Cotton Carts and Mardi
Gras – a History and Etymology of Parade “Floats”
Why is a Parade Float Called a “Float”?
New York City’s Macy’s
Thanksgiving Day Parade and Pasadena’s Tournament of Roses Parade, two pillars
of American pop-culture, book-end the Holiday Season with their parade
float-flotillas drifting leisurely down Broadway or Colorado Boulevard. And every year, someone in the crowd wonders why
they are called “floats.” One obvious
candidate reason is that a well-made float appears to float down the street. While this imagery may have been in the minds
of some people who adopted the word as it spread further away from its original
home and meaning; it was not the origin of the word in the place where it first
took root. A parade “float” was named
after a type of flat-bed wagon used in the cotton trade in New Orleans – wagons that were also used to carry Mardi Gras
floats in post-Civil War New Orleans. As
Mardi Gras spread throughout the
South, and eventually much further, the word “float” went along with it; and
the distinction between the name of the wagon and the entire assembly quickly blurred. By the mid-1880s, the word, “float,” in the modern
sense of a parade float, was common and well-known throughout the United
States.
New Orleans’ “Floats” or “Cotton Floats”
The float is a vehicle peculiar
to the cotton cities,
being a long, low, and very strong wagon, drawn usually by a splendid pair and
a leading mule, and driven by a darky, who stands erect, as proud of his team,
its harness, and its obedience as Captain Leathers is of the Natchez steamboat.
“Cotton: From the Plough to the
Loom,” W. M. Burwell, Part III, Harper’s
Weekly, Volume 27, Number 1386, July 14, 1883, page 446.
“Cotton floats” or, simply,
“floats” were long, narrow flat-bed wagons with front wheels that were
significantly smaller than the rear wheels; precisely the type of wagon
suitable for carrying a parade float. Although
frequently referred to as, “cotton floats,” floats were also used to haul other
types of cargo, including, for example, “[r]ope, barrels, tobacco, hay and
other produce.”[i] These “floats” were so common, and considered
so typical of New Orleans, that the Continent Stereoscopic View Company
included a 3-D image of a New Orleans cotton float in its series, Descriptive Views of the American Continent:
 |
| If your screen is big enough and your eyes good enough; relax your eyes and focus beyond your screen - you might be able to see a Cotton Float in 3-D |
I do not know how long such
wagons had been known as “floats.” The
earliest example that I could find of “float,” in the sense of a wagon (in the
United States) is from 1867:
Runaway Team.
Two mules attached
to a float became frightened yesterday morning about ten o-clock, while
on Common street, and ran away. The
driver, James Polk, tried to check them but lost his footing and, fell from the float with such force as to break one of
his legs. The wounded man was taken to
the Charity hospital.
New Orleans Republican, June 11, 1867, page 1.
It is not clear precisely how or
why the word, “float,” came to be used in New Orleans and other cotton cities,
but there are a few possibilities to consider.
A few dictionaries list some pre-1860s wagon-related senses of “float,”[ii]
although most of those seem to have been obscure, or even obsolete, by the
1860s. I could not find any such use in
periodicals, books, or newspapers published in the United States.
The most relevant usage I have
seen is from a description of crowds gathering for the Irish Repeal Meeting at
Tara in October 1843:
The local muster headed by its local band immediately took
its place in the procession, on horseback or in vehicles. Wagons, capacious
“floats” brought from the city, and the country carts used in
agriculture, were all employed and were all found barely sufficient to
accommodate the people.
Charles Gavan Duffy, Young Ireland: A Fragment of Irish History.
1840-1850, London, Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co., 1880, page 345.[iii]
Assuming that the excerpt from
the Repeal Meeting accurately reflects pre-1860 usage of, “float” (which there
is no particular reason to doubt; although it is by no means certain[iv]),
it is possible that the word “float,” as applied to flat-bed wagons in New
Orleans, might be part of the same tradition.
Another intriguing possibility suggested
itself to me while researching this piece.
New Orleans “cotton floats” look nearly identical to a type of wagon used
by during the Civil War; “French-style” pontoon (or float) wagons.[v] Pontoon (or float) wagons were long, narrow
flat-body wagons with front wheels significantly smaller than the rear wheels;
precisely the type of wagons suitable for carrying a parade float:
 |
| Pontoon wagon and boat, 50th New York Engineers, Rappahannock Station, Va., March, 1864 (Library of Congress) |
 |
| Souvenir of New Orleans and the Exposition, New York, Willemann Bros., 1885. |
 |
| Pontoon wagon train. |
 |
| Pontoon bridge. |
The similarity between cotton
floats and pontoon (float) wagons jumped right out at me; and the association
of each with the word “float” is at least eye-brow raising. There were, in fact, many pontoon wagons in
the New Orleans and Louisiana region during the Civil war;[vi] and some of them were likely converted to civilian service. An advertisement for one auction of surplus military goods, for example, listed "30 pontoon wagons" for sale.
Although, perhaps the similarity can be explained away by the fact that all sorts of wagons from the period had similar had flat-beds and wheels of different size. I do not know; I am not a wagon historian and have not been able to find images of other similar wagons from the period. The lack of evidence of pre-1860s use of “float,” in the sense of a wagon also floats the question of whether there might be some connection; if the usage were related to an earlier, British term, you might expect to see at least some evidence of it in the record. The evidence may be there; I just haven't found it.
 |
| New Orleans Republican, March 10, 1868, page 3. |
Although, perhaps the similarity can be explained away by the fact that all sorts of wagons from the period had similar had flat-beds and wheels of different size. I do not know; I am not a wagon historian and have not been able to find images of other similar wagons from the period. The lack of evidence of pre-1860s use of “float,” in the sense of a wagon also floats the question of whether there might be some connection; if the usage were related to an earlier, British term, you might expect to see at least some evidence of it in the record. The evidence may be there; I just haven't found it.
But wherever the name came from,
“floats” or “cotton floats,” played a significant role in the operation of New
Orleans’ thriving cotton trade.
 |
| Soard's New Orleans City Directory 1883 |
Nevertheless, some people viewed the
floats as an annoying and dangerous public nuisance:
The dreadful accident which has
resulted in the death of an estimable and beautiful young lady, Miss Durel,
should serve as a warning to the police and city authorities to execute rigidly
the ordinances which provide that vehicles driving in line through the streets
shall keep a distance of twenty feet apart, and which prohibit furious driving
on the crowded thoroughfares.
Unfortunately the ordinances alluded
to have been permitted to become dead letters, and we have, time and again,
noticed long processions of loaded cotton floats
driven so close together that it was impossible for an active man to cross a
street between them, while everybody is familiar with the sight of heavy cotton floats and drays being driven at break-neck
speed over the square block pavements, to the imminent danger of life, and to
the everlasting injury of the tympanums of everybody’s ears.
The New Orleans Bulletin, June 20, 1874, page 2.
Many of the early references to “floats” relate to reports of injuries,
arrests, or both:
Two mules
attached to a float became frightened yesterday morning about ten o’clock,
while on Common street, and ran away.
The driver, James Polk, tried to check them but lost his footing and,
fell from the float with such force as to break
one of his legs. The wounded man was
taken to Charity hospital.
New Orleans Republican, June 11, 1867, page 1.
Officer
Maguire reported at the station, yesterday afternoon, that a colored man, name
unknown, employed as driver of a float, No. 665,
struck a lady with a piece of stone while on Poydras street. Upon the approach of the officer, the negro
ran away, leaving his float and horse to be taken to the pound.
The New Orleans Crescent, December 18, 1868 (Morning Edition), page
1.
A float, (No. 47) drawn by two mules, came
in violent collision with one of the city railroad cars on Poydras street about
two o’clock yesterday. The driver,
seeing the damage he had done, made good his escape, leaving the mules and
float to be taken by Officer Maguire to the First Precinct station.
The New Orleans Crescent, March 16, 1869 (Morning Edition), page 1.
John Moore, driver
of float No. 504, was arrested yesterday, by Officer Phillips, for
cruelty to his team.
New Orleans Republican, November 23, 1870, page 5.
A description of the cotton
industry in Harper’s Weekly (1883), reported
on a bright spot in post-Civil War race relations:
More recently the relations between
the white and colored races have been so well re-adjusted that the colored men
have an association [of float drivers] which parades in the same procession
with the white men’s association, and they constitute a common force upon all
questions of wages or hours of work.
“Cotton: From the Plough to the
Loom,” W. M. Burwell, Part III, Harper’s
Weekly, Volume 27, Number 1386, July 14, 1883, page 446.
The “ku-klux” float in Memphis’
1872 Mardi Gras parade (discussed
further below), however, revealed a darker side.
“Floats” in Parades
The earliest reference I could
find to a “float” or “cotton float” carrying a decorative display in a parade
is from New Orleans in 1868.
Surprisingly, perhaps, it was not a Mardi
Gras parade – it was a political rally:
The procession was provided with a
pretty yawl, schooner-rigged, and manned by a bevy of neat little girls attired
in white. The
boat was mounted on a cotton float, and received considerable
admiration. After the election the yawl
will be found serviceable to transport Seymour, Blair & Co. up a saline
stream.[vii]
New Orleans Republican, August 30, 1868, page 5.
A description of earlier, decidedly
non-PC Mardi Gras traditions, suggests
that the word “float” may not yet have been in use in 1861. The Civil War was only a couple months away,
and the newly elected president was ripe for satire:
Mardi-Gras.
Yesterday being a bright and
beautiful day, the Mardi-gras spirit of merriment and deviltry was effulgent
all over the city – from the river to the swamp, from the barracks to the stock
landing.
The little boys and girls reveled as
usual in cheap masks and fancy costumes, and pelted each other and the darkeys
and loafers with flour, according to the usual custom. The Cyprians [(prostitutes)] and their
masculine rowdy companions took full advantage of the license accorded to them
on this one day of the three hundred and sixty-five, and whilst amusing the
town by their outlandish and grotesque costumes and processions and antics,
doubtless enjoyed themselves according to their fancies – nobody envying them
their enjoyment.
There were many laughable groups in
wagons – n[-word] minstrels, clowns, harlequins, horrible beasts, devils, and
so on, and some extraordinary procession on foot. In the early part of the day a band of
n[-word] minstrels, playing n[-word] music, marched around, having at their
head a comical effigy of Old Abe Lincoln, riding a rail of his own splitting. Old Abe’s “express wagon” was another show
which thoroughly amused all who saw it.
New Orleans Daily Crescent, February 13, 1861 (Morning Edition),
page 1.
In 1870, there was a band-wagon,
horses and “platform cars;” – but no “floats;” at least not by that name:
Horses in Yesterday’s Procession. –
We noticed some of Colonel Ames’ circus horses carrying riders in the
procession, also his large band-wagon, kindly loaned for the occasion by the
owner. . . .
Coroner Roche, marshal’s aid, rode
the animal that carried Comus Mardi Gras.
The ten beautiful grays which drew
Louisiana’s steamer, circus pets, were universally admired. They looked as fine in harness as in a ring,
carrying spangled riders.
New Orleans Republican, March 5, 1870, page 5.
Mardi Gras.
Last Tuesday was celebrated with the
revelry usual, we understand, in this city, as it is in many cities in
continental Europe. . . . In the evening “The Mystick Crewe of Comus” passed
through the streets in procession on large platform
cars, with music and lights.
The design was a good one, and was
carried out with good taste. It was a
representation of the history of Louisiana at different periods from 1539 to
1815, in statuary.
The Morning Star and Catholic Messenger (New Orleans, Louisiana),
March 6, 1870 (Morning Edition), page 4.
Accounts of Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama also referred to “platform cars” in 1870.
Accounts of Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama also referred to “platform cars” in 1870.
I did not find the word “float” used
in association with Mardi Gras
parades until 1872:
THE THIRD DIVISION, comprising all maskers in vans, floats, milk-carts and other public vehicles, will
form on Camp street, the right resting on Canal street.
New Orleans Republican, February 11, 1872, page 4.
The word “float” appeared
regularly and often in accounts of Mardi
Gras beginning in 1873, and later.
The debut of Rex, the King of Carnival, in 1872 may have laid the groundwork for bigger, more elaborate parades and an increasing need for more, bigger and stronger wagons, like “cotton floats” in the parades.
The debut of Rex, the King of Carnival, in 1872 may have laid the groundwork for bigger, more elaborate parades and an increasing need for more, bigger and stronger wagons, like “cotton floats” in the parades.
REX
Mardi Gras celebrations in New
Orleans are the work of a number of distinct societies known as, “Krewes.” The Granddaddy of the Mardi Krewes is the
Mystik Krew of Comus. King Comus, and
his band of underworld followers, made their debut in 1857; raising Mardi Gras in New Orleans to a much
grander scale:
“Mistick Krewe of Comus.”
This “krewe,” concerning whose
identity and purposes there had been such tortures of curiosity and
speculation, made their debut before
the public in a very unique and attractive manner. They went through the streets at 9 o’clock
with torchlights, about as much resembling a deputation from the lower regions
as the mind could possibly conceive. The
masks displayed every fantastic idea of the fearful and horrible, whilst their
effect was softened down by the richness and beauty of the costumes, and the
evident decorum of the devils inside.
New Orleans Daily Crescent, February 26, 1857, page 1.
The “krewe” then put on a show at
the Gaiety Theater featuring a series of tableaux
based on Milton’s Paradise Lost,
followed by a grand ball. The Krewe
became a permanent fixture in New Orleans Mardi Gras culture; and continues to
this day.
But the Krewe was only one of
many groups that held their own, separate parades, balls and other
entertainments. Although Mardi Gras was
celebrated citywide, the “city” did not organize a citywide event.
That changed, however, in 1872
when Rex, the King of Carnival, enlisted the obeisance and obedience of the Mayor, the police, and the local militia to organize the city's various, independent organizations, large and
small, into one, unified parade:
Rex issued several edicts (including
the order of the procession shown earlier), organizing a unified, official Mardi Gras to his demanding royal
specifications – state and city officials played along:
This is the same year in which
Rex is said to have
selected purple, green and gold as the official Mardi Gras colors[viii],
in honor of a visiting Russian Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff, whose family colors
were purple, green and gold.
Perhaps the bigger parade, bigger
crowd, and increased visibility inspired or required the various Krewes to
mount a bigger, more spectacular parade – with “floats.”
Parade Floats
Early accounts of “floats” in Mardi Gras parades refer to displays being
carried on the “floats” or “cotton floats” – they did not refer to the entire assembly,
wagon and display, as a “float”:
The Pack. This ancient body represented Shakespeare’s
“Seven Ages of Man, namely:” the infant, the schoolboy, the lover, the soldier,
the justice, the old man, and, last scene of all in this strange, eventful
history, second childishness, from the play “As You Like It,” second act. Each age formed a tableau on the requisite number of level cotton floats, all
the members being dressed in appropriate costumes, presenting a novel sight.
New Orleans Republican, February 26, 1873, page 1.
Mardi Gras. –
The annual Mardi Gras festivities
were celebrated with more than usual magnificence this year. . . . One of the
features of the procession was the Royal Navy, which was borne along the
streets on large floats.
The Morning Star and Catholic Messenger (New Orleans, Louisiana),
March 2, 1873, page 1.
“The Pack.” In consequence of an
edict from Rex, the usual Mardi Gras parade did not take place in daylight,
which prevented New Orleans paying a compliment to generous Boston. The Pack intended to illustrate a page in
Boston’s early history, that is re-enacting her tea party. A full rigged vessel was to be put on cotton floats, and men, attired as Indians,
were to throw the taxed tea overboard, while British seamen stood by in
amazement looking at the proceeding.
New Orleans Republican, February 10, 1875, page 1.
Mardi Gras was not restricted to New Orleans and Mobile,
Alabama. In 1872, the city of Memphis
started its own city-wide Mardi Gras
tradition.[ix] A description of the festivities (from an
article published in 1875) illustrates the open and widespread tolerance for
violent racist terrorism of that time and place:
Another float was occupied by representative
kuklux from every southern State, who were enacting the scenes alleged to have
taken place in South Carolina. They were
in the act of executing a negro, according to Nast’s pictures and as described
by the trustworthy correspondents of the Cincinnati press.
Memphis Daily Appeal (Tennessee), February 9, 1875, page 2.
 |
| They may have looked like these "Ku-Klux" who were arrested in Mississippi in 1871. |
A contemporary account of Mardi Gras, 1872, in Memphis described
the wide variety of costumes worn by revelers – the “ku-klux” costumes were
considered comical:
Many of the costumes were exceedingly
rich and were gotten up in a costly style.
The great majority, however, tended toward the comic order, representing
negroes, heathen Chinese, monkeys, soldiers, ku-klux, etx.
Public Ledger (Memphis, Tennessee), February 14, 1872, page 3.
But in 1872, the real ku-klux
were active in the region, and not very comical; no one was safe:
Ku-Kluxing a School Teacher. There has been a case of Ku-Kluxing near
Vienna, in this State. A white teacher
in charge of a colored school was taken out by six men and severely
whipped. After the whipping he was
notified to leave the Parish before the next Tuesday morning, or he would be
shot.
New
Orleans Republican, February 26, 1873, page 8.
It is not surprising then, that
some people were frightened of Mardi Gras,
at least on occasion:
A gay party of masked Mardi Gras celebrators promenaded the
streets and visited a number of citizens Tuesday night. We heard of one or two negroes who
precipitately “took to their heels,” thinking the Kuklux were after them.
The Milan Exchange (Milan, Tennessee), February 15, 1877, page 1.
Reconstruction was still underway
in 1872, and many of the places terrorized by the Ku-Klux were still occupied
by Federal troops; giving hope that the menace could be wiped out. Sadly, the troops may have pulled out too
early; leaving the door open for the radical, extremist, religious
racist terrorists to impose Sharia Law “Jim Crow” segregation, and prompting
a mass migration of refugees northward; leaving millions behind to live in constant
fear of violence and reprisal.
The use of “float,” in
association with Mardi Gras vehicles,
continued. Over time, the distinction
between float-as-wagon and float-as-display began to blur:
[At the Memphis Mardi Gras festival,] scenes of later days in America are
represented. There were nineteen scenes or floats, each of which is a complete
representation of some historical fact, most of them having connection with the
discovery of America and explanations in it.
Daily Argus (Rock Island Illinois), February 10, 1875, page 1.
Last night the Knights of Momus made
up in splendor for the lapse of a year, and marched through the streets with
one of the finest pageants ever seen here.
It is understood by those who have not seen these processions, that the
figurate characters are mounted on floats and
drawn by horses and mules.
New Orleans Republican, February 25, 1876, page 1.
King Momus was astride of an immense
bucking ram, on a float drawn by four mules, and
attended by Pantaloon and Punchinello, Count de Noses and a royal vale de
chamber. . . . The
float of Rex was drawn by four mules, and as before stated, bore an
enormous bucking goat; on which the king was mounted.
Memphis Daily Appeal, February 29, 1876, page 1.
The word “float” was pulled along for
the ride when Mardi Gras celebrations
spread out into new cities. Some of
those cities may have been places where wagons known as “floats” were unfamiliar;
contributing, perhaps, to a further blurring of the line between the wagon and
the entire assembly:
At Little Rock.
Little Rock, February 29 – Mardi Gras was celebrated here to-day in
grand style. There were about one
thousand masks in the procession, besides numerous
floats representing various scenes.
At Cincinnati.
Cincinnati, February 29. – The
Mardi-Gras festivities to-day passed off without any serious disturbance. . .
. The pageant in the evening represented
scenes in the history of America, and were exhibited on
sixteen floats.
At Louisville.
Louisville, February 29. – Mardi Gras was celebrated here
to-day. The procession in the day
consisted of floats portraying historical scenes and
characters.
Memphis Daily Appeal, March 1, 1876, page 1.
A report from Dallas, Texas,
about the Mardi Gras festivities
there in 1877, appears to use alternately use two senses of “float” – the wagon
or the display:
A building representing a school
house was erected upon a large float, entirely
built of doors, sash and blined, with seats and desks inside.
. . .
Hamilton & Meyers house and sign
painters, occupied a prominent position in the procession, using their large float to represent a paint shop.
. . .
[B]ehind the lights was a large
reflector, which threw the light on the float behind, and also on a
transparency which gave the theme of the float
that followed.
The Dallas Daily Herald, April 5, 1877, page 8.
In time, the word started popping
up in places outside the lower-Mississippi and Ohio River valleys.
 |
| Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper (New York), June 2, 1877, page 225. |
In 1881, a newspaper in Vermont printed a
detailed description of the look and construction a Mardi Gras “float”:
Low trucks, especially for this
purpose, are prepared, and upon this is a platform, the sides shutting well
down over the wheels. On the platform
the tableaux is set, the same as might be at a theatre, except that it is so
arranged as to be completely seen from any point, and is without background or
curtains, and instead of the figures remaining quiet they are most of them in
constant motion, every movement being in perfect time with the music of the
accompanying bands. The animals hauling
each float (as these platforms are called) are
completely enveloped in gorgeous trappings, and are led by grooms in livery.
Orleans County Monitor (Barton, Vermont), July 24, 1882, page 1.
In 1883, Harper’s Weekly, a magazine with a national readership, described the
morning after Mardi Gras in New
Orleans:
After the pageant has gone
glimmering, and the whirl of the midnight ball is over, day dawns upon a scene
of merry wreck. Streets are strewn with
fragments of brightly colored paper, tatters of tinsel, remnants of torn
decorations; perhaps some gorgeous wagon, or “float,” disabled
during the great review, may be seen lying abandoned at some point of the route,
like a gold-freighted galleon astrand.
“New Orleans in Carnival Garb,” Harper’s Weekly, Volume 27, Number 1366,
February 24, 1883, page 122.
New Orleans had some pretty
elaborate “floats” in Mardi Gras of
1883; the article that described the abandoned hulks on the day-after provided
images of two of them in their full-glory – including their illumination by
electric light:
Mardi Gras “floats” reached the West Coast by 1884:
Floats for the Mardi Gras Festival [in San Francisco] next Tuesday evening are
being built, and promise to be very attractive.
Sacramento Daily Record-Union (California), February 23, 1884, page
4.
By 1885, when a newspaper in
Cairo Illinois touted the, “beautiful parade Floats representing the merchants
of the city” in their upcoming Fourth of July parade, the transformation of the
word from just the wagon to the
whole shebang[x] seems
to have been complete.
The word appears to have been
well-known and standard by 1889, when it was used profusely, without
explanation and not set-off by quotation marks, throughout a book detailing celebrations
in Philadelphia on the occasion of the Centennial of the United States
Constitution.
Conclusion
Floats everywhere, including the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, The Tournament of Roses Parade, and your local high school homecoming parade, all owe their name to “cotton
floats” of old New Orleans. New Orleans’
Mardi Gras owes its success, in large
part, to the Mystick Krewe of Comus who pushed the boundaries of extravagance
in 1857, and Rex, the King of Carnival who organized the city's various “krewes” into a unified parade in 1872. As the popularity of Mardi Gras grew and spread across the South and beyond during the
1870s, displays on “floats” in parades were slowly transformed into “parade floats” as we know them today. By the mid-1880s, the word, “float,” in the
sense of a parade float, was common and widespread across the entire United
States.
All Hail Rex!!!
[i] New Orleans Republican, November 22,
1870, page 5.
[ii] The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd
Edition (FLOAT: 13. One of the wooden frames attached to the sides, front, or
back of a wagon or cart to increase the carrying capacity. 1686 Plot Staffordsh.
354 A Cart that had its floats supported, with standards erected upon the ends
of the Axles. 1887 in Kent Gloss. 14. A. A low-bodied, crank-axled cart, used
for carrying heavy articles, live stock, etc. 1866 Daily Tel. 23 Feb. 3/4. The
pikes and handles were removed in a float in the presence of a large crowd.
1891 Sheffield Gloss. Suppl., Float, a deep cart . . . used for
carrying pigs to market); Dictionary of
Obsolete and Provincial English, Volume 1, 1857 (Floats, s. The wooden
frames that hang over the sides of a wagon. East);
The Dictionary of Trade Products,
Manufacturing, and Technical Terms, 1858 (Float,
. . . a coal cart . . . . ).
[iii] American
Dialect Society Listserve, September 4, 2011 (Identified by Victor
Steinbok).
[iv]
Although the author claimed that the excerpt in question was based on
contemporaneous notes from 1843, care should always be taken in using
later-published texts to establish an earlier usage. See, e.g. Peter Reitan, Dude: its earliest attestation thus far
(1879) is unreliable, and Peter Reitan, Dude:
Another supposed 1879 source of dude was written later: 1885, both in Comments on Etymology, Volume 43, number
8, May 2014 (four purported pre-1883 attestations of ‘dude’ have been proven to
have been published after 1883).
[v]
The website for the Lt.
Gen. Wade Hampton Camp No. 273 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans has a
good history of pontoon bridges and description of the various types of pontoon
bridges used during the Civil War.
[vi] Bennie
McRae, Jr., Lest
We Forget: African American Military History (97th Regiment, United States
Colored Infantry (Corps De Afrique, United States Colored Volunteers, 3rd
Regiment, Engineers) were in charge of a pontoon wagon train and built several
pontoon bridges during service in Louisiana); Joseph P. Blessington, The Campaigns of Walker’s Texas Division,
New York, Lange, Little and Co., 1875 (recounts numerous pontoon bridges, Union
and Confederate, in and around Louisiana during the Civil War).
[vii]
The expression, “up a saline stream,” is a humorous rewording of the
expression, “up Salt River,” a common expression at the time. The modern version of the expression is more
likely to be expressed something like, “up S[al]t Creek.”
[viii]
“Mardi Gras History,” MardiGrasNewOrleans.com.
[ix] Mardi Gras had been earlier celebrated
by Italian-Americans in Memphis. See, e.g., Public
Ledger (Memphis, Tennessee), February 22, 1871, page 3 (Our Italian
fellow-citizens celebrated Mardi Gras
last evening . . . .”).
[x]
For more on the history and origin of the expression, “the whole shebang,” see
my earlier post on, The History and Etymology of “Shebang.”
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