A kind reader, Benecio Machado, made me aware of Civil War photographs that clearly show handwoven coverlets.  He was asking what books I would recommend for learning about the coverlets of that era.

As it turned out, he is a historic reenactor, with the Liberty Rifles, a group that portrays the common fighting man and home-front civilian on both sides of the war. They take part in all kinds of events, portraying infantry, cavalry, and even prisoners of war.  They are so well respected that they are allowed to be on the actual battlefields for official reenactments.  I wish that I had been aware of them back when I was teaching, because my students would have benefited from watching their work!

Benecio is interested in creating authenticity in uniform. He had noticed the blankets that soldiers often carried slung across their shoulders, but had not been able to find much background information in the usual sources. 

He sent me two pictures from Battle of Antietam.  I went to the Library of Congress website and found the originals, so I could download the TIF files, which are huge.  Then I was able to zoom in and crop to show the coverlets.  I am just going to post small jpgs of the entire photos (because it is so sad to look at the casualties) but I linked to the originals so you can find them if you are interested. 

There is a striped blanket in the foreground, but in the back by the fence we can see this coverlet:

I immediately recognized this one as a Blooming Leaf or Double Bow Knot.   Here it is from Eliza Calvert Hall's A Book of Hand-woven Coverlets, 1912.

(Carol Strickler in her book American Woven Coverlets explains that if the size of the little squares increase and then decrease on the diagonal, it is a bowknot; if they remain the same size for several steps of the diagonal, it is a blooming leaf.) 

The coverlet in this photo looks like a Governor's Garden to me.

Benecio also sent me photos of the unit marching along at a reenactment.  I really love this one because the very scruffy guy at far right has a Texas hat, and the most expensive coverlet!  I think he must have stolen it off a Yankee. 🙂

Where did these fine coverlets come from? you may wonder.  Benecio made me aware of Family Heirloom Weavers, and when I saw their work, all I could say was Wow!  Their products look so good.  Their coverlets are made of 100% cotton, instead of cotton and wool like the originals, but for reenactment purposes, that would be fine.  And Sutler of Fort Scott also has beautiful reproductions.

And then the pièce de résistance!

Here is a picture of President Lincoln meeting with General McClellan after the battle.  McClellan had apparently done a terrible job of commanding the Union forces, and a few months after the battle, Lincoln relieved him of command.

I find it interesting that in this photo, the United States flag is being used as a table cover!  And look at that coverlet!

Well, we are not the only ones to notice this coverlet.  This 2018 article in First Things analyzes the scene, and reports on two women who wove reproductions of the coverlet.  The first, Rita Hagenbruch, figured out the threading, even noticing where the original weaver made some mistakes!  (I probably would not have noticed, but after reading that she found mistakes, I looked and looked until I found them too.  I love the evidence that an ordinary human made this.)  That led me to this article from Handwoven magazine (which is very confusingly dated), which finally led me to this book on overshot, which I bought so I could get the draft. 

Getting back to Benecio's original request for some book recommendations, I found so many books and collections of coverlets available online, that I made a whole page of resources.

You can get to it at any time from the tabs up top.  I hope you will take a look and dip into one of the online books or galleries; they are fantastic! 

I am grateful to have been made aware of these historic photos, and of all the resources that are available.

And I want to leave you with this video of the Liberty Rifles at the 160th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam.  I cannot imagine what it would be like to live through something like this, and I am in awe of the people who study it, and present it, so that we can understand the hardships ordinary people experienced.