The Harrisonburg
Guards (continued)
The following account found in the August
1879 issues of the Rockingham Register newspapers provided a glimpse of the
lighter side of Guard duty.
The Guards’ Encampment at Rawley Springs[i]
Coinciding
with the first load of watermelons in early August 1879, about thirty “boys” of
Harrisonburg went to Rawley Springs for a three-day encampment. The Rawley Springs, about 12 miles west of
the Courthouse, was a popular resort known medically for its fortifying and
curing iron water and recreationally for its many diversions. On Thursday, August 7, - a “delightfully cool
day, - the boys left Harrisonburg in good spirits” for their encampment. The newspaper reported that “the journey to
Rawley Springs was passed in joking and laughing, and repartee, it affording
the boys special amusement to observe the physiognomy of toll keepers [along
the Rawley Pike and they] would approach or drive through without either
ceremony or pay.” When they arrived at
the Dry River crossing at the entrance to the Resort, the Company was greeted
by the Rawley Springs brass band under the leadership of Prof. Schoff of the
U.S. Naval Military Academy Band. The Guards marched to the Springs to the
especially composed “Harrisonburg Guard Quickstep.” A multitude of fair ladies on the verandahs
of the Virginia, Baltimore, and Washington Houses greeted the “boys” with
applause. Major Pitman, the manager of
the Resort, and Mr. Carey and Mr. Lee, the clerks, welcomed them and showed
them to their accommodations at the Washington House. In the evening at the “customary dance” in
the large ballroom, the young men had a chance to obtain introductions to the
ladies.
On
Friday, the staff presented, to the delight of the men, bottles of wine to
drink with their noon meal. By early
evening activity slowed and the verandahs were deserted. The young ladies disappeared to adjust
pleated and ruffled dresses, drape corkscrew curls over shoulders, and collect
fans in preparation for the evening’s grand military ball. The efforts of the women were noted by the
reporter who wrote: “it was a feeling of pride and gratification that we saw
our Harrisonburg girls come-off more than winners in point of beauty and
grace.” Among the local ladies present
were several Misses Warrens and Misses Otts, Yanceys, and Coffmans.
General P.G.T.
Beaureguard, General Jubal Early and other distinguished Confederate officers
were managers of the ball. During the
evening 600 to 700 guests arrived at the Springs for the event. At nine o’clock the dancing started with the Promenade Polonaise. The first nine dance sets also including
quadrilles and waltzes – some by Strauss.
During the Intermission at eleven a grand supper was served. Afterwards, dancing to waltzes, quadrilles,
and even a polka continued until 2 a.m..
The last dance was the Virginia Reel, “Put me in my little bed.”
By
Saturday evening the Guards revived themselves to entertain the resort guests
with a parade of the “Mulligan Guards.”
In this era, the New York entertainers Harrigan and Hart had “great
success on tour in the presentation of comic types of lower class characters
drawn from everyday life on the street of New York, especially ethnic
neighborhood militias.” In 1872,
Harrigan produced an act called The
Mulligan Guards that became the heart of the team’s performances.[ii] The local Guards imitated the popular
entertainment for the guests at Rawley under the buggy whip of leader Capt.
Gatewood. The men disguised themselves
in “ridiculous” costumes and behaved in a “ludicrous” manner. In the evening the men resumed their dancing
and courting.
 |
| Ball Room Rock Image from Places Faces & Traces Historical Photographs of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County by Scott Hamilton Suter & Cheryl Lyon |
On
Sunday, a number of men left to return to their responsibilities in
Harrisonburg. For those that remained
the day was relatively quiet until about midnight when the owner of a
watermelon wagon found a dozen or so of his produce missing. Those who remained at camp until Wednesday
participated in shooting demonstrations, a baseball game with other guests, and
in another appearance of the Mulligan Guards.
Courting continued unabated.
During
the month of August the Rockingham Register devoted more than five columns to
the doings of Harrisonburg Guards at Rawley, often in superlative
adjectives. The paper proclaimed the
“bestness” of the local citizens. There
was one lament by a writer that the natural beauty of the Rawley setting was
not also praised.
This brief look at
the Harrisonburg Guard showed local civic pride and customs and also an
awareness of the world beyond the locality in the late 1870s. The description of the Rawley Springs
resort’s facilities and ambience suggested its economic and social impact on
the area. However amusing and
entertaining the Guard members showed themselves to be, one might inquire about
their capability to protect the home front at that time. Maybe this was lingering fatigue from the
last war – and the Spanish American War was twenty years in the future.
[i] The following event was reported in the August 1879
editions of the Rockingham Register. Not
only does reporting give the reader a glimpse of the Harrisonburg Guards, it is
the best description of the leisure and recreation at the Springs and the scale
of the enterprise during its heyday that has been found to date.
[ii]
http://en.wikipedia.org.
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