Mary Boykin Miller : An American Diarist And Writer During The Civil War

After four years of seemingly endless battle between a divided nation, more than 600,000 people were killed. These lives, however, were not given in vain. Had it not been for the American Civil War, abolition may not have been carried out. The nation might have remained divided. Women might have remained confined to their roles as the "homemakers." Although the Civil War was fought in hopes of preserving the nation and ridding it of slavery, another war raged on within the depths of this war--the women's war. Serving as nurses both in the hospital and on the battlefields, women came to know a whole

Harriet lived from roughly 1820-1913; the exact year of her birth is completely unknown. She was born to Harriet Green and Benjamin Ross, under the name of Araminta “Minty” Ross, on the Thompson plantation in Dorchester County, Maryland. The plantation was owned by Edward Brodess, son of Mary Pattison Brodess, a young widow. Mary was an awful mistress, in the sense that she enjoyed her slave’s misery. She often drove the families apart, causing extreme anguish. Although it was common for masters and mistresses to hire out the man to another plantation, Mary separated the family even more by selling two of Harriet’s sisters to a plantation in Georgia.

Abraham Lincoln once told Harriet Beecher Stowe,”So you’re the little lady who wrote the book that made this great war”(Hillstrom and Baker 431). Harriet Beecher Stowe, in a way, did start the Civil War, one of the bloodiest battles in American history. She tried her hardest to abolish slavery and never gave up on the slaves no matter what obstacles there were along the road. Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, helped release slaves during the Civil War, and also worked to abolish slavery in her life.

She later got caught and was later put into prison in 1864 by confederate troops and taken into prison. Along with Mary Edward walker, Clara Barton, was an Army nurse. Clara was to serve help in curing injured men. She had a bad experience when she went to go cure a man, a bullet that killed the man she was helping was peireced threw her sleeve. She had been assisting him and tried to save him, but it was too late and he had died. Also these women made a legacy in life, Underground Railroad, being the first US army women surgeon, and the foundation of the American Red Cross. Mary Todd Lincoln, who was married to Abraham Lincoln. Although she was a lot different then the other important women in the civil war, she was just as important. She was the wife of the president during the war. Although she did not exactly fight or become a nurse of the war, she still had to take care of her family and all of Abraham’s stressful days. She had to mend to her children’s needs while Abraham was out making sure the troops in the war were in the right standings. When 1865 came around it was a terrible year for her, her family and her heart were crushed. Her loved one was assassinated, and her family and herself had no idea how to handle it. Being that she was the presidents wife, she was still important to make a legacy. Showed that women are strong enough to handle stress, children, and deaths in their family to be strong for

Mary Boykin Chesnut was born on her grandparents' estate at Mount Pleasant, South Carolina on March 31, 1823. She learned early about the workings of a plantation by observing her grandmother. Grandmother Miller rose early to assign the cleaning and cooking duties for her servants. Besides keeping the mansion clean and prepared for the frequent guests, Mary's grandmother also took charge of making and mending clothing for the slaves on the plantation. She spent whole days cutting out clothing for the children and assigning sewing to her nine seamstresses. Her grandmother worked with the servants and sewing crew so easily and effectively that Mary was nearly nine years old before she became aware that her

As of the mid-19th century and on was when African Americans and women were beginning to gain somewhat equal rights or were still disputing them. It is also well know that both have suffered in vastly different manners, but in some cases are very similar in certain struggles. African American men and women had to survive the terrors of the Ku Klux Klan in the southern states, managing life with the Black Code looming over their every move. They were basically fighting for something that a lot of people take for granted, their right to live as a regular citizen. White women on the other hand had their fair share of discrimination as well, when it came to labor, labor organizations and, equal wages.

She was born in Delta, Louisiana. She had a sister and four brothers. She was the first child, and her mother died because of cholera. Her father remarried and died afterward. Then, Sarah married with Moses McWilliams, but when her child was two years old, her husband died. Sarah worked as washerwoman and barely earned more than a dollar a day. However, it was determined to make enough money, so her daughter can get the formal education.

Mary received a scholarship to a school for girls in Concord, North Carolina called Scotia Seminary (Now Barber-scotia College). When Bethune completed all her studies,

Mary Chesnut was the author of a popular book known as the “Civil War Diary.” This well-known book painted a vivid picture of her thoughts on the things going on around her pertaining to the war. She was one of the most respected ladies of Charleston, S.C with an insightful view of Southern life and leadership during the American Civil War. In 1840 she married James Chesnut, Jr., who later served as a U.S. senator from South Carolina until he resigned. Chesnut writings were from things she personally experienced, witnessed and saw during this historic time, along with her husband who she joined along the way of many significant sites they encountered, being that he played an important role in the secession movement and the Confederacy. Despite

Madame C.J. Walker was born on December 23, 1867 in Delta, Louisiana and was named Sarah Bredlove. Her parents were Owen and Mernirva Bredlove. She was the youngest of six kids and was the first one born into freedom, after the Emancipation Proclamation. Her parents and siblings were all slaves owned by Robert W. Burney at the Madison Parish plantation. Her mother died in 1878 of cholera which is bacterial disease. Her father re-married and left Sarah to be an orphan at the age of seven and had to live with her older sister. At the age of fourteen she married a man named Moses McWilliams. When she turned twenty her husband died, but they had a daughter named Leila McWilliams.

Mary Elizabeth Bowser was born the year of 1839 in Richmond, Virginia. Mary was born to slave owner John Van Lew who was a well-off hardware merchant. Mary and fellow slaves were freed by Elizabeth and her mother after the death of their master John Van Lew who died the year of 1843. Despite the fact that she was considered a free slave, she chose to stay an work for the Van Lew family as a free paid servant. She was sent to an African American Quaker school in Philadelphia by Elizabeth Van Lew, during the year of 1860 tension with the Civil War began to brew so she moved back to Richmond.

Doris Miller, born in the early 1900s and died in the mid 1900s, was born into a poor family. Doris also got into many racial fights in high school, but at the age of 20 he joined the navy hoping to earn money for his family. On the ship, he worked as a kitchen worker but had an astonishing title as “Heavyweight champion of West Virginia” because he fought in many boxing competitions. On December 7th, 1941 his ship was under attacked by Japanese soldiers and planes, because of his battle station being destroyed he was ordered to retrieve fallen crewmen. However, Doris was later assigned to help two men load a machine gun, but soon after look over and shot down three or four Japanese planes. Doris Miller an African American hero really saved

Women in the Civil War were basically the beginning of a movement, because many people thought that women could not accomplish fighting in a war. The role of women in the Civil War failed to be noticed by people in history. Women’s roles prior to the Civil War were to take care of home and family. Single women or those who were poor could find work outside the home, but there was a short list of things or places for them many women who stayed home also became the center of the arrangement of ladies gathering supplies and raising funds for the soldiers.

Mary Todd Lincoln was born on December 13, 1818 in Lexington, Kentucky. She was the third of six children of her parents Robert Smith Todd, a merchant, lawyer, and officer in the War of 1812, and Eliza Ann Parker (Frost). Her mother died when she was six and Mary Lincoln’s father got married soon after, to Elizabeth Humphreys. Both marriages produced a large family of fourteen children (Mary Todd’s Rebellious Relatives). The family was wealthy, educated and well accepted socially. Mary enjoyed a privileged life. Her parents also employed servants in their household (Stevenson).

Mary Slessor was born on 2 December 1848 in Gilcomston, Aberdeen, Scotland in a poor working-class family. She was the second of seven children of Robert and Mary Slessor. Her father, originally from Buchan, was a shoemaker by trade. In 1859, the family moved to Dundee in search of work. Robert Slessor was an alcoholic and, unable to keep up shoemaking, took a job as a labourer in a mill. Her mother, a skilled weaver, also went to work in the mills.[2] At the age of eleven, Mary began work as a "half-timer" in the Baxter Brothers' Mill, meaning she spent half of her day at a school provided by the mill owners and the other half working for the