, and very difficult to get. Many Southerners devised a way to blacken white thread with a ball of wax filled with soot. They also knit corset strings and shoestrings out of homespun thread, and made buttons from pasteboard or gun wads covered with silk or velvet. Remember the cloak which cost $1000, with the $80 buttons? According to a dressmaker’s bill found in Mrs. Milton’s memoirs, $55 was charged to make that cloak! The dressmaker was also paid for altering a dress, basting, pinking, and thread; the cost was $38 for this service, with the bill being paid in Confederate money. We know that Confederate money became worthless within a few months, and was not worth the paper it was printed on.
However, as we see from the past, a wedding was a joyous occasion, no matter what obstacles a person had in their path! Even though this bride from one hundred and fifty years ago had many problems to contend with, she made the best out of her circumstances. Maybe we could learn something about perseverance from the memoirs of Mrs. Milton!
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