in july of 1861, for example, clara solomon and several of her female friends in louisiana attended a picnic that normally would have been a time just to -- just to socialize, but the picnic now is to raise money for destitute families of volunteers. another really popular activity for these young women was to gather as a group and sew a flag to present to a local company of volunteers, and susan bradford, again, she wrote in her diary that she was just filled with pride when they completed their flag and went and presented it to the local company. she wrote this. "everyone did our part in the work. even if the stitches were few and when the fingers unskilled." just as an aside, though, i have to say these young women really did like to present flags to the confederate soldiers. not just to show their patriotism, but it was also a good way to meet a potential pen pal and to sort of be a little flirtatious with the soldiers. they really, really idealized these men and, of course, they're teenage girls, so it was fun for them to do that. young women also, though, organized their own com