1883 doesn't tell us much about Elsa’s or her family's life before their emigration West. Not even why they're going West. This article is going to examine the 1883 Season 1 and actual historical evidence to determine what Elsa’s and the Dutton Family’s early life was like. We will find out about their standard of living and family farm, what James Dutton did before the Civil War, the reason they were emigrating West, what Elsa’s childhood was like, Elsa’s hometown, and the real-life school that Elsa attended. Did you wonder why Elsa was crying when she played the piano in Episode 4? We will find out why.
Dutton Family Farm and Standard of Living in 1883
We know that Elsa grew up on a farm in Tennessee. Remember when Elsa asks her mother about sex in Episode 3, her initial response was “you’ve seen animals on the farm”. Throughout the series, both Thomas and Shea refer to James Dutton as the “Farmer”. James Dutton had been a farmer in Tennessee preceding the 1883 trip to Oregon.
There is substantial evidence that the Dutton family had limited financial resources in 1883. In Episode 1 we see the Dutton family women and children traveling by train second class to Fort Worth, Texas. In 1883, train travel was available from Tennessee to Oregon. The reason they were going by Wagon Train from Texas to Oregon was that they could not easily afford the train fare for six people, their horses, and belongings from Tennessee to Oregon. The best that James Dutton could afford while maintaining a stake for their new home, was second-class fare to Fort Worth for the women and children. As well as two horses shipped by rail, a “Buckskin” and A “Yellow Hair”. We also know that Elsa’s entire wardrobe consisted of two dresses. During the entire series, we see Elsa wear one of two dresses, a blue one and a white one. The Dutton family did not even celebrate birthdays. In Episode 3 Elsa’s narration tells us that it was her birthday. She had asked her father if he knew what day it was. He had no idea it was her birthday. Birthdays were a luxury the Dutton family could not afford. Additionally, at the end of the Civil War Margaret worked as a sharecropper for three years. This is revealed in the dialogue between Margaret and Elsa in Episode 8.
Based on the Dutton family’s limited resources, we can conclude that they were subsistence farmers with a low standard of living in 1883. The majority of their crop and raised animals would have gone for the subsistence of his family. Harvested crops and animals that were not directly consumed by the family would have been sold. The income from their sale would have mostly gone to satisfy the family's immediate non-dietary needs. The great majority of farmers in the Post-Civil War South were subsistence farmers. We can also conclude that the Dutton Family Farm was a non-working farm for three years towards the end of the Civil War.
James Dutton Had Not Always Been a Farmer
James Dutton’s rank in the Confederate Army, as well as skills and resources inconsistent with subsistence farming, are evidence that the Dutton family once had a different source of income.
The fact that James Dutton was a captain in the Confederate Army, indicates that he probably had a higher income before the Civil War. Officer Selection – Civil War Leadership (msu.edu) explains that political appointment and election by Confederate regiments determined who would obtain the rank of officer. Politics and social standing played a large role in the likelihood of someone obtaining the rank of captain. James Dutton probably had a higher social standing than that of a subsistence farmer before the Civil War.
The Dutton Family also had skills that were not associated with subsistence farming. In Episode 2 we learn that James Dutton is an expert at herding cattle. In Episode 8 we see his ability to herd wild horses. In addition, James, Elsa, and Margaret all display substantial equestrian skills throughout the series. These skills are not consistent with subsistence farming, which involves planting, maintaining, and harvesting crops. The majority of raised animals on a subsistence farm are ones requiring low maintenance costs such as chickens and pigs. Cattle and horses require substantial amounts of hay. A subsistence farmer might have horses and cows, but not in large enough numbers to involve herding. Subsistence farming was not the source of these skills.
The Dutton Family had a Race Horse and Elsa had Horse Racing Experience
In Episode 8 we see Elsa beat Sam a Comanche warrior, in a horse race. This is no small accomplishment. The Comanche were expert horsemen. Speed on horseback was integral to their success in battle and buffalo hunting. Her victory against Sam is a testament to both her horse racing skills as well as the quality of her horse.
Lightning was A Significant Dutton Family Asset.
The article The Horses of “1883” - AQHA magazine, tells us that the real-life horse portraying Lightning is a six-year-old mare palomino quarter horse. Its name is Darby and it is of the same bloodline as Nu Chex To Cash, an accomplished racehorse in real life. Lightning was also of a successful racehorse bloodline. This is why Elsa was able to beat a Comanche Warrior in a horse race. The value of Lightning is evidenced by the fact that James Dutton had it shipped by rail to Fort Worth, rather than have it trail the wagon he drove. He went to this expense to safeguard a valuable Dutton Family asset.
Why would the seventeen-year-old daughter of a subsistence farmer, whose entire wardrobe consisted of two dresses, have a horse of the quality and value of Lightning? For the same reason, she had a gold bracelet. Lightning was not a pet or simply a mode of transportation. The bracelet was not an ornamental piece of jewelry. Any Confederate money James had become worthless after the war. When he sold his assets to go West, he converted some of the proceeds to gold to safeguard them. Although Lightning and gold were significant Dutton family assets, Elsa Dutton was the family's greatest asset. James Dutton would protect Elsa with his very life. By giving her Lightning and gold, his protection of Elsa was simultaneous protection of these assets as well. He also implicitly trusted Elsa.
In Episode 4 James Dutton takes exception to being called a farmer. During a heated discussion about where to cross the Brazos river James says to Shea:
“I Ain’t no f***ing Farmer. I was a captain too. But I don’t call myself that either... Cap’n”.
This is one of the few times James Dutton swears during the series. The reason he emphatically takes exception to being called a “farmer” is that he hadn’t always been a farmer. And although he had been a farmer in Tennessee, he wasn’t one now and didn’t plan on ever being one again.
Dutton Family Tennessee Ranch
James Dutton’s previously higher socio-economic status, his horse and cattle herding skills, and the family's equestrian skills all point to one thing. The Dutton Family owned and operated a cattle and horse ranch before the Civil War. This was the source of the family's prior higher socio-economic status. A major part of the ranch's operations was associated with the horse racing industry. That is why the Dutton Family had a horse of the quality of Lightning. And that’s why Elsa knew how to horserace.
The Dutton Family Tennessee ranch would have been destroyed during the Civil War. The great majority of the Dutton Family resources would have been invested in the cattle and horse stock. Both Confederate and Northern Armies confiscated horses and livestock. Quality racehorses would have been valuable assets for an army to use in battle. Cattle would have been needed to feed the hundreds of thousands of troops fighting in Tennessee. The losses and damages to the ranch would have been even more extensive in an area occupied by the Northern Army.
Towards the end of the war, the Northern Army shifted to a more aggressive strategy of destroying civilian ranches and farms to force the south’s surrender. Houses and barns were burned down. Crops and seed reserves were destroyed. Any equipment and supplies would have been as well. Additionally, any Confederate money the family had would have been worthless after the war. The only thing that would have been left were foals that were unsuitable for use in battle. Cavalry soldiers had a reverence for horses. They would not have destroyed foals. Lightning was a descendant of one of those foals. The only assets the family had after the war was its baron land and remaining foals. That’s why Margaret Dutton had to work for a sharecropper.
Attempts to Reestablish the Ranch
James Dutton’s Post-Civil War existence was that of a subsistence farmer fighting to reestablish his ranch. According to Tennessee 4 Me - (tn4me.org) Tennessee had been prolific horse racing country before the war. After the war horseracing was a luxury, few could afford. The vast majority of horse racing tracks were converted to farmland to feed a starving population that had been economically devasted by war. Few racetracks in Tennessee survived the Civil War. James Dutton did not have the stock or capital to successfully raise a herd of cattle or horses in Tennessee. He turned his land into a farm to meet the immediate needs of his family.
Over the years he would have attempted to produce a successful racehorse from the foals which were remnants of his former ranch. Elsa learned to horse race as a result of these efforts. Elsa was very thin. According to the German woman who made Elsa pants, she was so thin that her children would come out looking like eggplants at birth. Jockeys and trainers would have been expensive, and beyond James Dutton’s means. Elsa would have been James Dutton’s best alternative. Although Elsa was not a jockey, she worked the horses and rode them to display to potential buyers. Competition at the few remaining Tennessee racetracks would have been fierce. James Dutton never produced an economically successful racehorse after the Civil War.
Why They Were Going West
In 1883 The Dutton family’s fight to reestablish a ranch in Tennessee was over. James Dutton sold his land and everything else he owned, except that which was needed to start a new ranch. The two horses, the “Buckskin” and “Yellow Hair”, that he had shipped by rail to Fort Worth, were going to be the start of his new herd of horses. The buckskin is not mentioned after the first episode. The Yellowhair is Lightning. James Dutton was not planning on raising racehorses, which he had failed at doing in the Post-Civil War Tennessee. However, Lightning’s speed would be a valuable quality for his new herd. As a Palamino Lightning was also an extraordinarily beautiful animal. His bloodline would produce beautiful fast horses.
The major operating cost of raising cattle and horses is feed. In Tennessee, where grazing land was limited, large quantities of hay would have to be either raised, maintained and harvested, or purchased. The West offered thousands of acres of free grazing land. By 1883 the railroad made it economically feasible to ship beef from the West to the east. Large commercial ranches, that would have taken decades to develop in the southeastern United States, were established in a relatively short amount of time in the West. James Dutton would have heard of them, while he had been scratching out a living in Tennessee for the last 18 years. The West was his opportunity to reestablish his ranch and with it the high standard of living his family once enjoyed.
Elsa’s Education
Several factors indicate that Elsa attended a high-quality college prep school for girls with both high academic standards and a music program. Her beautiful poetic philosophical narration demonstrates a mastery of critical thought, history, science, and vocabulary. Elsa had definitely studied Poetry, Philosophy, History, Literature, Science, and English at a very high academic level. In episode four “Crossing” we hear her play Beethoven's “Moonlight Sonata”, a classical music piece on the piano. Elsa was trained to play classical music on the piano. Her level of proficiency suggests a formal education spanning years. The most likely source of these skills for a 17-year-old girl in a Post-Civil War Tennessee was at a college prep school with very high academic standards. Else’s sexual naiveite is consistent with her attending a girls-only school. Recall the scene of the flirtation on the train, where Elsa looks away and blushes when complimented. Also, in one of her first courting scenes with Ennis, Elsa says with surprise “This Flirting is fun”. If a girl as attractive as Elsa was not used to being complimented by, or flirting with males, she was not interacting with them.
The reason Elsa was Crying While Playing the Piano in Episode 4
In episode four “Crossing” we see the scene where Elsa plays Beethoven's “Moonlight Sonata” on the piano. The wagon train is crossing the Brazos River. Elsa, Enis, and Wade are trailing the wagon train, holding back the herd of cattle. They are a distance away and are not able to see the wagon train. They came upon a piano that the wagon train had abandoned to lighten their load to cross the river. Enis asks Elsa if she plays. Elsa’s response is “I do. I did. I guess I don't play anymore.” Elsa then begins to play `Beethoven's “Moonlight Sonata”. About halfway through the piece, Elsa begins to cry uncontrollably. The camera alternates between a scene of the German immigrants drowning in the river and a scene of Elsa crying as she plays. When she is done playing Ennis asks her “Don't know any happy ones?” Elsa’s response is “Never had much interest in the happy ones.”
The question becomes Why is Elsa crying? She is too far away from the river crossing to see the drownings. The reasons Elsa is crying are twofold and have nothing to do with the drowning immigrants.
Attending the college prep school was an unhappy childhood experience. She would have been aware of social events that she was either not invited to, or could not attend because she would not have had the right clothes or the ability to bring a present. While her classmates would have had coming-out parties and debutante balls, Elsa would not have even celebrated her birthday. As a child, Elsa would have been harassed because of the Dutton family's financial situation. Children are very cruel to other children who are from different socio-economic classes than themselves. Having just two dresses would have meant that Elsa wasn’t as well dressed as her wealthier classmates. She was also not as well-groomed.
When you consider Elsa’s incredible beauty, you can easily imagine jealousy entering into the social dynamic. Although Elsa would not have been able to bathe regularly, there would not have been a young man in town who would not have gladly drank her bathwater. Less attractive girls would have been green with envy. Elsa was bullied to the point of physical altercation. Elsa’s actions during the attempted rape scene in Episode 1 are consistent with such a history. In Episode 1 a drunk man breaks into her room and tries to rape her. Elsa does not cower in fear, she fights back fiercely. Elsa was used to being bullied and knew how to fight back. Playing the piano was a skill she learned while experiencing these emotionally scarring events.
Also, the immigrant drowning scene is a metaphor for the death of Elsa’s formal education. It was previously established that the German immigrants did not know how to swim because it was illegal where they were from. They were now dying because of that lack of knowledge. Having attended a college prep school Elsa would have naturally aspired to attend college and pursue a professional career. The Dutton Family’s economic status and relocation West made those aspirations impossible. Her hopes and dreams of going to college and having a professional career were as dead as the drowning immigrants.
Elsa’s Hometown was Nashville Tennessee
Nashville which had been occupied by northern troops during the war was home to one of the nation's leading college prep schools for girls and had one of the few remaining horserace tracks that survived the Civil War. It also had large pine trees that block the view of the sunset.
Tennessee 4 Me - (tn4me.org) describes the occupation of Nashville Tennessee by the union army. It includes the 1862 letter of Elizabeth Harding the Mistress of the Belle Meade Plantation in Nashville, which was famous for raising racehorses. An excerpt from that letter is reproduced below:
[Soldiers] have taken every suitable horse I had except my carriage horses…They broke my dairy and removed from there every onion, potato, and winter vegetable I had...They come and demand the servants to give them all the milk and butter on the place on penalty of having their brains blown out if they refuse.
According to Early Horse Racing Tracks | Tennessee Encyclopedia, Tennessee was the center of horse breeding and horseracing before the Civil War. The Burns Island Track in Nashville was in operation until 1884. It was one of the few Tennessee horseracing tracks to survive the Civil War. This is where Elsa learned to horserace.
The thesis From Piano Girl to Professional explains that Ward’s Seminary for Young Ladies, in Nashville Tennessee was one of the nation's top academically rated female schools and that it provided musical instruction on the piano. In 1870 the Education Bureau in Washington, D.C., ranked it as one of the top three female schools in the country. This is where Elsa Dutton obtained the skills required to produce the beautiful poetic philosophical narration she displayed throughout the 1883 series.