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Every july for the past 25 years, the Gettysburg Anniversary Committee has hosted a civil war battle reenactment at history village depicting camp life. Next, we talk to reenactor is about Victorian Era marriage expectations and civil war brothels. My name is Cheryl Williams and i am portraying today at the reenactment, what it would have been like to be a victorian prostitute. At the time of the American Civil War which was smack in the middle of Victorian Era, there were very few choices for women. Women were, in essence, supposed to be the pillar of the household. The center of the family. Were talking about middle class women. Without any means of support, you have a few choices. You could be domestic servant, or you could work in a factory. At the time of the civil war, there was a spike in widowhood. All of a sudden, middle class women did not really have any means of support. We saw this more in the south than in the north because the war was fought mainly in the south. These women would become prostitutes. It was not an attractive choice. It certainly was not their first choice, but between that and starvation, that is what they did. At the time of the Victorian Era, prostitutes actually had their place and society. At that time, it was considered ill bred and import ace for middle class men to visit their colonel lost on their wives. So respectable women, while they may not have liked it, understood that that is what men did. Respectable women were not supposed to enjoy sexual intercourse with their husbands. Victorian prostitutes had their own benches in the park and seats in the theater. Brothels were actually run and owned by women. They did however employ male surgeons and male bouncers, they were typically called fancy men. Hello, my name is craig hall and today im representing the fancy men in this black woods establishment. The front for the establishment is a sewing service and letter writing service. We are basically portraying a camp house. We dont have a bricks and mortar house. In many cases, the prostitutes work out of a house in the local tavern and some of the larger cities. Here at gettysburg, were portraying one that would have been theoretically organized and near our camp. For example, if you had a large camp of soldiers, you would have another civilian business which was licensed by the army to sell civilian and other supplies to the soldiers. In our scenario, we are hypothetically assuming that we would also, like the army in the west, would have licensed a brothel. A house of assignation in a camp style. So we have a front, if you will, of the sewing service to keep a low profile. If in fact it would be licensed like the army experimented. You dont want the criticism of the local community of permitting licensing this type of activity. As a result, what you had is a typical kind of brothel, which again, would be run by women. In this case, hypothetical miss black would. She basically comes out and hires me, as she said, a fancy man. We set it up like we would a bricks and mortar house. We are in the middle of what we call the parlor. This is where the gentleman would come. They would be entertained by me. The other option, or obligation rather, excuse me. I provide security for the ladies including miss black would. Im a former military man. In many cases, i would be a front for her or a go between. Between the men of society. Since im a former army man, i can help them establish the business near the camp and they are more likely to deal with me then miss black would. Of course, the licensing process that they had was very much like the experiment of what we proposed. Very much like the experiment that was conducted out west by the army to reduce the amount of venereal disease amongst the troops. The process would be that you were, first of all, get all of her employees they would go to the local army surgeon and get a surgeon sick certificate. When this case, this is her certificate. After everyone got a clean bill of health, she would go to the provoke marshal and obtain a license to run our business. As i said, we then set it up. She has been in business for quite some time. She came from the south. She lost her husband and her father. She had no support so she went into the business because it was the most lucrative option among all the other ones. Like washer women or laundress his or domestic servants. Working in a factory to be making cartridges or textiles. She had the possibility of being a domestic servant, or even a nurse. All these other options were outside of the family. What were talking about here is were describing the entrance of the 19th century social culture. The 19th century social culture. What is culture . Its the customary traits and ideals and beliefs. What is the culture . What are the customary traits, ideals, and beliefs, be they racial, religious, social. Of course, the Biggest Group involves gender, women. In 19th century society, the family was the most important vehicle, most important social vehicle. In that family, the role of the woman was to raise the children and manage the household. Outside of that, she was given financial security. But there was a certain kind of double standard, and an interesting example is in a book called the house is divided, with a number of historical vignettes. One that was very interesting was about the divorce laws in north carolina. We are not pretending all states have the same kinds of laws, but clearly what happened there is a reflection of the double standard of the time. For example, a man can divorce his wife if she committed adultery. But a woman could not divorce her husband unless he abandoned the family or the Family Structure was lost. But that was her responsibility. As ms. Blackwood indicated, the idea of men finding physical relief outside of the family was not uncommon. One of our most pervasive and famous customers is pictured back here on the wall. Hes a 19thcentury kind of man. He understood and was aware of all of the houses of assignation in new york and washington. He was married at 33 to a 16yearold. On one of his Diplomatic Missions to england, he took along a prostitute from new york, the famous fanny white and introduced her to the queen. Here was a man who basically was living a double standard. And of course, he was also famous not only for his faux pas here in the battle of gettysburg where he wound up losing a leg, but for a famous trial, he found out his wife was having an affair with the son of Francis Scott key, a district of columbia lawyer. He saw the man outside the house. He got pistols and shot the man a number of times. He was tried in part of his fame is that he was found not guilty on a defense of temporary insanity. In my line, i think many historians would agree with me, it wasnt necessarily that those 12 men on that jury understood this psychological defense or psychological condition. They saw 12 men who understood the marriage. They understood that marriage was being intruded upon by this man. You could lose track of who you are, what you were doing, and your sense of right and wrong. Those 12 men found him not guilty. He is not necessarily the only character that portrays this kind of scenario. For example, another individual, carl johnson, in his letters, which have been published lately, he writes to his wife that he met a gentleman who indicated he had known his wife. He wrote her that he had met the man, and she responded by saying well, yes, she had met him, but he attempted to kiss her. And as colonel johnson found out about this, he wrote back to his wife that he didnt think the man was a gentleman, and any man who would try to kiss his wife, if he had known him, he would have taken him out and shot him on the spot. His concept of the marriage and his role in it was very much like sickles and i think very much like the social culture of the time. This is the culture. This is the scenario. We are setting it up like a house that would have a social Gathering Place were gentleman could come, waiting for services to be provided. There is security behind ms. Blackwell. All the men would be sure to leave their weapons at the door. Take off your hat. Come in, sit down. Over here, some of the accoutrements of entertainment, liquid libation, reading materials, entertainment materials. And here we have some of the goods we might provide to the soldiers. Some are provided during the services, and some subsequent, and some before. We have different kinds of soap. The gentlemen could brush their teeth or wash up over here behind me. If you acquire at least one french letter for five cents, that could protect you from venereal disease. We could also provide an aphrodisiac in the form of oysters. Finally, a cure for the ills of mens nether regions, which might be necessary if they did acquire something. We also had postcards, pictures, books, some would call pornography, some not. Pornography became an issue in the 19th century. Like prostitution, it was a market. Men gathering together, young men filled with testosterone looking for some kind of relief. There would be negotiations with ms. Blackwood. She would take the money for the services. She would assign one of her ladies to the gentleman, and then he would retire to a tent where the services would be performed. In terms of appearance, when talking about victorian prostitutes specifically, we kind of have to leave the hollywood image behind. Not because it is not interesting, but because it isnt accurate. Prostitutes ran under the radar. They were subtle, you could not tell. Most women never left the house unescorted. Middleclass women always had either another woman or more typically another man with them. So one way to tell is if you saw an unescorted woman. Victorian prostitutes also made direct eye contact. That was another way. You never approached a man you hadnt been introduced to in middleclass society. So a victorian prostitute would walk down the street, usually by herself, make eye contact with her man, turn this way, maybe the other way, who knows . Human nature never changes. They would be camped outside of the encampment. They would follow the army and be sort of entrenched with them. They would find soldiers with plenty of time on their hands and plenty of money to spend. Every july for the past 25 years, the Gettysburg Anniversary Committee has hosted a civil war battle ee

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