Extraordinary X-rays show how 150-year-old dolls were used to smuggle drugs during U.S. Civil War

dailymail. ^ | 28th October 2010

[JoeProBono]

Two 150-year-old dolls have been x-rayed in a bid to discover if they were used by Confederate soldiers to smuggle medical supplies past Union blockades during the U.S. Civil War.

It is thought the large dolls - Nina and Lucy Ann - had their hollowed out papier-mache heads stuffed with quinine or morphine for wounded and malaria-stricken Confederate troops.

The Union blockade lasted from 1861 until 1865 and was intended to thwart the delivery of weapons, soldiers and supplies such as medicine to the South....

[JoeProBono]

[TSgt]

Incredible find and a nice departure from the Bush book hysteria threads. ;)

[EggsAckley]

"Extraordinary X-rays show how 150-year-old dolls were used to smuggle drugs during U.S. Civil War."

"Two 150-year-old dolls have been x-rayed in a bid to discover if they were used by Confederate soldiers to smuggle medical supplies past Union blockades during the U.S. Civil War."

Hmmm.......how easy it is to change the content of the title and the text.

Smarmy media.

[ClearCase_guy]

Wars are won when you are willing to burn cities.
Wars are won when you are willing to burn food supplies.
Wars are won when you are willing to interdict medical supplies.
Wars are won when you kill as many people on the other side as possible.

No one fights better than the men and women of the US Armed Forces. Unfortunately, the government and the citizenry have become squeamish and are not sure if winning is a good idea.

[CivilWarguy]

The article betrays a real ignorance of the Civil War, and of blockade running.
While the dolls may have been English made, any blockade running boat would have stored quinine or morphine supplies openly—because, if the Federals captured the blockade runner, the contents (dolls and all) would be sent north or destroyed anyway.
If these dolls were used for smuggling needed drugs, they were used by people smuggling drugs from the north. Smugglers would often go by train or boat to a place such as Memphis, TN, far from any seaport, and the dolls would be carried through the lines by civilians.
This supposition is bolstered by the fact that the donor, Confederate General Patton Anderson’s family, was from the Memphis area. And another correction—while Anderson commanded a division in the Confederate “Army of Tennessee”, he did NOT command that army, nor was there any “Tennessee Army of the Confederacy.”

[Maverick68]

You mean those wonderful, loving, kind Yankees were trying to keep simple medicines and painkillers from suffering humans?!?
That certainly goes against EVERYTHING the media taught me about the Civil War....hmmmmmm......

[luckystarmom]

I doubt they teach much about Sherman burning up the south either.

[luckystarmom]

I doubt they teach much about Sherman burning up the south either.

[a fool in paradise]

It is thought the large dolls - Nina and Lucy Ann - had their hollowed out papier-mache heads stuffed with quinine

Gin and tonic just isn't the same otherwise...

[JoeProBono]

[a fool in paradise]

The sanctions are killing children < /Saddam supporters >

[JoeProBono]

Mint Julep

[Nabber]

I generally agree with you, however the Revolution in warfare that is “Precision Guided Munitions” means that one can destroy only the military-related buildings in a city (such as Baghdad), or, you can take out only the military controlled rooms in a specific building, and minimizing damage to the civilian-occupied rooms — we are that accurate now. Warfare is changing, with regard to human casualties. I believe someone said that the military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan during our fight there, are less than the WW2 deaths on Okinawa during a one-half hour period.

[ClearCase_guy]

There is something to what you say. But I will offer this rebuttal:

In an older age, when neatly uniformed armies fought great pitched battles, there would eventually come a time when the leaders would gather around a table and sign a peace treaty. But we do not seem to live in that age any more.

Today, it's all guerrilla warfare, and so long as some bands want to keep fighting, it's very hard for anyone, on either side, to get them to stop. Each individual on that side will fight until a precision guided weapon takes him out. But a replacement is probably close to hand.

I would suggest that our smart weapons are impressive, but have not caused our enemies to sue for peace. I would further suggest that indiscriminately killing tens of thousands of men, women, and children is quite likely to cause our enemies to sue for peace.

It's common for Americans to say "We don't want to push too hard -- we might make them angry!"
I say: They attacked NYC and killed thousands of us. Nothing that we do is going to encourage them to be more fanatic than they already are. We need to make them BEG for peace.

The old ways are the best ways.

[stuartcr]

For the time frame, I think medicinal supplies and drugs were considered one in the same. Why smarmy?

[EggsAckley]

Smarmy because we are in the 21st century, not the 19th. I cannot believe that the author really equates medicinal supplies with common street drugs. To me, it's an incendiary attempt to “stir up” the readers.

Not a big deal, but interesting nonetheless.

[stuartcr]

I couldn’t find anywhere that the author equates medicinal supplies with common street drugs?

If so, I guess it worked on you.

[CivilWarguy]

Osprey books are usually very good. The person who wrote the Daily Mail article probably isn’t an expert in the field.
Most of the later war blockade runners were made in England for that purpose—small, fast, with shallow draft.

[Renegade]

IFFFF the South had won, would we have the situation we have on November 2, 2010??

[Erasmus]

That’s actually a pic of the airport scanner when JoyBehar walked through it last weekend.