American Pie

 

We may say "American as apple pie," but we Americans can't really claim pie as our own.  The tradition of pie making came to the New World with our English ancestors, who encased not only fruits and custards, but meat, fowl, fish, eggs and vegetables in sturdy crusts and tender pastries. During the Civil War era, only the rich and fashionable had a separate dessert course at dinner. The modest homes of farmers, artisans and shopkeepers served only one course.  Apple and mince pies frequently appeared side by side with the meat, vegetables and bread. They were also a common breakfast food, so if you've ever eaten leftover pie for breakfast (a favorite in the Bohnhoff household!) you are following a long standing tradition. Housewives had practical reasons to make pies more frequently than cakes.  Cakes required eggs, which were less plentiful in the winter than in the summer.  The ingredients for pies: sugar, wheat flour, lard, plus fillings, were more readily available year round.  During the winter months, dried or canned fruits were used to fill fruit pies. The second edition of The Bent Reed, which I plan to put out during the summer of 2016, will have an appendix at the back that will begin with the information from this blog post.  I'll publish a number of Civil War era recipes there, including peach (to recognize The Peach Orchard, a site of a major engagement during the Battle of Gettysburg), cherry and raspberry (because these were in season during the battle.  Eating too many of them might have contributed to Robert E. Lee's problems.) and some savories as well.  Most of these recipes will already have been sent to people on my friends, family and fans email list, which you can join on my website. For now, you'll have to content yourself with just a pie crust recipe.  This recipe is very versatile.  It can be used for sweet or savory fillings, and can fill a number of different sized dishes.  I rarely measure carefully, and that combined with the fact that flour acts differently in humid or dry conditions means that my crusts are never quite the same, but they are always good. Good, Basic Pie Crust Single Crust: (this size will fill two 6" pie plate is you're cooking for one or two) 1 1/3 c. flour 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 c. shortening (I use Crisco, but lard or butter is authentic to the period) 2 1/2 to 3 TBS ice water 1/2 TBS cider vinegar Double 8" Crust: 2 c. flour 1 tsp. salt 3/4 c. shortening  4 to 5 TBS ice water 1 TBS cider vinegar Double 9" Crust: 2 2/3 c. flour 1 tsp. salt 1 c. shortening (I use Crisco, but you can use lard if you want to be authentic) 6 to 7 TBS ice water 1 1/2 TBS cider vinegar Mix by hand method: Mix flour and salt.  Cut in shortening until mixture resembles small peas.  Sprinkle with water and vinegar, 1 tsp. at a time, mixing until it all sticks together.  Refrigerate for about 10 minutes before rolling. Food Processor Method: Dump flour and salt into processor bowl.  Drop spoonfuls of shortening over the top.  Pulse 2 or 3 times, until shortening is distributed.  Pour vinegar into liquid dispenser and pulse one or two times. Continue adding water a TBS at a time until dough forms into a ball. Roll out on a flour covered piece of waxed paper.

Getting The Navajo Long Walk Right for MG Readers

 

 

Painting, Bosque Redondo Visitor's Center

In the 1860s, while most of the United States was focused on a bloody Civil War between the northern and southern states, a very different war was being fought in the western territories of New Mexico and Arizona.

Here, Native Americans felt the pressure as more and more white settlers moved into their lands. They retaliated by raiding the settlements. Finally, General James Carleton decided that the only way to protect white settlers was to restrict the nomadic lifestyle of the Navajos and Mescalero Apaches by relocating them to a reservation.   

Led by the famous Indian scout Kit Carson, New Mexico's Volunteer Militia began rounding up the Mescalero Apache and Navajo Indians. Knowing that the Navajo would never surrender unless forced to, Carson followed a scorched earth policy. During the winter of 1863-1864 he burned Navajo crops and orchards, killed their livestock, destroyed their homes, and contaminated their water sources.  Once they gave up, the Navajo were forced to walk, some as far as 300 miles, to Bosque Redondo.

---

Treaty Rock, Bosque Redondo

The Navajo remained at Ft. Sumner until June of 1868. During there time there they suffered from sickness, exposure and starvation.  It is believed that during their incarceration between 500 and 1,500 Navajo died.

---

Stones and other mementos left by Navajo.

I visited Bosque Redondo, in  Ft. Sumner, New Mexico, in July 2015.  The fort is completely gone now.  The Memorial that is there honors the Native Americans who were interred there and documents their story.

---

When I decided to find out what historical novels deal with this period in history, I found that there is very little written for this period.  I found nothing representing the Mescalero experience, and only one book telling the Navajo story of the Long Walk.  That one book is Sing Down the Moon, a Newbery Honor Book by respected author Scott O'Dell.  Published in 1970, this novel has been a classroom staple for years.

But not everyone likes this novel. A fellow teacher at my school who taught in Navajo country has told me that her students laughed at the many misrepresentations of Navajo customs and ideas.  

One reviewer on Amazon who is from the four corners area wondered how much research O''Dell did.  "I have never heard of mesquite growing around here or aspen in Canyon de Chelly or of the pueblo people eating dog meat and...... the owl a GOOD OMEN? I don't think so!!!! Any one from this area that has any knowledge of the Navajo culture knows that OWLS ARE NOT GOOD OMENS!!!"

---

I think a telling of this story from the perspective of a Native American is long overdue.

Sherfy's Peaches

 

 

One of the reasons that fruit trees figure fairly prominently in The Bent Reed is that they figure prominently in many diaries of the period.  By late June 1863, the Civil War had been raging long enough that many of the farmlands of the South were in disarray.  The Confederate soldiers who invaded Pennsylvania on their way to the Battle of Gettysburg delighted in the produce and animals on the North’s untouched farms, and wrote about Pennsylvania’s green bounty. 


Before the Civil War, almost every farm had a small apple orchard that was used to produce cider, fruit for the home, and food for pigs. With new roads, canals and railroads providing better transportation, many farmers in the Gettysburg area began expanding their orchards in the 1840s and 1850s to produce fruit for the growing urban markets.

---

Joseph Sherfy, 1840s.

One example of this new, enterprising farmer was the Reverend Joseph Sherfy, who purchased 50 acres along the Emmitsburg Road, south of the town of Gettysburg, in 1842. Sherfy planted much of his land in peach trees, and by the time of the Civil War, his fresh, dried, and canned peaches were locally famous.

Joseph and Mary Sherfy and their six children were ready to help when the Union army reached Gettysburg on the first of July 1863. Joseph dragged a large water tub out to the road and kept it filled for the thirsty soldiers.  Mary and her mother baked loaf after loaf of bread and handed them over to the army.  The next day they were forced to evacuate their home.  Their home ended up being the center of the whirlwind of war on July 2nd and 3rd, which is the reason I chose to put the fictional McCoombs farm right next to Sherfy’s farm.

---

The Sherfy farm was in the thick of things because Union General Dan Sickles disobeyed his commanding officer, General George Meade.  He moved his men onto a piece of high ground in the middle of the orchard instead of keeping them in a line that extended south of the town of Gettysburg to a hill called Little Round Top.  This created a sharp bend in the line, a vulnerable salient that the Confederate army attacked from two sides.  The fight in the peach orchard was one of the most hotly contested of the Gettysburg battle. 

When Sherfy returned to his land on the 6th, he discovered that his house had been ransacked.  At least seven artillery shells had hit it.  The yard was covered with the family’s possessions, churned into the mud with body parts left over from the Confederate field hospital that had been in their barn.  Bodies of dead men and horses lay strewn about everywhere. The ruins of the barn were filled with the charred remains of the men who had been unable to escape the fire that occurred when shells of the Union batteries scored a direct hit.  

Undaunted, the Sherfys cleaned, replanted, and rebuilt, and for years sold peaches from the famous orchard.It was a popular destination for veterans who had fought in its fields and wanted to relive their experiences.  One wall of the house supposedly was covered with photographs of veterans who had fought there. The farm today, which still has some holes from artillery shells, is owned by the National Park Service. At some point in the late 19th or early 20th century the peach trees were all removed, but the National Park Service restored them about 15 years ago, and Sherfy's Peaches are again being sold at Gettysburg.

Quirky Ideas from the WWI History Museum

 

Quirky Ideas from the WWI History Museum

The reflecting pool at the museum's entrance.

When I went to the National World War I Museum in Kansas City last May, I was delighted by quirky artifacts that really got me thinking.  I wouldn't be surprised if some of them make it into a future novel, because they would add great depth and detail to a narrative.  

 Here are a few of my favorites:

---

This projectile from a from a French 58 mm trench mortar was nicknamed the "Flying Pig" because of what it looked like in the air.

The Flying Pig was used by French, Belgian, and U.S. troops and had a range of 490 yards.

The video below isn't of a Flying Pig, but of an Australian trench mortar.  

If I ever write a novel set in the trenches of World War I, I have GOT to have a Flying Pig in it!

---

This Austrian helmet was sent home as a souvenir by an American.  Back then, I guess the postal service had less restrictions than now, because no box or packaging was required to get this helmet from Europe to the U.S.  The soldier (I'm assuming it was a soldier.  It could have been a sailor or a relief worker for all I know.)  Simply attached a tag with his mother's (girlfriend's? sisters?) Kansas City address and stuck stamps directly to the helmet.  I hope I find a character with enough spunk and creativity to think about sending home souvenirs like this! 

---

This is an Imperial German Border sign.  Made of painted cast iron, a series of these marked the border between Germany and France.


In  August of 1914, an elite French strike force penetrated the border on the southern flank of the engagement, capturing many of these border signs. 


Can you imagine a young Frenchman bringing this home to his maman?

---

Am I planning to write a book set in World War I?  Not at present.  Right now, I'm finishing a final edit on a young adult novel that has two concurrent settings: Swan Song switches back and forth between a modern high school girl and a girl living in Europe during the Ice Age.  I'm also researching a book which will be set in New Mexico during the Civil War.  But I'm always musing what comes next, especially when I see something quirky that brings the period to life!