I came across a mention of Sarah Morgan Dawson's diary on an American Civil War reenactment Facebook page and took a quick flip through it for dance references before settling down on a long bus ride this week to read the whole thing. Sarah kept her diary from early 1862 to late 1865. A transcription was published by her son after her death under the title A Confederate Girl's Diary (1913). The whole transcription is online at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's site Documenting the American South.
Sarah Fowler Morgan (Sarah Morgan Dawson after her marriage), pictured at left, was a 20-year-old Louisiana citizen from a prominent family when the war began. Her family split, with one brother and sister staying on the Union side and three other brothers fighting in the Confederate military. Sarah and her remaining sister, Miriam, were ardent secessionists as well. The diary tells the story of the sisters' efforts to survive in the company of their widowed mother, married sister, and sister-in-law (and her children) during the invasion and occupation of rebel Louisiana. There is some basic background on the diary and the war in Louisiana here.
I'm not going to discuss the whole diary in-depth, but it does provide some interesting insights into the mindset and proper behavior of the southern lady during this era; period etiquette in action, as it were. It is also just as problematic as you'd expect in perpetuating the idea of the happy "servants" (slaves). Sarah's periodic laments about how awful it would be for the Yankees to spoil this jolly way of life can be grating. But her ability to look past the conflict and see the various Union officers as individuals is impressive, as is the way in which, with relatives on both sides, she balanced patriotism and family feeling.
As far as dance goes, this is not Gone with the Wind. The family frequently flees from one refuge to another, sometimes on the brink of starvation. No one is holding any balls. But some informal dancing does occur, and there are a few brief references to add to my store of knowledge about mid-nineteenth century American dance practice.
I've included page references below for all the excerpts; to find the originals, simply search the page number on the online transcription.
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Sarah's family was relatively well-treated by the occupying forces; between that and her family members on the Union side, they were constantly being accused of having Union sympathies:
Those who spread useless falsehoods about us will gladly have a foundation for a monstrous one. Did n't Camp Moore ring with the story of our entertaining the Federal officers? did n't they spread the report that Miriam danced with one to the tune of "Yankee Doodle" in the State House garden? What will they stop at now? (pp. 65-66)
This dance doesn't seem to have actually happened, but it's nice to know that the idea of dancing to "Yankee Doodle", which is frequently used today as a tune for grand marches and the Virginia Reel, seemed perfectly reasonable back then.
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There is a lengthy reminiscence about a quadrille set, though Sarah focuses far more on the dresses of the ladies than the actual dancing. I've elided heavily; find the page in the diary to read the unabridged version.
Night before last Lydia got playing the piano for me in the darkened parlor, and the old tunes from her dear little fingers sent me off in a sea of dreams. She too caught the vision, and launched off in a well-remembered quadrille. The same scene flashed on us, and at each note, almost, we would recall a little circumstance, charming to us, but unintelligible to Anna, who occupied the other side...Is [Miriam] not handsome as she stands fronting the folding doors, her hand in tall Mr. Trezevant's, just as she commences to dance, with the tip of her black bottine just showing? Vis-à-vis stands pretty Sophie, with her large, graceful mouth smiling and showing her pretty teeth to the best advantage...There stands calm Dena in snuff-colored silk, looking so immeasurably the superior of her partner, who, I fancy, rather feels that she is the better man of the two, from his nervous way of shifting from one foot to the other, without saying a word to her. Nettie, in lilac and white, stands by the mantel laughing undisguisedly at her partner, rather than with him, yet so good-humoredly that he cannot take offense, but rather laughs with her. Lackadaisical Gertrude, whose face is so perfect in the daytime, looks pale and insipid by gaslight, and timidly walks through the dance...Who is [Sarah] dancing with? A youth fond of "dreams"; futile ones, at that, I laughingly reply. He must be relating one just now, for there is a very perceptible curl on her upper lip, and she is looking at him as though she thought she was the tallest. Lydia dashes off into a lively jig. "Ladies to the right!" I cried. She laughed too, well knowing that that part of the dance was invariably repeated a dozen times at least. She looked slyly up: "I am thinking of how many hands I saw squeezed," she said. I am afraid it did happen, once or twice. (pp. 258-260)
It's impossible to know what quadrille they were dancing, but I suspect it was a plain (first set) quadrille with one or more promiscuous figures substituted in. "Ladies to the right" is one of the calls for a typical "jig figure" in which the ladies move around the set, turning with each gentleman, like a "tourbillon" stripped of its surrounding figures. This could easily be repeated over and over for the amusement of the dancers.
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The party game described below is not a dance, but it was often included on lists of German (cotillion) figures for use at balls, so it is nice to see evidence that young adults really did enjoy what nowadays seems a children's game:
Presently "Puss wants a corner" was suggested, and all flew up to the second staging, under the cane-carrier and by the engine. Such racing for corners! Such scuffles among the gentlemen! Such confusion among the girls when, springing forward for a place, we would find it already occupied! All dignity was discarded. We laughed and ran as loud and fast as any children, and the General enjoyed our fun as much as we, and encouraged us in our pranks. Waller surpassed himself, Mr. Bradford carried all by storm, Mr. Enders looked like a schoolboy on a frolic, Mr. Carter looked sullen and tried lazily not to mar the sport completely, while Mr. Harold looked timidly foolish and half afraid of our wild sport. Mrs. Badger laughed, the General roared, Anna flew around like a balloon, Miriam fairly danced around with fun and frolic, while I laughed so that it was an exertion to change corners. (p. 274)
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At an informal dance one evening, one gentleman is mentioned as having particular skill at two dances:
But here is Lieutenant Dupré, whom I have not yet introduced, though we have met before. Tall, good-looking, a fine form, and not a sparkling face, I am inclined to believe that his chief merit lies in his legs. Certainly when he dances he puts his best foot forward, and knows it, too. Miriam, who adores dancing, is flirting openly with this divinity of the "Deux Temps" and polka, and skims around with his arm about her (position sanctified by the lively air Lydia is dashing off on the piano) with a grace and lightness only equaled by his own. (p. 313)
The deux temps is badly neglected in most historical dance communities today, possibly because this uncomplicated dance has accumulated some very bizarre reconstructions.
Lieutenant Dupré is mentioned again on an evening in which the sisters try some "Spiritualism" involving table-rapping and mysterious messages.
Of course, the Spirits produced some slight commotion which made the time pass pleasantly until Miriam began to waltz with her Monsieur Deux Temps. (p. 323)
Miriam eventually married the Lieutenant, thus demonstrating the importance of skill in dancing the deux temps!
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Finally, we see that not all soldiers are as good at dancing as upper-class ladies from Baton Rouge, though everyone seems to have good-humored about mistakes:
Ah! another delightful glimpse of society has been offered to our charmed view. Such a treat has not often fallen to our lot. Good Mrs. Greyson, in her anxiety to make all around her happy, determined we should have a dance. I should say "Miriam"; for Mrs. Bull and Mrs. Ivy never indulge in such amusements, and I can't; so it must have been for Miriam alone. Such a crew! The two ladies above mentioned and I almost laughed ourselves into hysterics. Poor Miriam, with a tall, slender Texan who looked as though he had chopped wood all his life, moved through the dance like the lady in "Comus"; only, now and then a burst of laughter at the odd mistakes threatened to overcome her dignity. We who were fortunately exempt from the ordeal, laughed unrestrainedly at the mêlée. One danced entirely with his arms; his feet had very little to do with the time. One hopped through with a most dolorous expression of intense absorption in the arduous task. Another never changed a benign smile that had appeared on entering, but preserved it unimpaired through every accident. (pp. 363-364)
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There are one or two brief mentions of individuals dancing solo, with no useful details, but the above are all the useful social dance references.
Those who are interested in seeing the Civil War from the viewpoint of a Confederate woman or are interested in ladies' etiquette and attitudes of this place and time will find the full diary fascinating reading.
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