Generals Wives

The block-of-the-month quilt I'm working on (The Generals Wives) was especially interesting this month for several reasons. First of all, John Singleton Mosby was a colonel in the CSA, not a general. But, he was born in this county (a local boy!), lived in Virginia for a large part of his life and fought in Virginia during the Civil War. His wife, Pauline Mariah Clark, was born in Kentucky and was a devout Catholic. Her father was a lawyer, as was her husband. The couple had 8 children, 4 boys and 4 girls. One of their sons died in 1873 and another son died in 1876. Mrs. Mosby died at the age of 39, shortly after the birth of her last son. It amazes me how much heartbreak families during this time had to endure: everyone was touched by the war, losing sons/husbands/brothers/friends, and then there was the horrible death rate due to disease. How blessed we are to have modern medicine!

Col. Mosby's war activities are particularly interesting. With only a few local men under his command, his ability to strike fast and then melt away before an effective pursuit could be organized kept the Yankee forces awake and often snarled in knots. With daring feats like capturing a Yankee general out of his bed within his defended headquarters, Mosby made his name a synonym for guerrilla warfare. Col. Mosby earned the nickname "The Gray Ghost." He wrote his war memories, which you can find available for free on the web.

Here is a picture of the home--called Brentmoor--that Col. Mosby purchased in 1875 (photo taken 2009) in Warrenton, Virginia. This classic Italian-villa style house was built in 1861. Col. Mosby was the third owner of the property.

The block was fun to do. I did however, make a few fabric substitutions. I had enough leftover fabric of the deep red to use as the center square and the 4 smaller squares, and substituted the darker blue for the blue stripe the pattern called for. And again, here is the block:

Oops..gotta run, Who Do You Think You Are is on now!

Till next time, keep stitchin!
Mary