Civil War way of life displayed at Fort D

Members of the Turner Brigade and friends from the Civil War Roundtable of Cape Girardeau gathered at Fort D Saturday and will be there today to deliver living history as part of the weekend's Mississippi River Valley Scenic Drive.

The Civil War re-enactors talked with a few local youngsters visiting the fort who stopped to watch the costumed men of Fort D Bissell's Engineers of the West, Company G.

Bark was shaved from logs with a carpenter's hatchet by Turner Brigade member Scott House for use in making a chevaux de friese, or horse fence. Linked together, the structures provided a good defense against horses and infantry. As re-enactors drilled holes into the logs with an auger, visitors Omar Wiley, 13, of Cape Girardeau, Tyler Park, 12, of Southern Illinois and Vario Bry, 5, of Cape Girardeau, all got a chance to turn the auger and create the hole to be occupied by a log.

Created by Union forces for the four years of the Civil War, Fort D protected the city of Cape Girardeau from attack.

"Fort D was an engineer troop. They were trained to be fighters but primarily built roads, bridges and rebuilt railroads," House said.

Nearby a camp was set up where men ate and women sewed by hand, weaved and prepared food.

Women's roles

Jennifer Litteken of Cuba, Mo., embroidered initials on a soldier's quilt. Women used American Indian weaving sticks, a hand-held weaving device, to produce narrow strips of woven material that could be joined to make larger items.

During the Civil War, women served as laundresses and nurses. But there was a group of about 400 Union women known to have disguised themselves to serve in the Civil War, said Diane Zelinske, a member of the Turner Brigade. "They figure about 250 Confederate women served, but it's almost sure there were more because they wrote no letters for fear of being found out." And many papers were burned before and after the war, she said.

The women joined to earn money, experience excitement, fight for the cause and to be with their husbands. Some were disguised by their brothers or fathers — in families without mothers — rather than having the women stay at home.

"A Confederate officer, Loreta Velazquez, wrote about her Civil War service [years later] as an older woman so we're not sure just how much she elaborated," Zelinske said. Disguised as a man, Velazquez used spirit gum to keep her facial hair on.

Some of the women even dated other women to maintain their established double lives.

Sarah Edmonds, who joined the Union army at age 16 to avoid an arranged marriage, was a spy who used other disguises to gain information. Zelinske explained that at that time, passing the physical to join the army required only two front teeth and a trigger finger. "When Sarah got malaria she deserted, knowing that a physical would give away her identity. She came back as a lady nurse, for which she was trained, when she recovered," Zelinske said.

Discharge physicals were more comprehensive and women forfeited their pensions rather than disclose their true identities.

Union soldiers' gear

While cannon and rifle fire intermittently filled the air Saturday, Turner Brigade member Greg Zelinske talked to visitors about the gear Civil War soldiers typically owned, which mostly amounted to only what they could carry on their backs.

The three-sided bayonet with recessed surfaces commonly used by Union soldiers had several functions.

The recesses actually enhanced its ability to penetrate because they created a channel for blood to flow out while the knife went in.

But Company G engineers had little use for the bayonet and mostly used it as a spear for cooking food over a fire, Greg Zelinske said. The opposite end of the bayonet could be a candle holder.

Scenic drive

Fort D will be open again today as part of the scenic drive event, with the Turner Brigade re-enactors ready to show visitors how soldiers lived during the Civil War.

The Mississippi River Valley Scenic Drive, now in its 18th year, continues today. Food, festivals, music, dancing, crafts, living history events, camping and more can be found throughout Southeast Missouri as far south as Commerce and north to Perryville.

Today, the last day of the drive, the Altenburg Museum will be open as well as Tower Rock Winery. For more information, call 573-0824-5479. Brazeau's historic sites will be open for tours, and there will be live music. Hemman Winery is open. Call 573-824-5630 for more information. The Cape River Heritage Museum and Red House will also be open during the drive. Commerce Museum, River Ridge Winery and High's Funhouse, Gift Shop and RV Park will be open. For more information, call 264-2199.

Frohna's Saxon Lutheran Memorial will be open. Call 573-824-5404 for more information. Marble Hill's Bollinger Co. Museum of Natural History, Massey Log House, The Cat Ranch Art Guild and Wisecarver Store will be open. Pocahontas will have a kettle beef supper at 3 p.m. at St. John's Lutheran Church and Apple Creek Presbyterian Church Gaslight Hymn Sing is at 7 p.m. The Sedgewickville Lutheran Church will provide courtesy coffee and tea plus a craft fair and large yard sale. Call 573-887-3280 for more information.

cpagano@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133

Want to go?

• What: Civil War re-enactment, part of the 18th annual Mississippi River Valley Scenic Drive
• Where: Fort D, Locust Street, two blocks off South Sprigg Street, Cape Girardeau
• When: Sunday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.