Women's Role In The Civil War

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.

Women were considered frail, unintelligent, and unable to make decisions in eighteen-hundredths America. It was traditional wisdom that a woman’s place was in the home. The Civil War marked a turning point for women and their role in society. Through my research consisting of books, letters, speeches, and articles, I will tell the story of a time in America when women rose to satisfy the needs of the country when most men were away fighting the war. This essay will analyze the roles of women in eighteen-hundredths America, by evaluating how women’s roles had changed; they now were nurses, soldiers/spies, and public workers/activists.

Women in the Confederacy had a great impact on the Civil War. They were thrown into totally different lifestyles--ones that did not include men taking care of the land and other businesses. Women had more control of their lives than ever before. Some took it upon themselves to get involved directly with the war while others just kept the home fires burning. Whatever roles they played, women contributed a multitude of skills to the Civil War effort.

The women during the war felt an obligation to assist in one form or another. Many

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

During the Civil war,women played very important parts. 400 women and more disguised themselves as men and fought in the Union and Confederate armies. A good amount of women served as spies and nurses. A handful of them disguised themselves as men and joined the war. The women at home took on the husband, brother, and father roles. In the past generations, women improved their educational standing, acquired greater access to manufactured goods, and secured additional legal rights by the mid-1800s. A majority of American women led daily lives that was focused mainly on their families, households, gardens, and crops. There was about 250 female Civil War soldiers that have been documented by historians and there was probably more. Women took

Both the Union and Confederate armies did not allow the enlistment of women. The women soldiers assumed the role of the man. By disguising themselves as a man, they took up arms and charged into battle (Blanton, 1993, p. 1). It is estimated that about four hundred women disguised their selves to be men and fight in the war (Righthand, 2011). Each of these women had their own reasons to fight, some did it for the salary to support their families, others for the loyalty to the cause, and some just for the excitement.

Before the Civil War, laws and traditions restricted women’s choices this quote from “breaking tradition” by Kathleen Ernst shows how before the civil war women did not have as much of a role as they do today in the modern world versus the 1800s.

Many people believe that women did not play any essential roles in our country’s history until the 1960s. However, this is not the case. Women have played many vital roles in suffrage movements as attempts to shed light upon or cure many of the ills of American society throughout American history.

For a long time, the premise of war was that men would go to war while women stayed home to take care of the children and the towns that were left behind. As a consequence, women are often left out of the main narratives of war. Interestingly, historians looking specifically at women’s effects on the Civil War effort have found that women not only worked indirectly for the war effort in their towns to support the war by making uniforms and ammunition and that some even participated directly in the war by disguising themselves and battling on the front or by acting as spies for both the Union and the South.

The role of women in the Civil War has often been overlooked in history. In the mid-1800s, stereotypes about women flourished. Women were viewed as the weaker sex. They were thought to be fragile and dependent. Gender roles were strictly divided with the woman placed firmly in the home, in charge of domestic tasks and childcare. However, when their husbands, sons, fathers and brothers joined the military during the Civil War, many women assumed new roles. Much has been written about the American Civil War but comparatively little could used to be found about the role that women played serving in the war either on the Confederate side or in the Union. However, in recent years more research has brought their stories to the forefront. Women across the

I once read a monument dedicated to the men who fought and died in the Civil War, it was erected to make sure the men would not have died in vain, and after reading it I could not help but to ask myself, “Are we to let the women?” Kids will learn of the Civil War starting in elementary school, and will continue to do so as far as their education leads them. They will learn of the brave men who fought for their beliefs and rights, brother who fought against brother, and the men who led these soldiers into battle. There is, however, one side of the Civil War which is not spoken of often enough; the women who also fought and died while serving as soldiers undercover. Women joined sides to fight for the Civil War just as the men did, and while people are making sure the men of the Civil War and their sacrifices are not forgotten, I would like to make sure the women soldiers of the Civil War get their chance of recognition and remembrance, and to ensure they did not die in vain. Just as the men who fought in battle deserve to be acknowledged, so do the women, for their roles as soldiers required just as much sacrifice as the men.

Single women openly announced that they would date or espouse only those who offered to serve. Various younger women, often the age of 30 and widowed

The Southern home front during the Civil War was plagued with many shortages. The South had lacked clothing to keep their soldiers warm. Almost all of the shoes that the South had worn were manufactured in the North. Shoes were very limited because of this. The South had lacked money. They had printed more money which led to unbelievable increases in the cost of everyday items. There were also food riots. The roles of women had changed dramatically. There was an absence of men which meant that women were now the heads of their households. Women had staffed the Confederate government. Women were denied permission to work in military hospitals at first but that had quickly changed once casualties rose to the point were men were dying in the streets

“The Civil War, and the absence from home of so many men, brought profound challenges and opportunities to all women.” That was a quote from the passage