Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 15, 1995 TAG: 9501170077
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
But Davis' five small children were worried about something quite different: whether Santa Claus could slip through the Union blockades that closed the South's seaports and bring gifts to Richmond.
That Christmas, the Davis children received from their mother, Varina, homemade cloth dolls with faces made of painted chestnuts. No, she told her disappointed children, not even Santa could elude the Yankees.
That tale is one of many about the lives of children during the Civil War told in part through artifacts on display at the Museum of the Confederacy.
``People think this isn't a place for children,'' museum tour guide Betty Enright said. ``But we've noticed, on our adult tours, that whenever we start talking about the Davis children, all the children in the group suddenly perk up. This tour is all about that.''
The 40-minute walk through the White House of the Confederacy - where Davis and his family lived from 1861 to 1865 - is presented entirely from a child's perspective.
The museum designed the tour to show children what their lives might have been like had they lived in Richmond in the early 1860s. Children who take the tour usually range from 7 to 14 years old. A sampling of the questions Enright fielded recently:
``Why are so many chairs in the mansion set up in a circle?'' Because without television and movies, people sat in circles and talked to each other, Enright answered.
``Why are playing cards designed without numbers?'' Answer: If you wanted to play cards then, you had to learn to count.
``Why didn't the Davis children eat their meals with their parents in the mansion's ornate state dining room?'' Answer: Mom didn't want anything spilled on the nice carpet. Some things never change.
The colorful stories of the Davis kids come directly from Varina Davis' memoirs and the diaries of her close friend, Richmonder Mary Chesnutt.
Jefferson Davis and his family arrived in Richmond in May 1861, shortly after it was designated the Confederate capital. The city had already bought a 7,000-square-foot white mansion in the heart of the city for the new nation's president. The Davises left the mansion in the spring of 1865, just before Union troops occupied the city in the first week of April.
Charity Coman, lead interpreter for the museum, said the Jefferson children had the run of the place, and could interrupt their father even during conferences with his generals.
``There are stories about the children in all of the rooms, including wonderful ones about the children bursting in on cabinet meetings or about Davis rolling around on the floor with his children,'' Coman said.
by CNB