Holding Fast To Beauty
George W. Chambers. In the Tennessee Mountains, 1887. Tennessee State Museum.
In a time when women were looked to for civility and beauty, many struggled to maintain those values during the Civil War. Soldiers of both sides pillaged the southern landscape, looking for food, warmth, and shelter. Women were left with little to support their families physically or spiritually–ordinary household goods were in short supply and almost no luxury items were available. While most struggled to keep households running at subsistence level and stay in touch with family members at the front or “refugeeing” away from the zone of war, others turned to creative pursuits to keep minds and hands occupied.
Stories
Like many others, L. Virginia was opposed to secession but her stronger commitment to Tennessee meant that she would support the state in its decision to leave the Union.
Sarah Polk had been the widow of the 11th President of the United States for nearly a dozen years by the time the Civil War began to rage in 1861.
Etc.
