Barbara Huffman

“This Footstool is 112 years old. It was purchased in Wiminggton Del., in 1812, and carried overland in an old Conestoga wagon to Carlisle, Pa, where the purchasers settled.  It was recently bot at a sale of one of the descendants.”

This verbiage is typed on a yellowed paper attached to the bottom of a wooden footstool made of hooked wool that my mother-in-law gave to me.  The paper tells a history lesson.

Imagine life in Delaware in 1812.  In June 1812, President James Madison signed a declaration of war against Great Britain, causing Delaware to activate the militia.  In December 1812, Great Britain declared a blockade of the Delaware and Chesapeake bays, and the British fleet invaded in 1813.  To defend their homes and their country, citizens of Delaware were actively involved in the War, with Delaware furnishing a total of 3,838 men to fight.  In the midst of this turmoil, someone purchased the footrest and valued it enough to load it on a Conestoga wagon to travel across state lines.

Imagine this little piece transported in a horse-drawn Conestoga wagon 116 miles from Delaware to Carlisle over deeply rutted dirt roads, wedged in among possessions as the owner traveled to a safer place.  The script tells the story of a household item treasured by a family who kept it among their possessions until it was sold by a descendant.

Imagine Carlisle in 1812.   The city was a stop in a 500-mile supply route to Erie to provide gun powder to Captain Oliver Perry, who led a fleet of American ships to the first unqualified defeat of a British naval squadron, thus ensuring American control over Lake Erie and territory in the northwest.

Imagine the stool as a talisman of hope, the aspirations of its earlier owners and the dreams of our great country.