The Roles of Women in the Civil War
Lakiya Saunders
Central High School
November 9, 2015
3rd Period Abstract
Women’s role in the civil war is very important. One point of time in life women did not have any other role but mother and wife. Being able to help out with war, no matter what it was you were doing was a big turning point for women back then. It brought women a little independence, it gave women a name. The Roles of Women in the Civil War
During my research I found several roles women played in the civil war. There were nurses, spies, and even women posing as male soldiers. When the men took off for war most women had to step up to the plate and take their place back home. There were a few very important women who made a name for themselves during the war. While some women just made secret groups to provide war supplies during the war. When the men first left for war in 1861, many women took up their place back home. Some women begin working in factories, and some become clerks or school teacher to feed and clothe their families. These new jobs characterized their traditional roles as mothers and house wives. This made them an important part of the war effort. Many women dealt with the war in their own ways. Several women who had a family member in the war had a more particular war effort in the war. 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
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.
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.
To conclude, the primary contribution of women during the Civil War was the roles they played at the home-front. As previously stated women at the home-front were tasked with taking care of their children and making decisions for their households as well as obtaining jobs that contributed to the war effort. Their involvement in the war effort including working in factories, collecting food and clothes and gathering money, helped the armies, especially the Union. At the home-front women of all walks of life were excepted to contribute to the war effort, which helped out the armies immensely. Women in working in factories contributed by making resources for the military. Other women took on jobs in farm labor and clothes making, to provide the
Many women did want to join the army. To do so, they had to dress as a man. They usually wore long dresses, hoop skirts, and corsets. To pass as a man they had to wear trousers or breeches. They usually wore long hair, but to be in the army they had to cut it short. When they did they were thought to be a male. The next step was to enlist. They looked for the nearest recruiter while in disguise, and they usually enlisted as volunteers. The new recruit would be asked what their name was, their occupation, and how tall they were. In that time no one had personal identification such as; social security numbers, photo ID's, passports, or drivers licenses. You usually had to be eighteen to enlist, but people
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?
Women managed to organize committees to gather and make food, socks, and other sources of comforts as well as write letters to the men fighting overseas. Women even got involved with volunteer organizations including the Red Cross, helping to raise money for the war effort in the process.
The women during the war felt an obligation to assist in one form or another. Many
The Civil War were extremely affected the lives of American women. Many handful are disguised as men and jointed the fight, over served aspies and nurses. Many women took the role at home after their husband , brother, and father, were at the war. Thousands of women were enslaved began transition to freedom, beginning new lives surrounded by the war.
Women played many roles in Civil War society. They did not sit alone all day and wait for the men in their lives to come home from the battlefield. Many women in the war served as nurses while others took a more upfront approach and enlisted in the Army or they served as spies and smugglers. Clara Barton was a civil war nurse at the Battle of Bull Run, after which she established an agency, then she distributed supplies to soldiers. Often working behind the lines, she aided wounded soldiers on both sides.
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 white-Southern women, there can be greater understanding of the complex relationship between the history of the Civil War and the Southern women who endured it.
Some women served as nurses in the armies helping wounded soldiers who got shot a lot and got bombed during the battles so the soldiers can recover and go back in the battle. Women work very hard to help their family a lot , like the sons and their fathers. During the civil war the kids who were 18 and older have to join the war. A crazy fact is the 30 million people live in the united states at the time and 21 million were in the north and 9 million in the south. During the battle of gettysburg 50 thousand people has found dead it was one of the bloodiest battles in the civil war during that time. The winner of the battle during the civil war in gettysburg was the confederacy and they were 12 bloodiest battle of the civil war it was bigger then the ball run and franklin combined. Each day of the battle it has killed more and more people at least more than 50 thousand. The main reason the north one because general robert e lee march his way to virginia to Pennsylvania in late June 1863, and the south was tired and they didn't have stuff to eat and the north was healthy read to fight the battle.the Confederacy lost the American civil war not because it fought badly but because the union had more men and guns indeed more everything, so the union lost most of his
worked in factories expanding industrial output, and helped raise money in the community. The women are what helped keep the country running. When women filled jobs that were traditionally men’s, this aided the country as a whole because while men fought in the war, women were able to keep the country moving. Women not only worked in factories and offices, but working in the community played an immense role in helping the soldiers fighting. Women raised money for the war, collected blood, rolled bandages, aided in civil defense, tended Victory Gardens, and hosted troops. Some women still worked at home centering their work around what the soldiers needed. They recycled aluminum foil and other materials that were scarce, they raised children as usual, and mourned for the soldier that had died. Women were assisting the troops with all that they could in order to make life easier for them.
Once the war started, each person had their place in society. Women were responsible for running farms and businesses, raising children, and keeping the households together. To help soldiers women usually sewed clothing, made blankets, and gathered material that could be used for those that
Today's history books tend to skip over the important roles women had during that time. Their lives changed in many ways then one on and off the field of battle. Women took on many different aspects that helped them during the civil war. Rather than watching the men fight women took it to a whole new level and decide to pick a gun a fight for their country. It was never known how many women indeedly engaged battle.
The American Civil War started in 1861 after the newly elected president, Abraham Lincoln, pledged to put an end to slavery (Tignor). To the American South, the absence of slaves would create a drastic change in their way of life. Plantations would be unable to produce the necessary amount of cotton and tobacco needed to keep the economy from falling apart (Trueman). In fear and protest of their livelihoods being so radically changed, the people of the South decided that it would be better to secede from the union and become the Confederate States of America. Thus, the war began and although many stories are told about the men who fought in the war and the Union leaders that made the country unite again, not much is said about the women of the Civil War. The women of the South had varying experiences based on whether they were elite white women, poor unionist women, or slaves.