The Civilizing Influence of the Civil War

Last night was our Civil War Harvest Ball.  Ah, the Ball.

I love Civil War dances!  The gowns are beautiful, the gentlemen look their finest, the music is sweet, the setting romantic, and the dancing is great fun.  But as a mom, what I really love, is the civilizing effect of the whole atmosphere on the young folk.  Whether we are at a dance in camp, or at the ball, and whatever unit they are in, all the boys are taught proper dance behavior.  They wear gloves, and ask a young lady (such as one of my daughters) for the honor of dancing with her.  Then they offer her their arm and escort her to the dance floor.  When the dance is over, they thank her for the dance and escort her back to her table or her unit's camp.

And they all know and follow this code of behavior!  The young men who danced with my daughters last night were perfect gentlemen.  One even nudged his friend to remind him to says "thank you" for the dance.  As a couple of my Civil War friends would say, these are the kind of guys who would see a girl in a bikini and think, "I'll bet she'd look lovely in a ball gown."  I can't help but compare this with the images I see of kids "grinding" today.  Blech!

Ball pictures are difficult to get, but here are a few from our delightful evening.

Miss Hannah Kirkland, Master Frederick Kirkland and Miss Clara Kirkland.

Private Calvin Kirkland and Mrs. Abigail Kirkland.

Sergeant Rufus Lawless and his wife Kelly.

The dancing.

This really is the last event of the season.  Waahh!  It's such a long wait until spring.  We are trying to console ourselves by watching what Sgt Lawless calls the "G" movies: Glory, Gods & Generals, and Gettysburg.  We've seen Glory, tonight we're watching G&G.