The Bedroom
This bedroom may well be what a high-ranking
officer's bedroom looked like in the 1860's. An officer was responsible
for supplying his own furniture most of the time. All of the
original furnishings are gone from the building, but the donated
furnishings in the Museum are historic to the time period.
The bedroom contains a suite of bedroom furniture donated to
the Cerritos Museum by the Joseph Hickox. When the Cerritos
Museum moved to a new location, the furniture was donated to
the Drum Barracks Joseph's great nieces Marie Leah Hickox Northcott
and her sister Jean Hickox Northcott. The
bed, which is made of dark walnut and stands nine feet tall
with a beautiful relief of applied decorative pieces. The bed
is very large for the time period due to the height of the original
owner was 6’1”, which was a very tall man for those
days. He was an Indian Agent and the first white man into
the Oklahoma Territory. The dresser, also nine feet tall,
is made of black walnut with a white Italian marble top. It includes
a mirror top, rounded pediment crown, three drawers in the base,
two small glove drawers on the dresser top, and lamp shelves
on both sides with a drop finial above. These pieces were made
in Europe and brought around the Horn, and then by covered wagon
as their owner was an Indian Agent. In the corner stands a washstand
from the 1860's. It is made of black walnut with a marble top
and back splash, and has a single drawer above the two doors.
The night table has a marble base, cabriolet legs flaring at
top and bottom, and a rectangular marble top. The wardrobe closet
is also black walnut and stands nine feet tall. The dressing
screen was a must for the lady of the period. No lady would consider
undressing in front of her husband without a screen, not to mention
500 soldiers!
Some interesting facts about this room:
- The ceilings are14 feet tall so that the
smoke from the chimneys would gather above your head and not
in your face, and to keep the rooms cool, since hot air rises.
- The General's
Uniform on the chair is a reproduction of Phineus Banning's
uniform, which belonged to Oliver Vickery, a curator at the Banning
Residence Museum. The one star signifies Banning as a Brigadier
General.
- The black hat is a reproduction of a Hardee
hat worn by Union soldiers of the "Iron Brigade" or
"The Corp. (pronounced "core") of the Black Hats".
- The shoes are reproductions of "brogans",
shoes worn by the average soldier. Some brogans do not have a
different left and right foot... just two "straights"!
- The washboard holds a pitcher, basin and
a razor, modern bathroom or grooming conveniences for the time.
- The beautiful ballgown
was used for very formal occasions. The long train was thrown
over the ladies arm when she danced.
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