Studio39Designs

Tavern House & Civil War Paroles

The Clover Hill Tavern is normally closed to visitors.  However, due to the 151^st anniversary date, they did open the inside of the tavern in order to tell the tale of the Civil War Paroles.

Clover Hill Tavern

I love this view of the tavern – the brick walkway and the small liberty type bell in the side yard.  The renovation of the tavern came out beautifully.  Let’s move inside to see what the activity is –

Civil War Paroles

After the surrender and the Confederate soldiers were returning home, they were given these parole slips.  Basically, the paroles, as they were called, told any Union troops that these soldiers were already part of the surrender activity, and were simply making their way back home.  With these, they were provided food, shelter for the night, and were not treated as enemies or prisoners.

Press Close Up

This is the printing press that was being used for demonstration purposes on this day.  Back in the days after the surrender, the press was set up using individual type set to create a single parole.  In this replica, plates were created so that 4 paroles could be printed in one “pass”, so to speak.

Printing the Paroles

This volunteer was in the midst of demonstrating how the printing was done.  First, ink would be spread on the plates; then, a sheet of paper would be laid on the plates, which is what this young lady is doing.  Then, the top is laid down on top of the paper and the handle on the side is turned.  The paper is pressed onto the inked plate, and rolled out the back of this press.

Finished Print

And, here’s the finished print!  The interesting thing is that the date on the original paroles was April 10^th, the day after the surrender.  These paroles were printed out for several days after the 10^th, but it would have been too much trouble to change out the date for each day, so all the paroles had the same date on them, regardless of when they were actually printed!

Enjoy!