Quilt Along: A Star Pattern Quilt SquarePosted May 18, 2020The earliest quilting was done not for bed coverings, but for clothing. The layers of fabric and padding stitched together gave garments protection and warmth. As quilting evolved, it began to be used as bedcoverings. The earliest quilted bedcoverings were typically made of large pieces of cloth and called “whole cloth” quilts. By the 1830s, though, pieced quilts used on beds were becoming more popular. These quilts often incorporated depictions of current or local events into the design. Many people began to see designing and sewing quilts as a way of commemorating events, showing off their needlework skills and keeping busy. It certainly could be a practical use of fabric, but some quilt experts today also note that quilting was perhaps more commonly seen as a socially acceptable pastime, even on Mackinac Island.When Mackinac Island merchant Edward Biddle died, nine quilts were listed in his probate records. We have some idea of the patterns used for these quilts are based on letters exchanged between Edward’s daughter Sophia and her cousin in the Detroit area. These letters mention Irish double chains and star pattern quilts. There were many different types of star pattern quilts around by the time these letters were written, so we will probably never know the specific one Sophia had chosen.We have chosen a common and simple square from the 19th century for you to take a stab at and make yourself. Piecing and sewing can be a creative and satisfying way to connect to the past. Try your hand at this “star pattern” quilt square. Be sure to share a picture of the finished product with us on Facebook!Pattern: You will need:– Scissors– Sewing thread– Sewing needle– Two colors of fabric– Backing fabric (about 12” square, at least) 2.5” strip of fabric for binding the edge or pre-made tape– Ruler or other measuring toolNotes: Be creative when you are gathering supplies. If you don’t have quilt batting, try using an old towel, layers of scrap fabric or anything else that you might have around the house. It is sometimes a good idea to work your pattern out with paper. You can play with the layout and may even end up creating your own unique design.Step 1: Cut out four squares from your first color that measure 4.5” square, and one that measures 5 3/8” square. These will be your background pieces.Step 2: Cut out three squares from your second color that measure 5 3/8” square and one that measures 4.5” square. These pieces will make your star.Step 3: Cut your larger squares into four equal triangles. Draw or press lines into them from corner to corner to get straight lines.Step 4: Arrange your pieces into a star pattern with the main fabric square in the center and the background color around the edges. Step 5: Piece your block together using ¼” seam allowance. Press each seam open as you sew. Step 6: Layer your quilt block, filling material and back together and baste, baste, baste! Step 7: Quilt your block! Stitch along the seams or use your own pattern.Step 8: Trim the block to cut away any unevenness and bind the edges. Step 9: Consider adding the year and maker to the block with ink or thread.Step 10: Admire your work and send us pictures of your finished quilt block.
Battlefield Archaeology at Wawashkamo Golf ClubPosted April 24, 2020One of the most unusual archaeological projects to take place on Mackinac Island was a metal detector survey of the portion of the 1814 battlefield located on Wawashkamo Golf Club. The project was carried out in May 2002 by the Heidelberg (Ohio) College Center for Historic and Military Archaeology under the direction of Dr. Michael Pratt and funded by the Wawashkamo Restoration and Preservation Fund.1814 Battle of Mackinac Island. The August 4, 1814 battle was always known to have taken place on the Dousman farm on either side of what is now known as British Landing Road. This survey was designed to determine what might be left in the ground on the western side of the battlefield after 85 years of farming by the Dousman and Early families, followed by 102 years as a golf course. Three different types of metal detection instruments were used in order to locate ferrous, brass, copper, silver, lead, nickel and gold artifacts. The fairways were systematically “swept” to locate possible concentrations of artifacts. Four areas of interest were located, which were then intensively surveyed. Two hundred sixty-five artifacts related to the battle were located. These included United States Infantry and Artillery buttons, spent and dropped rifle, musket and buck shot, a piece of iron canister shot, trade gun parts, an 1807 U.S penny, and three nearly complete clasp knives. Additional artifacts recovered related to the Dousman and Early farms and all eras of Wawashkamo Golf Club.U.S. Army buttons recovered during Wawashkamo battlefield survey. Credit: CHMA The clusters were located on fairways 1, 5, and 9 and the east end of fairway 8. Spatial analysis of the battlefield artifacts indicated that the survey area included the path of Lieutenant Colonel George Croghan’s regular troops advancing and retreating along British Landing Road, and the possible location of Major Andrew Holmes’s unsuccessful flanking attack and death. The 2002 survey demonstrated that significant archaeological resources have survived at Wawashkamo. The results did not re-write the story of the battle, rather they fleshed out the written record and provided a tangible link to the only battle ever fought on Mackinac Island.
A Model 1884 Springfield RiflePosted April 3, 2020The .45-70 Springfield Rifle.The Buffington sight. A second adjustment screw (not visible) swiveled the entire sight left or right.During the summer months, visitors to Fort Mackinac are able to see a real piece of history in action every single day. Historical interpreters representing soldiers from the 23rd Regiment of Infantry perform rifle firing and drill demonstrations throughout the day. The weapons they carry, the .45-70 Springfield rifle, are all 19th century originals, making them at least 130 years old. Let’s take a closer look at one of these fascinating weapons. Introduced in 1873, the .45-70 remained the standard issue arm of the American army for 20 years. A single-shot weapon, the rifle derived its name from the cartridge it fired: a .45 caliber bullet propelled by 70 grains of black powder. Over the course of its service life, the army refined the rifle several times, making almost yearly changes to the design to reflect the realities of daily use and at the suggestion of officers and enlisted men. Only rarely did these design changes cumulatively result in the designation of a new model, but in 1884 the army approved a “new” design incorporating improved features. The improved cleaning rod, with tapered button tip.Note the knurling on the trigger and on the hammer.This Model 1884 displays many of these design elements. The two most prominent “new” features are the sight and the cleaning rod. The sight, designed by Lt. Col. A.R. Buffington of the Ordnance Department, includes a leaf that can be flipped up and adjusted to sight the weapon at ranges up to 1,400 yards. It also includes an adjustment screw to compensate for windage- by turning it, the entire vertical leaf swivels right or left. The cleaning rod, meanwhile, incorporates the flared button head adopted in 1879 and put into widespread production in 1882. The breechblock is stamped U.S. MODEL 1884, although in reality these stamps were not added to new rifles until 1886, and weapons marked this way did not enter widespread service until 1887. The rest of the rifle incorporates several other design improvements adopted over the years, such as knurling on the trigger and hammer, which was intended to improve a soldier’s fingertip grip on these critical pieces. The star symbol stamped next to the serial number (it looks like a flower) indicates that this rifle was probably rebuilt at an arsenal at some point.The rifle’s breech in the open position. When opened after firing, the weapon automatically ejected the spent cartridge, allowing a soldier to quickly reload.This particular rifle has a serial number in the 141000 range, indicating that it was probably originally produced in 1879 or 1880. How, then, can it incorporate features only authorized in 1884, and not actually put into service for a few more years? The small five-pointed star or flower next to the serial number most likely indicates that this weapon is an arsenal rebuilt. In 1879 the Springfield Armory began collecting older .45-70 rifles and using some of the parts to build new weapons, which were held in reserve or eventually issued to various state units (the forerunners to the National Guard). Furthermore, since the rifles were built using entirely interchangeable parts, after the weapons left frontline military service and entered the civilian market (which many did- they are still relatively easy for collectors to obtain) it was simple for gun brokers and owners to cobble together “new” weapons with a mixture of parts from different model years. In any case, this rifle, and the others in daily use at Fort Mackinac, are truly history that you can see, smell, hear, and touch. Our interpreters carry rifles of both the 1873 and 1884 models, with many of the small variations added each year. We even have a few rifles equipped with ramrod bayonets, an experimental design attempted on three different occasions in the 1880s. These weapons had a small, sharpened metal dowel mounted under the barrel in lieu of a cleaning rod in an effort to eliminate the need for soldiers to carry a separate bayonet and scabbard. Historically, one of the two companies of the 23rd Infantry stationed at Fort Mackinac from 1884 to 1890 were issued the experimental ramrod bayonet rifles for evaluation. When you visit us at Fort Mackinac, be sure to ask the interpreters about their rifles- they’re a fascinating link to the past!
Mackinac Parks: 125Posted February 7, 2020Mackinac State Historic Parks turns 125 years old in 2020. Established in 1895 when the federal government shuttered the country’s second national park, Mackinac National Park, the Mackinac Island State Park Commission has pursued the important mission of protecting, preserving and presenting Mackinac’s natural and historic wonders. Today, Mackinac State Historic Parks is a family of living history museums and nature parks located in Mackinaw City and on Mackinac Island. (more…)
America’s 19th Century Christmas Traditions: A Connection Between the Past and PresentPosted December 20, 2019Many of the Christmas holiday traditions Americans honor in the early 21st century were shaped in the 19th century as this image from an issue of Harper’s Weekly in January 1869 reflects.Christmas in the United States is not only a federal holiday but arguably the most celebrated holiday in the country, as evidenced by more retail and holiday decoration sales devoted to it than any other holiday during the year. However America’s celebration of this holiday has not always been universal and indeed, its traditions as celebrated in the United States are much more recent than most Americans likely are aware of, with most present day variations of American holiday traditions descended from the 19th century Victorian era. This was also the main time period Fort Mackinac was in active use as a military garrison and this heritage of holiday traditions is also reflected in the history of the fort and local inhabitants. (more…)
Support Mackinac Associates on Giving TuesdayPosted November 29, 2019Mackinac Associates’ mission is simple and encompassing: Friends Preserving and Sharing Mackinac’s Heritage.Mackinac Associates is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that supports programs at Mackinac State Historic Parks through membership dues and other gifts. Mackinac Associates has supported needed projects in every area of museum operation, and make possible interpretive programs, publications, exhibits, natural history education, park improvements and more. (more…)
The Company of Fort Mackinac DescendantsPosted November 22, 2019Fort Mackinac ca. late 1890sGenealogy, the study and tracing of one’s lines of descent or ancestry, has become increasingly popular in recent years. Document-rich sites like Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, and MyHeritage.com, contain billions of records that help individuals discover their family roots. The resources created to serve genealogists are extremely useful to professional historians looking to learn more about the human history of their fields of research. In writing The Soldiers of Fort Mackinac, An Illustrated History, Phil Porter, Mackinac State Historic Parks Director, spent countless hours on Ancestry.com looking for information about the men who served at the island fort. (more…)
Fort Mackinac: A Century of Military Service to the CountryPosted November 8, 2019Veteran’s Day is the Federal holiday which encourages Americans to take a moment to reflect upon and honor the sacrifices of every generation of Americans that have served the country in the Armed Forces from its inception to the present. The holiday originated as a proclamation by President Woodrow Wilson in 1919 to commemorate the cease fire which signaled the end of the “war to end all wars,” World War I, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month as Armistice Day. In the words of President Wilson, “the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…” This serves as a powerful description of what the holiday today known as Veteran’s Day is intended to reflect in commemoration of those who have served the country and it’s ideals in the military not only during WWI but over the course of the nation’s entire history. (more…)
Fort Mackinac’s Soldiers and the Statue of LibertyPosted October 28, 2019The statue in 1890, shortly after it was completed. New York Public LibraryOn October 28, 1886, President Grover Cleveland and a host of other dignitaries formally dedicated the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. The soldiers of Fort Mackinac, along with people across the country, helped make the statue a reality. (more…)
On This Day: Battle of Mackinac Island, August 4, 1814Posted August 4, 2019American soldiers from the 17th, 19th, and 24th Infantry Regiments joined men from the Corps of Artillery, the Marine Corps, and the Ohio militia during the battle.On August 4, 1814, war came to Mackinac Island. The island, which had been captured by the British in 1812, was now the focus of an American campaign to reclaim the region. That campaign reached its zenith as hundreds of American troops landed on the island’s north shore, marched inland, and encountered well-entrenched British, Canadian, and Native American troops. (more…)
