5th annual
Juleps & Viragoes Ball of the Rebellion
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Saturday, April 21, 2012







Saturday, April 9, 2011

As one party approached the Hall through the dark parking lot, a gasp hushed the others’ excited chatter.  “Look,” came the wondering voice, “look at the lanterns!”  And so it was that, one by one, they walked past the warm light of the lanterns, past the garden urns brimming with tulips & pansies, past the bunting cheerfully swagged on the railings, out of the asphalt lot and into 1861.

This year’s Ball of the Rebellion presented a unique quandary to the Decorating Committee.  Set after the formation of the Confederacy but before the first shots at Fort Sumter, this Ball was the only one to occur without a time of war.  Such timing rendered nearly useless the sizeable stock of patriotic decorations accumulated over the last three years.  Fortunately, the creative imaginations of the Committee were up to the task!  After poring over engravings of mid-19th-century celebrations of all kinds, from Queen Victoria’s birthday parties to royal receptions in New York City, it was clear that flowers were the answer.  Utilising the grapevine wreaths purchased for the 2009 Presidential Ball, a profusion of silk flowers and ferns, and buckets of real boxwood and gilded hydrangea, Cynthia and Marion Driscoll transformed the brown bases into things of beauty.  The wreaths lined the walls of both the refreshment and dance halls, where they were linked by graceful swags of white and gold satin ribbon.  Julie Zadjura of the Root System interpreted the Committee’s request for antebellum pastels into white urns of airy blue larkspur, white iris with golden throats, arching blue muscari, clove-scented stock in creamy yellows & pinks, snow-white roses, and blush-pink tulips amongst which floated delicate Queen Anne’s lace and verdant ferns.  The urns were perfect with the new wine-coloured table clothes brought by renowned period caterers Elizabeth Choti Bayreuther & Jennifer Choti Canell.  The refreshments themselves were gorgeously presented and happily received, from cheese sandwich to frosted rosebud.  (Every year as the Ball draws nigh, a single question is repeated by anxious registrants: “You have engaged the same caterers, haven’t you?”  We feel both honoured and proud when the answer can be “yes.”)  At the 1^st intermission during which said banquet was revealed, weary dancers were refreshed by sustenance for both body and soul by the strains of a flute wafting down from the balcony.  We are happy to count among the members of J&V Miss Martha Brundage, a talented musician and dear friend as well as the Society’s valued librarian.    

As for the promised Peace Rally during the 2^d intermission, no piece of music or décor could have better clarified the position in which the country stood on 9 April 1861.  As an amusing exercise in personal hypocrisy, Thomas Jackson White-Hassler agreed to represent the capitalists who agitated for Peace in order to maintain their business connexions with the South.  Opposing him was a number of patriots planted throughout the crowd and spear-headed by Michael Bartles & Barry Keenan of Mystic.  After an introduction by our own Richard F. Donohue, Mr. White-Hassler orated from the balcony.  He used partially his own research and partially an address given in New York City on 6 January 1861 by Mayor Fernando Wood, who hoped to convince the city legislature to secede from the Union so as to protect its Southern shipping concerns.  A powerful speaker regardless of subject, Mr. White-Hassler exuded confidence as he gestured to the Peace Flag hung before him.  His words, however, drew more and more mutters from the assembled mob until finally Messrs. Bartles & Keenan broke free and mounted the stairs.  There was a brief scene of struggling chaos on the balcony, and then Mr. Bartles appeared.  He exhorted the crowd to patriotism, and his audience responded with huzzahs & cheers as he and Mr. Keenan sent the Peace Flag to the ground.  Someone started singing “America,” and there wasn’t a silent throat in the Hall.  When the dance masters finally called us back to the floor, we came with a new spring in our step and light in our eyes.  “I guess we’re going to war, then,” was overheard, and though the thought might have given us a moment’s pause, we soon rallied.  Six months’ fighting, perhaps, in exchange for a whole country?  A walk in the park.

          J&V and the Historical Society in its entirety hope to see you at the Ball of the Rebellion 1862, when there are few illusions left about how long this War might really be.    

5th Annual
Juleps & Viragoes Ball of the Rebellion

April  21, 2012

The CanvasGroup

Please Join us for the
1862 Ball of the Rebellion
Saturday, April 14, 2012