Struggle of Civil War Women in Charleston to be Recreated in Historic Mansion June 13

From William J. Hamilton, War at Flood Tide, (803) 722-6812

For Immediate Release

Needlework and bandage rolling will bring the Charleston homefront to life when lady reenactors fill the Edmondston-Alston House with the sights and sounds of summer 1863 as part of the War at Flood Tide Civil War History weekend, June 13.

General Beauregard viewed the first bombardment of Fort Sumter from the Piazza of the house in 1861. During the siege, two years later, the Alstons could see the Federal Blockading Fleet beyond the harbor's mouth and hear the dueling cannon when Confederate and Federal Forces renewed their struggle for Charleston from their home.

Lady reenactors on Edmondston Alston House piazza. For more images and media photograph ordering information see our image gallery page.

On July 10^th. of that year, Susan Pringle Alston, whose family owned the house, wrote "After taking the batteries on the South East End (of Morris Island) the enemy with 4 monitors attacked Battery Wagner at Cummin's Point and the cannonading continued until darkness- but I am glad to say so far they have failed to take Battery Wagner- how long we shall be able to hold it (,) God only knows."

Susan's brother John Julias Pringle Alston was wounded in the fighting on Morris Island the very day she wrote, but continued to serve a 10 inch cannon in Battery Wagner. He would contact typhoid fever there and die that September.

According to Jeanne Elliot Weil, the ladies working in the house will demonstrate the various ways the ladies of Charleston supported the war effort as dwindling resources challenged their patience and creativity. Fabric shortages made mending, quilting, needlework and sewing a necessity. Spinning wheels came down from attics to supplement the South's limited textile mill capacity. The grimmer work of preparing clean bandages for use in the city's busy hospitals covered tables designed for elegant dinners. Roasted verbena leaves replaced the exotic Chinese teas locked out by the blockade. Charleston's women hung on as streetlights dimmed due to the lack of coal to make gas and basic household necessities "knocked down" at auction for outrageous "war prices." Hospital care, the war's grimmest work, was taken over by the women of Charleston. On June 13, these women and their struggle will return to life in rooms virtually unchanged since the war.

The ladies demonstrations will run on Saturday, June 13 from 10:30 to 4:00 at the Edmondston-Alston House at 21 East Battery in Charleston, SC. Regular admission to the house will be charged. For more information on the house or ladies living history presentations contact the Edmondston-Alston house at (803) 722-7171 or check the War at Flood Tide Website at http://www.awod.com/waft/.

Photographic images of the ladies in the house can be previewed on the Internet at http://www.awod.com/gallery/probono/cwchas/waftphot.html