FORT ABERCROMBIE, D. T.

The Army Laundress

  The army laundress was one of the few recognized female positions at a frontier fort. Along with the laundresses, the wives of officers and enlisted men, made up the female population. Wives were not officially recognized by the Army. They were considered camp followers and were not given the same privileges as the laundress. Although officers' wives did not enjoy the legal security of the laundress, she did have social standing. In a very class conscious society, laundresses were at the lower end of the social scale, and usually had no social contact with the other women at the garrison, particularly the wives of the officers. An officer's wife might hire a laundress as a midwife, nurse or maid, a step up socially but usually down financially.


    Two to four laundresses were assigned to each company of soldiers. They received daily rations of food and fuel, and some post services such as medical care and transportation when the company changed posts.


    The military inherited the tradition of a laundress corps from the British. Besides washing and mending the soldiers' clothing, laundresses performed some cooking and baking. In addition they were called upon as midwives and nurses on occasion.


    Since laundresses were paid indirectly out of the soldiers pay, Army paymasters often deducted laundry fees from the troopers' pay. Depending on the rank of the soldier, the laundress was paid $1 to $4 dollars a month for each man and could do laundry for 19 to 20 men. An ambitious laundress could make several times the wage of thirteen dollars a month paid to a private.


    The area of the fort where the laundresses were quartered was known as "Suds Row." Housing usually consisted of tents or roughly built wooden shacks. Furniture for a laundress was made by her husband. Many laundresses were married to non-commissioned officers. Few single women remained unmarried, and most were married within a few months after going out west.


    The majority of laundress were hardworking, honest women who added some civilizing influences to many isolated forts.  Nevertheless, a cost-conscious Congress objected to the funds necessary to house, feed, and move the women across the west. By 1883, laundresses had been officially eliminated from the garrison scene.


    Fort Abercrombie's living history laundresses work in conjunction with other frontier military forts located throughout the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Montana.

Laundresses, like most women of that era,Linda.jpg (20765 bytes) wore about four layers of clothing everyday, summer or winter. These layers included:
Chemise: a lightweight cotton, short sleeved shirt, worn closest to the skin, pullover style.
Corset: made of heavy cotton or canvas, strengthened by whalebone or steel, with laces in the back and hooks and eyes in the front.
Corset cover: a short sleeved cotton shirt worn over the corset, with button or other closure down the front.
Stockings: black cotton or wool hose held up by elastic garters.
Drawers: split drawers, attached only at the waist, button, hook and eye, or drawstring closure.
Petticoats: at least two petticoats were worn under the skirt or dress.
Dress or Skirt/Blouse: Usually made of cotton. Laundresses could wear their skirt length at three inches above the ground without loss of dignity because they were working, but they still could not show their ankles. The officers' wives wore their skirts touching the ground.
Apron: used to protect clothing, dry your hands, carry items (food, wood, etc.)
Bonnet: to protect skin from the sun.
Boots: sturdy, usually black, lace up work boots.
 

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Wash Day

The laundress first had to haul the water to be heated in a large pot. The clothing was put into the hot water, then removed one piece at a time by using a long stick. The article of clothing was then put into the wash tub.

     Lye soap was rubbed on the washboard or directly onto the clothing. After being scrubbed, the article was      rinsed and hung to dry on a clothesline or nearby bush. The laundress was responsible for any clothing she ruined.

   For more information on the Wash Day process, please click here.
 

 

 

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©2005 Bard & Wika, Inc., 

 James V. Acker, Pres.