An Unlikely Romance by Jo-Ann Roberts

I readily admit I am an avid student of history. I've always been drawn to everyday people who lived, loved, and fought alongside notable characters from the past. In elementary school, you'd find me in the history section of the Berkshire Athenaeum reading stories of  the early years of Mary Mapes Dodge, Betsy Ross, and Clara Barton. During high school and college, I took as many history classes as my schedule would allow. As an adult I fell in love with all of John Jakes' series, thrilled when many of them came to life on television. Victoria Holt, Jude Deveraux, and Roseanne Bittner were-and still are-among my favorite authors. When I began writing, I naturally gravitated toward historical romance. 

So I wasn't surprised when inspiration for my new series, Mended Hearts, came from the real-life romance, Undaunted Heart: The True Story of  a Southern Belle and an Yankee General by Suzy Barile.

In February, 2019, our local NBC affiliate, WRAL, aired a weekly segment, "The Tar Heel Traveler" narrated by Scott Mason.  Just in time for Valentine's Day, he tells the love story of Miss Ella Swain, daughter of the President of UNC-Chapel Hill, and Union General Smith Atkins of the 92nd Illinois Volunteers, a mounted cavalry. (To view the segment  CLICK HERE)

Their meeting, courtship, and marriage gave North Carolinians a lot to talk about for generations. Their story even made its way into state history books. But over time, the facts of their love story gave way to legend.

When a brigade of General Sherman's victorious army marched into Chapel Hill the day after Easter, 1865, the War Between the States had just ended, and President Lincoln had been assassinated. Citizens of the picturesque North Carolina college town had endured years of hardship and sacrifice, and now the Union army was patrolling its streets. One of Sherman's young generals paid a visit to the stately home of David Swain, president of the University of North Carolina and a former governor of the state, to inform him that the town was now under Union occupation.

Against this unlikely backdrop began a passionate and controversial love story still vivid in town lore. When President Swain's daughter, Ella, met the Union general, life for these two young people who had spent the war on opposite sides was forever altered.

But, as a close friend of the Swains wrote, when Atkins met Ella, the two "changed eyes at first sight and a wooing followed".  The reaction of the Swains and fellow North Carolinians to the North-South love affair was swift and often unforgiving.

Ms. Barile, a great-great-granddaughter of Ella Swain and Smith Atkins, tells their story, separating facts from the elaborate embellishments that the famous courtship and marriage have taken over the generations. Interwoven throughout Undaunted Heart are excerpts from Ella's never-before-published letters to her parents that reveal a loving marriage that transcended differences and scandal.

Immediately after this segment aired, my active imagination went into over-drive...I couldn't get my thoughts down on paper fast enough! But I was nearing the end of Book Two in the Brides of New Hope series, and Book Three waited in the wings.

Still, this romance wouldn't quit teasing me.

The day I sent off Grace-Brides of New Hope Book Three, my research began on the Tar Heel state during the last days of the Civil War, Sherman's capture of Raleigh, the Union army's march to Durham Station (as it was called in those days), and the surrender of North Carolina.

During this time, my husband and I took a trip to Asheville. Stopping at the Southern Highland Craft Guild on the Blue Ridge Parkway, I picked up a piece of handcrafted wood fashioned into a heart. The attached card stated the Heart Mender "would lighten your heart...allowing your worries and stress to melt away". Bingo! I had the name of my new series, Mended Hearts, and the wooden heart became the connecting thread through all three books based on true events during the Civil War.

The War Between the States has ended...but for Kit and Will their battle had just begun.

   As the daughter of a prominent judge, and well-bred mother whose roots traced back to the War of Independence, Katherine Lambert had been the belle of Adams Mill. Her upbringing, her education, and her privileged world revolved around the latest fashions, picnics, parties, and a host of beaus and friends.

   She was expected to raise children; not her voice.

   Until she defied her family and the Rebel cause by doing the unthinkable...falling in love with a Union cavalry officer.

                                             ***

   When the very elegant, very beautiful Katherine Lambert looked at U.S. Major William Chandler was the moment she marched off with his heart. Though he always planned to carve out his own destiny, to marry and raise a family, he never expected love to find him in a small Southern town.

   Encountering opposition at every turn, he remained undaunted, determined to court and marry Kit, and see who took serious objection.

   They'd hoped their love would mend and heal the wounds of a splintered family, but someone else had other ideas.

Follow me online:  https://www.jo-annrobertsauthor.com/

Rosettes, Ribbons, and Rebellion

“…The Blue Cockade has made its appearance on our streets. We were pleased to see them worn during the present week, by men, boys, and even ladies. The spirit of secession is spreading and promises to soon become universal.”                                           

                                                                                                            The Southerner Newspaper

The English dictionary defines cockade as a rosette, feather, or knot of ribbon usually worn as part of a uniform, as a badge of office, or the like. The word’s origin is dated around 1709 and is derived from the French word ‘cocarde’ which is feminine of cocard meaning foolishly proud or cocky.

They are also sometimes called rosettes. They are comprise of a button, sometimes a strap, and some ribbon. At first they were used to add color to headgear. Eventually, people began to wear colors and designs that marked familial, national, or political affiliation.

Civil War cockades were usually handmade by the ladies, though occasionally they were offered by manufacturers and merchants. They were often created out of silk ribbon, but there is documentation for cockades made of cotton and wool as well.

Most pro-Unionists cockades were red, white and blue. And the most popular colors for pro-Secessionists were solid blue, solid red, or red and white. Today, some pundits have suggested that the colors of the cockades reflect our current political parties.

Since my current work in progress in the Mended Hearts series, Marrying the Major, is set in North Carolina following the surrender at Appomattox, I focused my research on Confederate cockades, specifically, North Carolina Secession Cockades.

As previously mentioned, the most popular color for secession cockades was blue, but solid red, or red and white ranked a close second. Like Union cockades, Confederate cockade designs included rosettes, rosettes with tails or ribbon design such as bows or knots. Some Confederate cockades were generic, others were designed specifically for a certain state or region.

Center emblems included military buttons, spangled stars, pictures of famous people, or natural products such as palmetto fronds, cotton boils, pine cones, and corn.

  

Confederate cockades were worn by men, women and children, African-Americans and Caucasians. They were often pinned to the breast or lapel, but could also be worn on hats, belts, and bonnets. 

             

The political opinions on secession in North Carolina were as varied as her cockades. Secessionists, unionists, and every viewpoint in between weren’t shy about debating Mr. Lincoln’s call for troops to fight against the Confederacy. In May 1861, North Carolinians reluctantly declared secession from the Union.  But once committed, North Carolina gave more troops and supplies, and lost more men than any other state in the Confederacy.

The Wilmington Journal made note of the state’s declaration of secession in their May 23, 1861 editorial:

“This morning the Wilmington Horse Artillery fired a salute in honor of the independence of the state. This is about the first salute fired here since the war excitement commenced.”

 The Artillery wore a red cockade on their hats when they fired the salute guns at this event.  

North Carolina, even in 1860, was known as  the Tar Heel state. Pine trees have long played a part in the state’s history. So it was only natural North Carolinians would want to put pine cones on their cockades.

 

"The Minute Men were organized as far back as November of 1860, and were conspicuous on the streets with their badges of ribbon with a pine-bur rosette."      Thomas Fanning Wood

“We noticed that several of the members wore the blue cockade; and some others wore a cockade made of red, blue and white leather. These are the colors of our national flag but whether or not worn to signify devotion to the Union, we did not inquire.”           The Newbern Weekly Progress

From blue cockades to red cockades to pine cones, flowers, ribbons and leather, North Carolina may have had the most variety in their secession cockades of any state in the Confederacy.

People have used ribbon rosettes for centuries to tell their stories. These little pleated ribbons were a outward sign of a deeply held sentiment. Many times it took courage to wear the cockades knowing the bearer could be attacked, arrested or shot, but in the end it was a visible expression of someone’s spirit and heart.

Sources:

 https://creativecockades.blogspot.com/p/american-cockades.html  

https://creativecockades.blogspot.com/p/north-carolina-secession-cockades.html  

https://www.reenactressresource.com/p/cockades.html

https://creativecockades.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-complete-guide-to-confederate.html