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Jennie Friend Stephenson recalled in April 1897 her life during the war. I share with you her description of her clothing:
"More than once we were frightened by the report of raiders coming through the country. I recall one scare, which made my Mother array herself in two or three silks at the same time, which she wore for day and nights. Valuable papers also weighed her person. We children too, were dressed in our best, but clothes for us were scarce at this time. My best dress was a pretty plaid, made in the winter of 1861. My second best, always donned, whoever the caller might be, was a dark brown calico, such as I have seen used for the cheapest comforts, of quality so inferior, never before or since, have I known its use for a garment. This dress and a pattern like it had been presented to my oldest sister and our cousin, Bessie Gibson, by their Uncle, Bishop Atkinson; but so limited was the number of yards, low necked dresses and short sleeves were all that could be devised out of the goods. Even in war times, the dresses proved of little use; the color of the goods indicating winter wear, and the cut of the garment for summer, so the dress passed on to me, the length of the skirt allowing enough for yoke and sleeves. A new calico was most coveted in those days, and I felt very neat and complacent in it. No doubt my home or morning garb was such as to make one enjoy a change to calico. So far as I knew over-skirts at this time, ahd never appeared within the memory of man, otherwise my appearance would not have been so shocking, I was clad in an upper garment of brown of mouslaine, with roses scattered over it, and with three bands of purple running around the bottom. A pretty dress, originally, of my sister's, but outgrown and out worn by her, I fell heir to it, but it would not come within a foot of the bottom of skirt's length. This deficit was made up by a striped, homespun, woolen petticoat, copperas the predominating color. This get-up distressed my Father; he thought that petticoat hanging, could make me untidy, at this formative period of life, and more than that, the skirt, was not white, and colored underwear for a lady was thought an obomination. My Mother busied herself in studying various patterns for weaving and had dying done with the bark of trees from the wood, and such stuff as could be bought. Indigo and copperas were the highest colorings to be had. My sister's Sunday dress was blue and white homespun cotton, and thought very pretty. With all these admissions of defective costumes, we were better supplied with raiment than our friends about us. My Father had interest in a boat that ran the blockade to Nassau. This winter he secured by it a hundred yards of fine white linen, and a dozen pair of ladies cloth gaiters. These supplies seemed an immeasurable wealth to our eyes. Then the bit supply of osnaburg, bought for the field hands at the beginning of the war, had not failed and was now used for our underclothing. For common wear, the most miserable shoes were made in the neighborhood. They proved a torture to our feet, but there was no help, we were blessed in having even them. The weavers did better work than the cobblers. I had learned to plat hats of straw and shucks, and for ladies, ornamented them with feather flowers. Our gloves and hosiery were knit by Grandmother. Old silk, scraped, and spun into a thread, were the finest specimens of home manufacture."
She was the daughter of Charles Friend, a wealthy planter in Prince George County, Virginia.
"More than once we were frightened by the report of raiders coming through the country. I recall one scare, which made my Mother array herself in two or three silks at the same time, which she wore for day and nights. Valuable papers also weighed her person. We children too, were dressed in our best, but clothes for us were scarce at this time. My best dress was a pretty plaid, made in the winter of 1861. My second best, always donned, whoever the caller might be, was a dark brown calico, such as I have seen used for the cheapest comforts, of quality so inferior, never before or since, have I known its use for a garment. This dress and a pattern like it had been presented to my oldest sister and our cousin, Bessie Gibson, by their Uncle, Bishop Atkinson; but so limited was the number of yards, low necked dresses and short sleeves were all that could be devised out of the goods. Even in war times, the dresses proved of little use; the color of the goods indicating winter wear, and the cut of the garment for summer, so the dress passed on to me, the length of the skirt allowing enough for yoke and sleeves. A new calico was most coveted in those days, and I felt very neat and complacent in it. No doubt my home or morning garb was such as to make one enjoy a change to calico. So far as I knew over-skirts at this time, ahd never appeared within the memory of man, otherwise my appearance would not have been so shocking, I was clad in an upper garment of brown of mouslaine, with roses scattered over it, and with three bands of purple running around the bottom. A pretty dress, originally, of my sister's, but outgrown and out worn by her, I fell heir to it, but it would not come within a foot of the bottom of skirt's length. This deficit was made up by a striped, homespun, woolen petticoat, copperas the predominating color. This get-up distressed my Father; he thought that petticoat hanging, could make me untidy, at this formative period of life, and more than that, the skirt, was not white, and colored underwear for a lady was thought an obomination. My Mother busied herself in studying various patterns for weaving and had dying done with the bark of trees from the wood, and such stuff as could be bought. Indigo and copperas were the highest colorings to be had. My sister's Sunday dress was blue and white homespun cotton, and thought very pretty. With all these admissions of defective costumes, we were better supplied with raiment than our friends about us. My Father had interest in a boat that ran the blockade to Nassau. This winter he secured by it a hundred yards of fine white linen, and a dozen pair of ladies cloth gaiters. These supplies seemed an immeasurable wealth to our eyes. Then the bit supply of osnaburg, bought for the field hands at the beginning of the war, had not failed and was now used for our underclothing. For common wear, the most miserable shoes were made in the neighborhood. They proved a torture to our feet, but there was no help, we were blessed in having even them. The weavers did better work than the cobblers. I had learned to plat hats of straw and shucks, and for ladies, ornamented them with feather flowers. Our gloves and hosiery were knit by Grandmother. Old silk, scraped, and spun into a thread, were the finest specimens of home manufacture."
She was the daughter of Charles Friend, a wealthy planter in Prince George County, Virginia.
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