Re: [Harp-L] civil war harps

[Joe and Cass Leone <leone@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi Garry. A couple interesting speculations.
1... Gettysburg was an important center for SHOE production
2... The Confederacy needed shoes. They didn't have many cows to  
begin with, most were slaughtered for food, the leather had long been  
used up, they couldn't get any through the blockades.
3... The town contained civilians, who promptly fled.
4... The harmonica isn't necessarily from a soldier.
5... The harmonica isn't necessarily FROM that time period. If a  
maintenance worker from this national shrine dropped a harmonica in  
(say) October 1882, it would look like it had been there a long time  
also.

On Feb 23, 2007, at 10:24 AM, Garry Hodgson wrote:

> David Coulson <ndavid.coulson@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > In Winslow's  response to Iceman's posting he states that the popular
> > image of harmonica playing in the Civil War was the creation of
> > Hollywood screen writers, and that harmonica production was too low
> > until the 1870s or 1880s for the instrument to have been widespread.
> > However, in the Alan Bates collection site he links to in the same
> > response, it says this: "First imported in quantity in the early
> > 1860s, they (harmonicas) became popular with soldiers from both north
> > and south.  Many harmonica remains have been found around Civil War
> > camp sites."
> > So which is correct?
>
> i don't know how widespread they were.  but i have seen a harmonica  
> from
> that time in the battlefield museum at gettysburg.  i believe it  
> was found at
> the battle site.
>
> ----
> Garry Hodgson, Senior Software Geek, AT&T CSO
>
> But I'm not giving in an inch to fear
> 'Cause I promised myself this year
> I feel like I owe it...to someone.
>
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