Smocking Class, August 29th, 2:30-4:30pm

Discover Giles County Historical Society article from the Virginian Leader, August 19, 2009:

Beth Cross, a member of the Red Bud Chapter of the Smocking Arts Guild of America, will teach Smocking on Saturday, August 29th from 2:30 to 4:30 in the latest class in the Giles County Historical Society’s and the Giles Arts Council’s Needle Arts Class series. Smocking is a form of utilitarian and decorative stitching that has been in use since the 13th century. Smocks were loose fitting blouses of linen worn by farm workers and other laborers. The loose fit provided protection and warmth, as well as freedom of movement. The linen was gathered into pleats at the yoke and sleeves. Smocking stitches secured the pleats creating stretch in the garment while also providing decoration and identification.

During the period of industrialization, smocks became dangerous for workers to wear because they were loose fitting and could get caught in machinery. Though smocking was no longer a necessity on work clothes, the embroidery stitches used became popular on women’s and children’s clothing as decoration.

What used to be a rather laborious process of creating the pleats, has become easier with the use of a pleater which gathers the fabric. The focus of smocking today is on the embroidery stitching rather than the gathering of the fabric. Pleating creates a canvas on which to work with the pleats creating vertical lines and the threads holding the pleats in place creating horizontal lines. Simple outline, cable, trellis, and wave stitches can then be used to create intricate and beautiful patterns on the pleated cloth.

Join us on August 29th to learn smocking stitches that can embellish clothing or Christmas ornaments. Please contact the Historical Society to register for the class.

Questions About Pearisburg's Civil War Hospital

Discover Giles County Historical Society article from the Virginian Leader, August 5, 2009:

Throughout the year, Giles County Historical Society receives many requests for information via telephone, e-mail, and postal mail. Many are genealogical questions or questions about communities or the location of cemeteries. Occasionally, we receive questions that are obviously directed to the wrong place like those about President Andrew Johnson or Giles County, Tennessee.

Some questions are just puzzling. One Civil War question was about a family member who was in the Pearisburg hospital in October 1862. We knew that there was a hospital here during the Battle of Pearisburg in May 1862, but assumed the hospital had been closed when troops left town and thought that maybe the letter writer meant the Petersburg hospital instead.

As Kate Delaney has researched the Civil War in Giles County to update our exhibits, she found additional references to a hospital in Pearisburg. During a visit to the National Archives in Washington, DC this summer, Delaney was able to verify the existence of a hospital in Pearisburg through monthly records from 1863 to 1865. The records clearly indicate Pearisburg hospital in Giles County, Virginia had patients numbering from 30 to 180. The records also show the number of surgeons, nurses, cooks, laundresses, and other personnel on staff.

A report of the sick and wounded from the week of June 4th, 1864 found at the National Archives clearly shows that there was a large hospital in Pearisburg during the Civil War. During that week there were 77 patients in the hospital, 13 in private quarters, and 15 medical officers and attendants present.

Now, of course, we have additional questions! Was the hospital in the Courthouse for the duration of the War or was it somewhere else? Where did all of the sick and wounded come from to fill the hospital? Where were the deceased buried? If you have any information that can help us solve the mystery of Pearisburg’s Civil War hospital, please contact us.

Giles County Confederate Memorial 100th Anniversary Celebration

Discover Giles County Historical Society article from the Virginian Leader, July 29, 2009:

A parade of Civil War re-enactors, a Civil War encampment, Gen. Robert E. Lee and his staff, and an antebellum fashion show will be included in the festivities surrounding the 100th anniversary of Giles County's Civil War Memorial on August 8th in Pearisburg. The McComas Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) and the Giles County Historical Society have organized the day's events.

The parade begins at 11am following a route from the Andrew Johnston House to the Giles County Courthouse where the UDC will present a program honoring the monument which was dedicated by the UDC on August 9, 1909. The marble and bronze memorial stands on the courthouse lawn as a memorial to Giles County's Confederate soldiers.

From 12-5pm, re-enactors will be camped on the lawn of the Andrew Johnston House at the Giles County Historical Society for the public to learn more about a soldier's life during the Civil War. The 1829 Andrew Johnston House and 1857 Doctor's Office will be open for visitors, the Research Office will welcome people seeking Giles County genealogical information, and a Civil War exhibit will be on display in the Museum. The afternoon program will include a duel and a desertion trial skit, infantry and artillery drills, a fashion show featuring women's clothing of the period, and a talk with Gen. Robert E. Lee and his staff. Gen. Lee is portrayed by Al Stone who has portrayed the General for several History Channel specials and is well-regarded nationally for is accurate impression.

About the McComas Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy
The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is a lineage society organized in 1894 to preserve and protect the history of the Civil War and those who served the Confederate States of America, including the role of Southern women during the war and the reconstruction of the South. The McComas Chapter of the UDC was formed in Pearisburg in 1896 and named for Capt. William Wirt McComas, a Giles County soldier killing in battle in North Carolina in 1862.

About the Giles County Historical Society
The Giles County Historical Society works to perpetuate interest in the history of Giles County; provides a repository for Giles County family histories, documents, and artifacts; assists those interested in genealogical research; and voices concerns and pursues the preservation of any and all endangered Giles County history including artifacts, sites, and records.