that sure is expensive fabrics,

I was at a LQS in NH today and found several bolts that were marked down! From 8.95 to 5.95 and 6.95. I loved two blue prints so got those. I also was at Keepsake a few days ago and found a pretty batik for 4.99. Bargains can still be found in some places.

And when Sherman was marching and burning his way across the South, cotton warehouses were often burned by southerners just so the Yankees couldn't get it. :|

:lol: :lol: Sorry! It's just that studying about the CW is a passion of mine!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

And wasn't rail traffic also disrupted? (The other way that cotton could be transported out of the south.)

Yes. The South didn't have textile mills so the cotton had to be shipped either North or to England to be manufactured into cloth. With the blockades shipping the cotton to England was next to impossible, and to ship it North was out of the question.

Sometimes the rails were destroyed so the enemy couldn't use the tracks. This was done not just by the Northern army. Sometimes when they felt it was absolutely necessary, the Southern army would destroy its own rail lines to keep the Yankees from using them to ship supplies, etc. to its army. Sherman's army would sometimes heat up the rails until they were red hot and then take them to a big tree stump where they would wrap the rails around it to bend it back onto itself. They nicknamed them "Sherman's Neckties." Doing that would make any repairs of the rails absolutely impossible.

How did they heat up the rails, Patty? Could a wood fire be capable of raising the temperature high enough to soften the metal?

I found this picture at the Library of Congress. The rails in this particular picture are not bent quite as much as Sherman wanted them, but you can get some idea of what the damage might be. The railroad ties would be piled up and lit, and then the rails put on top of the fire. It's much the same way a blacksmith would heat up iron except on a larger scale.

I wish I could have located a better picture of rails that had an extreme bend in them. It's amazing! The only thing I managed to locate was a drawing, and that isn't what I wanted. I'll keep looking, and if/when I find one I like, I will post.

Okay, Nan. I was able to locate another picture for you.

After the rails were red hot they were bent into a 45 degree angle or into a "U" shape, but the best way was to bend them until the ends crossed over one another.

I have not seen any price diffence yet,

Connevtion Thread has some fabulous prices - fabric is great quality