Women Of The American 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

Women in the Civil War were important because they played important roles. They played as nurses, spies, and some even disguised themselves as soldiers. The women could only play one of these roles. For example they can only be either a spy or nurse or a soldier. They can’t be two like a spy and a nurse.

April 15, 1865 has gone down as one of the darkest hours in U.S. history, when at Ford’s Theatre, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. When we think of Abraham Lincoln being assassinated, we usually think of John Wilkes Booth or Ford’s Theatre. How many of us would think of Mary Surratt or her boarding house? Mary Surratt owned and operated a boardinghouse where it is believed that John Wilkes Booth and others planned to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln and other high ranking government officials. She was tried and executed. How were her actions seen during her time compared to how they are viewed today looking back at her actions?

" ‘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

Furthermore, some women enlisted in the armies disguised as males, others found they could contribute their service to the war through acting as scouts. For those women that enlisted, changing their dress was only a small fraction of the work required to blend in to their brigade. Hiding all feminine characteristics including the ways, in which they walked, talked, sat, and acted was necessary to avoid detection (Eggleston 2). An abundance of radical periodicals and writings intended for a female audience emerged at the beginning of the war (Endres 32). With ample encouragement women found it within their interests to take an active role in the fight. Some, including Elizabeth Van Lew, simply desired for the feuding between the regions to end and found espionage to be their contribution (Kane 235). In “Companions of Crisis: The Spy Memoir as a Social Document”, Curtis Carroll Davis depicts the female scouts perceiving their duty to their country to be through espionage. Surprisingly, men, including fathers and other patriarchal figures, actively sought the help of their female kin to play an active role in the war through espionage. For instance, the father of Antonia Ford encouraged his daughter to entertain and extract information from Union officers on behalf of the Confederate cause (Eggleston 97). The passion for liberty was undoubtedly just as

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 touchstone for understanding the wartime experience of Southern women begins with the understanding of the political landscape of the time. Historian Drew Gilpin Faust contends that in the context of nineteenth-century politics, “politics was regarded as a privilege and responsibility of men.” The acknowledgment that women and men existed in their separate spheres is the undoubtedly the most common theme in the arena of Women’s History. In addition to Faust, other prominent historians such as Mary Elizabeth Massey and Lisa Tendrich Frank, have contributed significant scholarship to the topic of Southern women and the Civil War. Massey in particular coined the idea that the war caused Southern women to “leap from their spheres.” While not all Southern women were eager to abandon their traditional spheres of domesticity that existed within their households, women could not resist maneuvering their way into the male sphere of politics. In a diary entry from April 1861, Catherine Edmondston of North Carolina asserted that women’s involvement in politics was unavoidable because the nation was in such great upheaval, “public affairs absorbed all interest.” In an

There were many famous names from the Civil War, some of the more notable names were: Ulysses S. Grant, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, and George Custer. These names are synonymous with great generals who fought great battles during the war, but what about Sarah Emma Edmonds, Clara Burton, Dorthea Dix, Rose O’Neal Greenhow, and Loreta Janeta Velazquez? These names are not as known as their male counterparts, but these ladies of the Civil War Era did their part to aide their respective sides in the war. What these and other women did during the civil war may not seem as important, but without their skills, knowledge, and actions some of the great battles might have gone the other way.

Harriet Tubman (1820-1913) was an African American who helped slaves escape and establish a spy network in South Carolina. She was born into slavery and escaped in order to help free other slaves. She made many missions to help free enslaves African Americans. During the Civil War she worked for the Union Army as a cook and later become an armed scout and spy. In her lifetime she make around 19 missions to save over 300 slaves. She made led the slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad.

What roles did the Northern women play in the war effort on the Union side during the Civil War? What roles did the Southern women play in the war effort on the Confederate side during the Civil War? How did the war affect each group?

During the American Civil War era, women joined the profession of nursing and began to work in hospitals and on the battlefield, which led to a better and more advanced medical system.African American nurses were often times overlooked but they made numerous contributions in enhancing the medical field through the many corps and organizations created. Nurses and women volunteered for nursing assignments in field hospitals or on hospital transport ships. There were several that volunteered as Union nurses; African American nurses were not included in the majority of women, and their work was overlooked. African American women, such as Susie King Taylor, worked in government hospitals but received no pay for their services. Harriet Tubman was born into slavery but escaped through the Underground Railroad and went back to the South to help other slaves escape. During the war she served as a nurse off of the coast of South Carolina. Her outstanding work as a spy and nurse was rewarded by a higher pension. Sojourner Truth was also born a slave; she became a well-known abolitionist and an advocate for human rights. She worked as a nurse and spent substantial time in a village called

For the duration of the civil war, many women decided to disguise themselves as men and enlist into the army. The reasons women joined the army has a wide variation which spans across love, patriotism, or the want for adventure. (Smith) One woman, Amy Clark, joined the war in order to fight alongside her husband. Clark was so determined that she kept on fighting even after her husband had been killed. (Chang) Women were most often discovered when they were injured and needed to be examined by a doctor. (Smith) Nonetheless, these women fought bravely to stand up among the men in order to fight for what they believed in. Unfortunately, out of the estimated 400 to 750 women who fought in the war, only one received a veteran’s pension. (Smith) Although this may be true, it indeed is a grave injustice because those courageous women deserved recognition. Among the women who decided to serve as soldiers were those who choose to be spies. An example of a prominent female spy was Elizabeth Van Lew, more famously known as Crazy Betsy. Living in Richmond, the Confederate capital, Betsy would collect information from hearing the confederates talk around her. With this in mind, whenever she gathered information she would send it to the Union for their purposes. Not only did she spy for the Union, but she also hid union soldiers in her home. (Chang) The work that Betsy did to assist the Union was truly

The role of women in the United States changed significantly during the Civl War. Before the Civil War, women stayed at home and cared for their children and worked on just about every other chore there was to do around the house. But the Civil War changed much of that. Many brave women decided to take it upon themselves to break out and re-define themselves by choosing to become spies, disguising themselves as male soldiers, becoming nurses, or for newly freed slave women to begin a new life in the North or South. The Civil War opened many new gates for women to provide assistance to their side even if they were not fighting on the battlefield.

“Western civilization, Christianity, decency are struggling for their very lives. In this worldwide civil war, race prejudice is our most dangerous enemy, for it is a disease at the very root of our democratic life.” 1 Mordecai Wyatt Johnson quote is quite accurate in context with the American civil war and what it involved into since its inception in 1861. A war that began in states right evolved into a much higher moral question of slavery and fundamental human rights. The civil war took place in America between 1861 to 1865.

When thinking about women’s roles during the American Civil War most people think about what they did at the home front, such as writing to their men to return home or sending their men off to war. However, women did have other roles other than the home front. It does not seem very likely that women had more roles than thought originally during the Civil War, such as spies, nursing, refugees, and a few were soldiers. However, there are some historians who disagree about some of the roles women had during the Civil War. One of those historians name is Dr. Beeman and he does not agree about some of the roles women played during the Civil War, such as refugees, nursing, spies, and soldiers. Dr. Beeman must have not looked very hard for