Rosettes for Christmas

We all know of the basic old-fashioned ornaments that were used at Christmas time - strings of berries or popcorn, dried fruit and lighted candles. But did you know that rosettes were sometimes used as well?

Here's a little fun Christmas decoration history for you - and it includes rosettes!

A German Tradition

Christmas trees have been around in some form or another for centuries. But the modern version of the Christmas tree and Christmas decorations apparently originated in the area of Germany. People would go to the huge fir forests in Germany and cut off the tops of the trees for their Christmas celebrations.

Hessian soldiers in the Revolutionary War and nineteenth century German settlers in America brought this tradition with them. Especially in areas like Texas and Pennsylvania, German immigrants established traditions of a fir tree to be decorated for Christmas. They became so popular that they began to be sold commercially in the 1850s. President Franklin Pierce is credited with bringing the first Christmas tree to the White House in 1856.

Concerns about over-harvesting in both America and Germany resulted in the invention of artificial trees such as feather trees, and in tree farms (first established in 1901).

Queen Victoria, herself of German descent, popularized the Christmas tree in the 1840s, and the image of her family around the tree was widely published in both Europe and America.

A German engraving of a Christmas scene, c. 1869

Decorating the Tree

I found a sweet little story in an 1860 edition of Godey's Lady's Book entitled "The Christmas Tree." Long before Hallmark movies, ladies' magazines of the day carried heart-warming, feel-good stories about Christmas, and this tale is no exception. However, the fascinating part for me was the description of the family decorating their tree.

"The square of green baize being tacked down, a large stone jar was placed in the middle of it, and in this the tree stood nobly erect. Damp sand was put round the stem till the large green tree stood firmly in its place. A flounce of green chintz round the jar concealed its stony ugliness, and over the top, round the tree, was a soft cushion of moss. It was a large evergreen, reaching almost to the high ceiling, for all the family presents were to be placed upon it.

"The Christmas Tree," Harper's Weekly, 1870

"This finished, the process of dressing commenced. From a basket in the corner, Marion drew long strings of bright red holly-berries, threaded like beads upon fine cord. These were festooned in graceful garlands from the boughs of the tree, and while Marion was thus employed, Grace and the Doctor arranged the tiny tapers. This was a delicate task. Long pieces of fine wire were passed through the taper at the bottom, and these clasped over the stem of each branch, and twisted together underneath. Great care was taken that there should be a clear space above each wick, that nothing might catch fire.

"Strings of bright berries, small bouquets of paper flowers, strings of beads, tiny flags of gay ribbons, stars and shields of gilt paper, lace bags filled with colored candies, knots of bright ribbons, all homemade by Marion's and Grace's skilful fingers, made a brilliant show at a very trifling cost, the basket seeming possessed of unheard-of capacities, to judge from the multitude and variety of articles the sisters drew from it."

From other period descriptions of decorations, I suspect the "knots of bright ribbons" was another way of saying ribbon rosettes.

1876 Victorian Christmas Tree

As Advertised: Christmas Rosettes!

If you're looking for a more specific reference to Christmas rosettes, though, I love this one from a German newspaper in Allentown, PA, dated December 15, 1869:

"Christmas rosettes. Rosettes are the loveliest decoration for a Christmas tree and are being used more and more each year. Two to three dozen suffice to do a rather large tree. They can be used year after year. The price is thirty cents a dozen. Siemon, Bro & Co, Fort Wayne, Indiana and Hermann Albert, Allentown, PA."

And the tradition continued for many years, as evidenced by this advertisement from the Wilmington, DE "The Daily Gazette" in December 1876.

Well obviously I couldn't ignore this fun idea for decorating during the holidays! So a number of years ago, I started offering my customers the option of either choosing a pin back or an ornament loop for many of my cockades. If you don't see that option available on the cockade you want, just let me know and I'll be happy to offer it for you! I also offer cockades that can be tied onto a wreath.

Some of my ornaments have been vintage style, the "knot of ribbons" mentioned above. Others are more modern and include special photos or emblems. Either way, I think it's a beautiful fashion!

Quakers, Revolutions, and Cockades

The Quaker movement began in the mid-1600s as a group of people who wished to worship God in a way different from the established state church. They believed in non-violence and the equality and priesthood of all believers. Their opposition to slavery, refusal to take oaths, conscientious objection to war, and allowance of female leadership all brought them into conflict with the culture of their day.

Oh and one other item of conflict - their refusal to wear cockades!

We tend to picture the Quakers mostly in Great Britain and America, but by the late 1700s there was a branch in France as well.

The French Revolution began in 1789. You would think a revolution that touted "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity" as its slogan would perfectly sympathize with the equality- and peace-loving Quakers. In fact, Jacques-Pierre Brissot de Warville, a prominent Girondin leader of the Revolution and a friend of Quakers observed, "We are all striving for the same object, universal fraternity; the Quakers by gentleness, we by resistance."

Unfortunately, that's not the view that the French National Assembly took of the matter. Quakers were not viewed kindly by the French revolutionary government. It was obvious to them that Quakers were a "public menace" because - wait for it - they refused to wear the tricolor cockade!

The Quakers had submitted a petition to the National Assembly asking for exemption from military service, exemption from taking civic oaths, and permission to carry on their own method of recording births, marriages and deaths. These liberties had already been granted to British and American Quakers, they reminded the Assembly.

Benjamin Angell's cockade

The issue was so important to Quakers internationally that American and British leaders of the sect visited France to plead for their brethren. Even though Quakers frowned on cockades and other "worldly" devices, cockades were required in revolutionary France. So this cockade was worn by one of the foreign suppliants, Benjamin Angell.

But in spite of this international support, things didn't turn out well for the French Quakers.

One of their leaders, Jean de Marsillac, observed, "It has pleased the lord to suffer us to fall under divers tryals, which in our weak state, we have found painful & grievious, the civic oath, the obligation imposed by the National Assembly to mount guard personally & the Arm, & to declare the arms every one had in his Possession, under the pain of being found guilty of treason & punished by Death….I was arrested at Paris because I had not the National Cockade, & signified my reasons for noncompliance, before the Judges of the Peace, & since that, before Petition Mayor of Paris, who had me set at liberty." 

Many French Quakers simply left France for England, which was more tolerant of their beliefs - and their refusal to wear cockades. A snarky cartoon of the times shows a Quaker asking a drover (symbolizing a recruiting officer), "Friend, where driveth thou that Calf - & why put a Cockade on his horn?" The recruiting officer answers, "He is a young Recruit & I am driving him to the slaughter house." This shows not only the Quakers' view on war but also their view of military cockades.

Pygmy Revels 1801. British Museum.

By 1801, apparently tolerance for Quaker beliefs was growing in France, as noted by two American travelers.

"It may not perhaps be amiss to mention how we were treated at the municipality, where we attended to present our passports. We were stopped by the guards, who had strict orders, it seems, not to suffer any man to pass unless he had what is a cockade in his hat, but on our desiring our guide to step forward and inform the Officers that we were of the people called Quakers, and that our not observing those signs of the time was not in contempt of authority, or disrespect to any office, but from a religious scruple in our minds, - it being the same with us in our own country – they readily accepted our reasons; and one of the officers came and took us by the guards, and so up into the chamber, where we were suffered to remain quietly with our hats on, till our passports were examined by two officers and again endorsed under the seal of the republic."

Cockades are wonderful emblems, in my opinion - but only when you are free to choose whether to wear one!

Memorial Day Sale

If you are a Quaker, you may not need my cockades. :) But the rest of y'all will be glad to know that I'm having a Memorial Day Sale for the rest of May!! Use the coupon code MEMORIALDAY for 10% off in my shops!

All non-custom items in my shops are ready to ship immediately. Custom orders usually only take an extra day or two, unless you are making a large order. As always, I'm happy to help you out with whatever cockades you need!

Cockade Answers - In Their Own Words!

QUESTIONS:
What cockade did my ancestor wear? 
Is a cockade right for my impression? 
How do I know what my state's secession cockade looked like? 
And where do I find authentic answers, not just someone's opinion? 

Folks, I have the solution for you!! Read on...

ANSWERS! 

Backstory: On January 24, 2011 I opened an online shop to sell secession cockades. We and our friends were preparing for the 150th anniversary commemoration of the Firing on Fort Sumter and the cockades were a special touch of authenticity to our outfits. Here is a picture of that first cockade we listed, and we included our first bit of documentation - a quote from the Charleston Mercury about South Carolinians wearing blue cockades.

Ever since then, I've been hooked on cockade history. And I've continued to research original newspapers, diaries and memoirs to find out more about these tokens of patriotism. Cockades abounded in the 1860s but up till now, few historians have gathered the original documentation of them into one accessible resource.

Today is a special day for me because I finally get to offer YOU a compilation of my years of research!

Today, I'm announcing that the first in my series of e-books on American Civil War cockades is now available in my shop! 

"In Their Own Words: Cockades
and Badges in theSouthern States 1860-1865"

In Their Own Words
The stories and quotes about cockades in this digital book are all in the original words of people in the 1860s. Except for editing obvious typos, I have left the words and the spelling the same as when they were first written.

This is not a filtered history of cockades. I'm not playing the role of an egghead author "interpreting" what people really meant when they wore their patriotic rosettes. :) Instead, you get the unvarnished, original viewpoints of those who were there.

The stories are exciting and an excellent window into the turbulent times of 1860-1865. Sometimes folks found it easy to join the crowd in wearing a cockade. In other cases, people wrestled with the decision of which side - and cockade - to favor.

Still wondering if this book is interesting enough to bother reading it? Here are a few tidbits to whet your appetite!

Elizabeth Hardin

Which Side Is Right? 
Lizzie Hardin of Kentucky struggled at first with which side to favor. A cockade was the outward symbol of her final decision.

"Thus, at first, it was hard at first to decide which side had the most of justice and reason. Why, I asked, can we not wait for an overt act upon the part of Lincoln? What are we suffering that we have not suffered for twenty years? I do not know that I could enumerate all the arguments which first convinced me that South Carolina was right. I think it was more a mere statement of facts than arguments….At the end of two or three weeks I donned the blue cockade."

Richard Thompson Archer

The Oldest Secessionist 
"The capital of Mississippi is at present all alive with excitement, and densely crowded with people, who have been drawn to it by the deeply absorbing nature of the occasion of the assemblage of the Legislature in extraordinary session. . . 

"The people here, young and old, wear the blue cockade, the principal, if not the only, exceptions to the rule being those who are too well known for their ultra Southernism to need such symbols of their faith. Among the blue cockades I observe not a few quite elderly persons. Prominent among them is the veteran Col. Archer, of Claiborne, who declares that since the death of Senator Tazewell, of Virginia, he has become the oldest disunionist in the United States." 

Thomas F. Wood

Don't Let Dad Know About the Cockade 
And then there was the young man that had to hide his pro-Confederate sympathies - and cockade - from his Unionist father.

"I was a secessionist. It seemed to me that the North would not let slavery alone until we had a war, and the sooner begun the better. My father was a firm Unionist, and spoke his mind so freely that I only talked secession among my friends away from home. Mr. Erambert was a secessionist and his store was headquarters for the news. He was a Lt. in the Lt. Infantry and prided himself on his knowledge of tactics and studied books on that subject very attentively. The young men wore secession rosettes made of small pine “burs.”" 

Cockade in Effigy? 
The newspapers and diaries tell us that cockades were worn by men, women, children - black and white - rich and poor. And even the horses were adorned with cockades! Here's an account of yet another "person" that wore a cockade in Louisiana.

"There were general demonstrations of joy throughout the city of New Orleans on the reception of the news of the secession of South Carolina. One hundred guns were fired. The Pelican flag was unfurled and impromptu speeches made by leading citizens. The bust of Calhoun was displayed, decorated with a cockade."

Want to know more? Wondering what types of cockades the people in your state wore? Trying to decide which cockade your ancestor would have favored? 

Your questions can be answered by checking out my book! I've organized the quotes by state to make it easy to find information. All of the quotes are footnoted with their source. When you purchase the e-book, you can immediately download a PDF that you can save on your computer or smartphone.

You may be asking, Where is the book on Northern cockades? Sit tight folks, it's coming soon! I have it in the works, along with a book on Western cockades as well. Lord willing and the creek don't rise, both books will be available later this year.