Essay On Civil War Women

First off the nurses were important because they were the ones who helped the injured ones or the sick ones. Normally it would be the nurses who would find out if the women disguised as men would actually be a woman and when they found out the truth they would have to go and tell a genreal the truth. Now between 2,000 to 5,000 women volunteered as nurses during the war. Nursing was a gruesome job that provided an upclose look at the horrific casualties of the war. Civil War nurses cleaned wounds, fed soldiers, dispensed medication and assisted surgeons during operations and medical procedure like amputations.

Women wanted to be able to do more in the war. They tried to find ways to work

" ‘I want something to do…' ‘Write a book,' Qouth the author of my being. ‘Don't know enough, sir. First live, then write.' ‘Try teaching again,' suggested my mother. ‘No thank you, ma'am, ten years of that is enough.' ‘Take a husband like my Darby, and fulfill your mission,' said sister Joan. ‘Can't afford expensive luxuries, Mrs. Coobiddy.' ‘Go nurse the soldiers,' said my young brother, Tom. ‘I will!' (Harper 14)." This is a dialog of Louisa May Alcott with her relatives. Miss Alcott, like many other African American women, helped serve in the Civil War. During the Civil War, Miss Alcott held a variety of jobs. Mainly working as a writer, she held positions as a nurse, teacher, and volunteered in

When you hear women in the civil war, what do you think? Some people think can that really be, women are not meant for war, all they are needed for is cooking and cleaning and taking care of their children. Well everyone who stereotypes women of that is wrong, because just like men women did have some part of the civil war. Although they may have not fought in the war, they did help with the recovery of the injured men so that they can go back and fight in the war. Being a union nurse is not the only way they were apart of the war, some women did things that went down in history. Just like Harriet Tubman, who made history because she was the creator of the Underground Railroad. She was not the only women who was part of the army and made a

They organized Ladies’ aid societies to supply the Union troops with any of the necessities they

When the American Civil War began on April 12th, 1861, over 3 million Union and Confederate soldiers prepared for battle. Men from all over America were called upon to support their side in the confrontation. While their battles are well documented and historically analyzed for over a hundred years, there is one aspect, one dark spot missing in the picture: the role of women in the American Civil War. From staying at home to take care of the children to disguising themselves as men to fight on the battlefield, women contributed in many ways to the war effort on both sides. Though very few women are recognized for their vital contributions, even fewer are

The war brought new changes to the South and women often found themselves in new forms of employments. “Southern women assumed new roles during the Civil War, ranging from nursing to managing plantations.” The majority of employments that were commonly seen for women in the South during the Civil War included teaching, government jobs, nurses, and plantation workers. The majority of women in the Southern states found themselves taking care of and managing plantations. Females took care of crops and all rural work while men were away. Letters of females living in Indiana reveal information about their everyday

The Civil War altered the lives of women, in both the North and South, just as it altered the nation as a whole. Although it is irrefutable that both the North and the South felt the wrath of the war, the South encountered a unique set of troubles that caused the weight of the war to fall predominantly on Southern women. Attempting to understand the experiences of all Southern women during the Civil War does not come without its challenges. It is impossible to connect the stories and experiences of all Confederate women without generalizing their history. However, by narrowing the analysis to a singular concentration of middle and upper class

During the Civil War, women took a unique role in America,by essentially taking the place of the men who went to war. When the men left, home life changed completely. Women now had to do many of the things that the men would have taken care of around the house, as well as the things that the women would normally do themselves. During the war, however, some women got more of a taste for life outside the home than others. They had to reconfigure themselves in the world and find where they belonged without the aid of men.

Although the exact number of nurses that served in the Civil War is not known, it is estimated that between 2,000-5,000 ladies served as nurses. The nurse’s job was not an easy one, they assisted surgeons during surgery, they cleaned and fed the troops that were in recovery, they would bandage wounds and dispense medicine to those that needed it. Some of the more notable nurses are: Dorothea Dix- part of the founders of the US Sanitation Committee, Clara Burton-founder of American Red Cross, Louis May Alcott, and Helen Gilson.

Life in the South was more difficult than the North. During the war, the Confederate States of America consisted of eleven Southern states that seceded from the Union in the early 1860’s. In the South, if you owned more than twenty slaves you didn’t have to fight in the war. Fighting for the idea of independence and a way of life based on slavery, many Southerners were for the idea of war. The Union had blockaded many of the ports in the South, which caused shortages of food and other necessities for those in the Southern

They did multiple things in the war; including providing supplies, sewing uniforms, and providing medical assistance. They put in their time and used their talents to supply the basic necessities to the men fighting in the war (“Healing the Wounds: Medicine and Sanitation”). Some women would even fight alongside men, by disguising themselves. One of these brave women was Mary Steve Jenkins. She had enlisted in Pennsylvania, while still in school, and joined the army for two whole years. As written in, “Living Through the Civil War,” she says she, “...received several wounds, and was then discharged-without anyone ever realizing she was female,” (Rees, p. 56,57). Although women had to go to extreme measures to assist in the war in ways like fighting, they still chose to do so. Another very influential woman in the Civil War was Clara Barton (1821-1912), who was also known as “the angel of the battlefield.” She helped a great deal with nursing and aided with collecting supplies to bring to battlefields and hospitals. After the war had ended, Clara was still helping in many ways; “Barton is also known for her postwar campaign to have the United States join the International Red Cross,” (“Healing the Wounds: Medicine and Sanitation”). Working alongside Clara was another important woman: Dorothea Dix (1802-1887), who was a nurse for the Union. She was well known, even before the war, because of the

The American Civil War was a time of pronounced racial and gender role changes. Despite political tension and fighting, many women began to hold a variety of jobs in order to make valuable contributions to the war effort. Moreover, a patriarchal government governed the effects of slavery and the economy. Nonetheless, the influence women had during the Civil War tends to be minimized, especially African American women. Despite facing discrimination, black women greatly influenced the war effort. The discrimination they faced is most prominently seen through wage disparities between white and black female workers and the pensions black women were denied when the war came to an end. One such occupation African American women held were as

Women during the Civil War were thought to be those who supplied food and clothing for their men. Some made a difference by becoming nurses, yet some women strived for more. They wanted to be able to see first hand on the front line what kind of war they were really fighting. Women brave enough to risk their lives would disguise themselves as men and fight. Other women tried to find papers and try to understand truthfully what was happening, and the urge to know if they were winning took over their minds.

Women in the North and the South performed important voluntary service in the Civil War. After the war, women formed hundreds of clubs and associations to facilitate their activities. At first, women entered these organizations only for intellectual and social reasons. They studied subjects of