Last Mercy Street Episode

No word yet on Mercy Street returning next year. I hope so, and I hope we will be able to get more engaged with the characters. (On a side note, I have a very dark TV and have trouble with some of the scenes--maybe a bit more light for season 2?) A few points from the last episode:

President Lincoln did not, as far as I know, visit Mansion House. However, he did visit several of the forts around the city, most notably when an accidental explosion resulted in the deaths of about two dozen soldiers at Fort Lyon in 1864.

At the end of the show, Jimmy Green shakily signs the Oath of Allegiance on behalf of his family. In 1863, the new Provost Marshal (Col. H.H. Wells) required each family member to sign his or her own oath, not one for household. That could have caused interesting discussion in the Green family.

The Green furniture factory did not make coffins, although there was quite a brisk business for them. Julia Wilbur reported that it cost “$30 to embalm, to enclose a body in box lined with zinc $18" for the bodies of soldiers sent north for burial closer to home. The factory still stands by the way--now a condo building at least it is still there.

Wilbur also witnessed many freedpeople coming into Alexandria and, before anything else, seeking word of family members who may already have arrived. I missed the back story of Sam finding Aurelia's son. Some of that occurred--unfortunately, not often enough.

All in all, it has been great to share Alexandria with a new group of people. We will see what happens, new season or not, in terms of sustained interest for this unusual time and place.