My Time Machine

From the Vault Note: This essay first appeared in a slightly different form on Southern Writers Magazine’s blog, April 2013.

Readers often comment that my stories immerse them fully in the fictional world I’ve created. Achieving that “You Are Here” feeling is a challenge for most authors. Those who write historical fiction wish they had a time machine, a way to experience what the past was like.

33rd Light Redcoats at BrattonsvilleI write crime fiction set during the eighteenth century, in the American War of Independence. I’ve found that time machine.

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Redcoat and Suzanne AdairWhen I started researching this period almost twenty years ago, I quickly realized that if I intended to create believable fiction about people who’d lived more than two hundred years earlier, reading books on the topic and interviewing subject matter experts wouldn’t cut it at helping me capture the period flavor. A desire to experience the everyday challenges my characters would have faced and how their world smelled, tasted, and sounded fueled my interest in becoming a Revolutionary War reenactor.

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Cooking at CamdenMy sons and I spent many weekends camped at historical battlegrounds during reenactment events. We slept in white canvas army tents with no mosquito screens, and we dressed in clothing made of wool and linen. Our menu was limited by what meals we could prepare over a wood fire. Food occasionally got scorched. Most of the time, running water, flush toilets, and heat or air-conditioning were unavailable.

I learned to start a fire from flint and steel. Not until I’d done so did I comprehend the impact of natural variables, such as wind and humidity, on establishing a fire when you don’t even have the convenience of matches. Try starting a fire with flint and steel on a windy, wintry night.

Continentals and Redcoats at Guilford CourthouseI also learned to load and fire a musket with powder only, like reenactors on the battlefield. Nothing I’d read prepared me for the noise, weight, heat, or reload time of the musket. The one time I fired a ball, I saw the way it could have ricocheted off trees and killed someone. How often did that happen in woodland skirmishes hundreds of years ago?

And I learned to move in a petticoat. However no reference book prepared me for how quickly the wind whipped my petticoat into the campfire at one event. Did you know that being burned was one of the top causes of death for women in the eighteenth century?

I’m a woman of the twenty-first century. I take technology for granted. Convenience and accessibility underpin my culture and shape my values and reactions. But during the Revolutionary War, very little was convenient or accessible. Danger and scarcity shaped decisions, especially for the middle and lower classes.

Indian at CamdenWe’re out of touch with the hardships our ancestors endured to stay alive. My challenge is to bridge that gap in my fiction. The lessons I’ve learned from reenacting inform the crafting of my fictional world. Without the experience of having lived history via the time machine of reenacting, I wouldn’t be able to provide such a believable and captivating escape for readers.

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A Couple of Guest Posts in April

Before we charge into the lusty month of May, enjoy my guest posts during the last part of April:

On Le Couer de Artiste, I talk about “Losing Myself in the Past” and the importance of Revolutionary War reenacting for my writing.

A Day in the Life of Michael Stoddard” on Dru’s Book Musings recounts April Fools Day 1781 (A Hostage to Heritage) from Michael’s point of view, in his voice.

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Camp Follower for a Weekend

From the Vault: I’ve participated in more than a decade of Revolutionary War reenacting with the 33rd Light Company of Foot—as one of their camp followers. Boy, oh boy, those words “camp follower” sure perk the ears of journalists and beg a clarification of what a camp follower does. My explanation often sounds like what’s in the following essay, originally published in 2010 in Mystery Readers Journal, vol 26 no 4, the issue on “Hobbies.” (The pictures weren’t in the original.) In this essay, I discuss giving voice to women of the Revolution so we can learn about “the crushing, undeniable effect of war on humanity.” Note that that voice is loud and clear in my latest release, A Hostage to Heritage.

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I write a mystery/suspense series set during the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War. Several years ago, after I’d described the hobby that best informs my writing, an interviewer said to me, “Honey, you really suffer for your art.” My hobby is Revolutionary War reenacting. During a reenacting weekend, I portray a woman of middle class who is a camp follower.

Surgeon's table at Camden November 2005 reenactment

No, I’m not a military groupie. During the Revolutionary War, any non-combatant civilian who traveled with an army met the definition of what we’d call a “camp follower.” These folks took no commissioning or enlistment vows but were paid in other ways by the army or through interaction with the army. Camp followers in the Revolutionary War included artisans such as blacksmiths and wheelwrights; sutlers like merchants and peddlers; and retainers: family members, servants, slaves, and friends.

Usually when we hear a voice from the Revolutionary War, it’s a man’s voice, a soldier’s tale. Women have a different story to tell about the war. One purpose of my series is to spotlight women in a historically accurate setting and give them their voices.

Women spinning and weaving at the Joel Lane House

Why would any woman who wasn’t a prostitute follow an army? In the Revolutionary War, territories changed hands often. The conflict pitted neighbor against neighbor—demonstrated gruesomely in the Southern colonies, where squabbling families used the excuse of war to continue old feuds. Most cities were too small to provide a defense for people. Often an army was the greatest source of protection. When a military force withdrew from an area, civilians who stayed behind became vulnerable and risked torture and death at the hands of enemies. Thus wives left home and marched to the drum with their soldier husbands, bringing with them children and other household members.

A woman who followed an army endured privation. The baggage train where most camp followers traveled was considered worthy of capture. Civilians associated with it often found themselves in the midst of battle. These people also experienced disease, starvation, lack of clothing and shelter, and exposure to the elements. In addition, civilians had to obey military rules. A woman who broke the rules might pay a fine or receive corporal punishment. She could be evicted from camp or executed.

Von Bose camp at Camden 2007 reenactment

Middle- and lower-class women coped by cobbling together some form of domestic life, normalcy within the military environment and chaos of war. Perhaps they shared a daily meal with their soldiers, or participated in a family activity, such as reading from the Bible. Since women often didn’t receive food rations, they laundered, cooked, mended clothing, and worked in the infirmary for extra pay or food.

These women weren’t early feminists. They did what had to be done, part of the innate ability of women throughout history. Yet the accomplishments of women don’t receive the attention of men’s accomplishments. Stories of war are most often told from the point of view of men, soldiers. Furthermore, we tend to regard women of Revolutionary America through the lens of Victorian society, impose Victorian expectations upon women of Georgian society.

Sometimes in primary research, we must read between the lines to hear the small voice with the true story. When women are allowed to voice their stories, a very different image of war emerges, especially for middle- and lower-class women. We hear the crushing, undeniable effect of war on humanity. I depict these women in my series—especially in my book Camp Follower, where I’ve described the suffering of civilians who traveled with the army that lost the Battle of Cowpens.

If my fiction succeeds in capturing most of what women camp followers endured, then it’s worth sweating beneath my petticoat in the summer, blowing on numb fingers in the winter, and swatting mosquitoes and eating burned food. Who said hobbies must be easy? I look for new experiences and challenges. Maybe for another series, I’ll take up ghost hunting.

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HFeBooks Re-Runs My Time Machine: A HOSTAGE TO HERITAGE, Book Tour Stop 13

Got a hankering to read historical fiction? You’ll find something to hit the spot at the site for Historical Fiction eBooks. Take a look at all they have to offer. And today on their blog, they’re re-running one of my earlier essays.

What sort of historical revelations would you write about if you had a time machine to help you step back in time and sample the sensory impressions of the past? Stop by the HFeBooks blog today to learn about the time machine I discovered. Thanks!

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18th-century Favorite Things: A HOSTAGE TO HERITAGE, Book Tour Stop 9

Why do I spend so much time in the past? I have my reasons—and fortunately I’m not the only woman crime fiction author who indulges in historical settings. Stop by the blog of medieval mystery author Jeri Westerson today to find out some of the things I enjoy about 18th-century America. Thanks!

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My Time Machine: A HOSTAGE TO HERITAGE, Book Tour Stop 8

What sort of historical revelations would you write about if you had a time machine to help you step back in time and sample the sensory impressions of the past? Stop by the Suite T blog today to learn about the time machine I discovered. Thanks!

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Reenacting and Gratitude

Many years ago, encumbered by the point of view of someone dwelling in the twentieth century, I joined a group that depicted a unit of the Thirty-Third Light Company of Foot during living history events in the American South. My desire was to immerse myself in the activities and sensory impressions an eighteenth-century woman living during the Southern theater of the American Revolution would have experienced, so I could more accurately depict the world of Sophie Barton, protagonist in my first book, Paper Woman: A Mystery of the American Revolution.

33rd Light Company of Foot reenactors

Reenacting is an enlightening research tool. It helps me create the world of the Southern theater in my fiction. Reenacting is the ultimate hands-on history. By immersing myself in the military world of the late eighteenth century for entire weekends at a time, I cannot escape brushes with some of the hardships that plagued our ancestors. Sudden downpours and windstorms with no shelter. Sudden freezing rain, even with shelter. Heat indices of 120 degrees. Mosquito swarms without screens. No plumbing. No refrigeration. No electricity. No phone service. You get the idea.

Cooking at a Revolutionary War reenactment

My first reenacting event, I didn’t know to expect primitive conditions. After more events, I settled in with the understanding that at the end of the weekend, I’d be reunited with the technological comforts of my time. That’s when I comprehended how tough, persevering, and remarkable my ancestors must have been—and how fortunate I was to live in a country where I had access to wonders such as running water, electricity, refrigeration, and plumbing.

In the United States, we take our twenty-first century standard of living for granted. We forget that comforts such as running water are truly wonders, luxuries to many people in the world, people who start each day by walking several miles, burdened by buckets or jugs, to the nearest source of water (likely not clean). Survival is foremost in the minds of these people when they awaken each day, just as it was for people—patriot, loyalist, and neutral—during the American Revolution.

Thanksgiving turkey

Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers and friends. When you gather with family and friends to celebrate this holiday, consider the hardships endured by courageous people who lived more than two centuries ago during the time of the American Revolution. Today, people throughout the world endure those same hardships. Remember those people in your thoughts and hearts for a moment. And don’t take for granted your luxuries or your liberty.

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On the Importance of Reenacting

Terry Ambrose has published a nice article about me in The Examiner, capturing the essence of why Revolutionary War reenacting has been so important to me in the development of my fictional world. Big thanks to Terry! Camp Follower has … Continue reading