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Defend This Old Town: Williamsburg During the Civil War.
By Carol Kettenburg Dubbs
"Rumors of War" (abridged) (pg. 61-63)
Louisiana boys were not about to let Mardi Gras pass unnoticed, and if they could not be in New Orleans for the festival, they would bring the festival to Williamsburg. With the help of the community, the Dreux Battalion fashioned decorations and confetti from flour balls.
She regretted Lizzie and Colonel Munford's daughters, Sallie and Maria, also in Richmond, missed the "carnival," for "everybody in the city of Wmsburg turned out." Rebecca Ewell joined the Saunders family for a picnic, where Page drank four glass of champagne. Then "some two hundred New Orleans boys got up a wonderful procession, rigged out in as fantastic a manner as it was possible to accomplish," one participant recalled years later.
At the close of the parade, townspeople gathered on Courthouse Green to listen to two "very smart & amusing" speakers, while Magruder and his staff, who had come to Williamsburg for the occasion, adjourned to the City Hotel. There they were entertained by members of the Dreux Battalion, one named Billy Campbell convincingly disguised as a young girl.
Though Dr. Galt pronounced it "a fine exhibition of Mardi Gras," others argued that such "jollification" would never have been permitted had the troops not been so demoralized.
By Carol Kettenburg Dubbs
"Rumors of War" (abridged) (pg. 61-63)
Louisiana boys were not about to let Mardi Gras pass unnoticed, and if they could not be in New Orleans for the festival, they would bring the festival to Williamsburg. With the help of the community, the Dreux Battalion fashioned decorations and confetti from flour balls.
"Oh! we are going to have grand doings in town tomorrow night," Page wrote Lizzie on 3 March, "Dreux Battalion will celebrate Mardi Gras."
"Oh! my dearest Lizzie, how shall I begin to tell you about yesterday," Page continued her epistle on 5 March, "it was the most glorious & charming day, the whole of it, from the morning until nearly one o'clock at night, that I ever spent."
"Oh! my dearest Lizzie, how shall I begin to tell you about yesterday," Page continued her epistle on 5 March, "it was the most glorious & charming day, the whole of it, from the morning until nearly one o'clock at night, that I ever spent."
"About eight o'clock the procession entered town, all dressed in the most ridiculous style; some were dressed like devils, some as clowns, some as ladies, goats, some as horses & standing up," Page detailed in her missive.
"Mr. Copland was a devil or an imp, I don't know which, as he passed us he kissed his hand to me several times. The street was as bright as day, with the torch lights, the procession went up & down town twice, there was a large wagon filled with gentlemen dressed up to look like servants, they were all musicians."
"Mr. Copland was a devil or an imp, I don't know which, as he passed us he kissed his hand to me several times. The street was as bright as day, with the torch lights, the procession went up & down town twice, there was a large wagon filled with gentlemen dressed up to look like servants, they were all musicians."
"Magruder, with that gallantry which always characterized him, placed 'Miss' Campbell on his right hand, who partook liberally of everything that was going, including the liquors," a Louisianan recounted. "How far this thing would have gone on it is difficult to say, had not some of the boys ripped up a feather bed belonging to the landlord of the hotel and permitted its contents to fall through an aperture immediately above the dining room, calling out a the same time: 'This is a Louisiana snowstorm.' " The diversion allowed Campbell to escape, leaving a bewildered "Prince John" standing amid the feathers.
"I did have a charming time," Page confided to Lizzie. "I fell in love at least five times." She found the most of the gentlemen still in their masquerades -- a Greek with "a perfect Grecian face," an Indian whose painted face could not conceal "how handsome he was," and "a Prince of olden times" who "desired to be remembered to your ladyship." Then there was "Mr Campbell, he was a lady & he looked perfectly lovely, he is only seventeen, poor little fellow!" Page declared.
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