Mrs. Jenny

The Remembrance Shop Mrs. Jenny (Jenevieve Thorp) has joined with her duaghter Wanda and Granddaughter Dolly to bring 80 years of sewing and costuming experience to the creation of Civil War Uniforms and period clothing, including women's clothing with a planned opening in late December 1996. They are already making uniforms and taking orders now. 6377 Highway 162 Hollywood South Carolina 29449 Telephone: (803) 889-6201 (Machine takes messages when they are away, leave address for catalogue.) Directions: South from Charleston,S.C. on Highway 17, turn right to Hollywood on Highway 162, across from Piggly Wiggly Supermarket. White clapboard house with porch.

Fifty year's ago Mrs. Jenny was building bomb fuses, working long, hard hours during World War II. It was not the only sacrifice she made. She heard the 28th. Regiment, Third Marine Division had landed at Iwo Jima. News of her husband and his unit had been sporadic and late throughout the war. Landings were secret and letters delayed. For once she knew exactly where he was and what he was doing. She heard nothing more but general reports of hard fighting and heavy losses for six long weeks.

Daily she would go to the Red Cross office hoping for news. She watched the mailbox for letters and worried about the telegrams which reported casualties. Finally she got a letter. Her husband survived and after he returned home, they had a son. In time that son had a half brother. Though the fifty million buried around the globe should have been enough, there were more wars. Mrs. Jenny raised patriotic boys. The elder volunteered for Navy service. Later, an eager recruiter made a deal and the younger half brother followed his sibling, serving on the same ship and gun. While there are wise laws against brothers serving on the same ship in a war, Vietnam wasn't technically a war and they had different last names.

Mrs. Jenny was again working in a munitions plant, helping make nitro cellulose for rifle cartridges. While communications were better, young boys far from home seldom write as much as they should. Navy ships were fired upon by the enemy, attacked and bombed. Sometimes she went weeks fearing the worst while her sons ddn't write because nothing was happening.

When they did write it did not silence her fears. Once the Captain put the desperate pleas for naval cover fire from the ground troops out over the ship's loud speakers. Her sons waited while the plea worked its way around the world to the White House. Finally the order to fire worked its way back. Her younger son had already aimed the gun from atop the ship. In the turret below his older half brother shoved the round into the breach and covered his ears while the big gun sent its shell to the target. Some prayers move by radio. Finally, again, her men came home.

Ms. Jenny did not always work in munition plants. In peacetime she sewed, making tents and costumes. When demanded, her employers produced cheap, polyester Civil War uniforms for parties and pageants. Mrs. Jenny made them just like Clown costumes and everything else.

Years passed and she left that work, moving to the country where she gradually accumulated a huge number of cats nobody wanted but her. One day, she saw a group of men across the road riding horses, swinging sabres and blasting away with guns. She crossed the asphalt and met the Confederate Cavalry at practice in a country field. Only one member had one of the expensive, ill fitting uniforms ordered from far away. The rest were hard working men unready to pay for something that didn't fit and wouldn't last. To men who ride horses, ill fitting clothes that wear out are a brief source of misery.

Mrs. Jenny listened and said she would be happy the earn a little money clothing the South Carolina Cavalry. In a few minutes, her yard was full of horses and her living room was full of sweaty men having their measurements taken by her small, hard working hands. This time pure, strong wool, not cheap polyester, went under the foot of the Singer. A few months later they charged on the field clad as well as those who rode with Wade Hampton's Legion ever were.

Soon the Infantry arrived with the same problem and marched out clothed in butternut and Atlanta depot grey. The artillery appeared with orders for red trim and battle shirts. The Confederate Navy sailed in needing bib fronted trousers and cast off fit for the deck of the C.S.S. Palmetto State. Mrs. Jenny was engaged on the homefront of another war.

Eventually, Mrs. Jenny's seams grew loose and there were complaints. Inquiries were made and she discovered that she had worn out her sewing machine. Most sewing machines are purchased with noble goals and see little use. Chewing the hard wool of long ago rapidly takes its toll.

When South Carolina's Civil War reenactors gather to put sweat and thunder back into the nation's history, many, including myself, wear clothing Mrs. Jenny has made. The gray sack coat and four buttoned shirts I wear are her careful work. She has never been to one of our battles. She stays at home, as she has for two real wars, supplying the troops, awaiting their return and listening to their stories.

There was a time when men and women and war were that simple. Generations of Mrs. Jennys remained at home supporting the troops who fought far away, hoping for good news, praying bad news never came.. Now, for better or for worse, the world has changed. For Mrs. Jenny, on her third war, such changes are remote issues.

The Marines that landed at Iwo Jima had the love and faith of a nation of Mrs. Jennys at their back. They freed the world. In Vietnam it was more complicated, but there were heros and victories thats hope sprung from affection abiding at home. In the Civil War reenactments, the lesson is the same, though had at an infinitely lesser cost in our bullet free recreations. If a nation must fight, it can prevail only with the love and faith of its people. That type of love holds my uniform together I am proud to wear it.