Women and the Civil War

By: Courtney Dahl

Women Soldiers

With the start of the Civil War came the recruitment of men in to the Union and Confederate armies. Fathers, husbands, sons, and brothers all left their women forgotten at home. Women, feeling neglected and alone, wanted to support the war effort and be with their husbands so many disguised themselves as men and enlisted in the military.

How did they do it?

Because of the poor health examination standards, women could easily be allowed in to the army and would use cloths to bind their chests as well as padding around their middles to appear more muscular. Because women were registered under male names, it is unclear how many women soldiers there really were. A rough estimate is around 400 while some say the number was many times larger than that. Women were represented in all three main branches of the army (infantry, cavalry, and artillery), a surprising number of them advancing through the ranks to become sergeants, and in some cases officers, until wounded, killed, or being found out through some other extreme circumstance. Many women were even discovered because their mannerisms gave them away. The way they tied their shoes or wrung out a dish towel were all tell tale signs of their true gender.

Civil War Nurses

Approximately two-thousand women in the Union and the Confederacy served as volunteer nurses during the Civil War. Seeking direct involvement in the war, women dedicated their time to caring for the wounded and the sick on and off the battlefield.

The Angels of the Battlefield• In the beginning men were outraged at the very thought of

women working as nurses in the Civil War. They thought it inappropriate for women to see male naked bodies and to be surrounded by the gore of the battlefield. But women went right on tending to the sick and experienced firsthand amputated limbs, mutilated bodies, disease and death. Some of their daily duties included

• Tending to and cleaning wounds • Administering medications • Comforting the dying • Searching for wounded on the battlefields • Assisting doctors during operations • Writing letters for the soldiers • Talking to soldiers and building up moral • Transporting and delivering supplies • Overseeing sanitary conditions at various facilities

Important Nurses in the Civil War

Dorothea Dix and Clara Barton were two of the most influential nurses in that they led a national effort to organize a nursing corps to care for the war's wounded and sick. Dorothea Dix was already known for her work in improving the care for the insane but for the war effort, she began to recruit women to serve as nurses in the Army Medical Bureau. Clara Barton, determined to help in any way she could, took care of the wounded soldiers who returned to Washington but eventually had the opportunity to work on the front lines of battle. After the war, Clara Barton became the founder of the American Red Cross.

Civil War Women in Espionage

Women proved to be quite valuable when it came to spying for both the Confederacy and the Union. Their coy and gentle nature did not make them an easy suspect and many men would not be caught dead interrogating a woman. Women would often seduce the soldiers in to giving out information or often be at the right place at the right time and overhear useful information. The fashion of the time period proved to be useful as well. The large hoop skirts were convenient for hiding not only messages but goods and packages as well. Some women even hid letters in the center of their bun hairdos!

United States Sanitary Commission

For the women looking to support the war effort but not wanting to hide goods under their skirts, sponge bathe an amputated leg, or dress like a man, the United States Sanitary Commission was born. In 1861, President Lincoln reluctantly signed the bill making the institution an official agency. He believed that the support from women was not needed and would just be an annoyance. He would soon be proved wrong when the volunteer work of thousands of women would result in cutting the disease rate of the Union Army in half and raising around twenty-five million dollars in support of the Northern war effort.

What exactly was the U.S.S.C.?

The United States Sanitary Commission allowed women to really get involved in ensuring the comfort and safety of their soldiers. Women tirelessly asked neighborhoods for donations, worked as nurses, organized kitchens in the camps, ran hospital ships, knitted socks & gloves, sewed blankets & uniforms, baked food, and organized Sanitary Fairs that raised millions of dollars worth of goods and funds for the Federal army. Warehouses were set up to repack and send out all of the goods being shipped in by mothers, daughters, aunts, and sweethearts who had joined together in thousands of ladies aid societies all throughout the North. Sanitary agents scrutinized the camps, inspecting the living conditions and the hospitals and set standards for the hiring of medical personnel. After the war, the USSC worked with Union Veterans to secure their bounties, back pay, and apply for pensions.

Let’s Sum It All Up Shall We?

The women of the Civil War were revolutionaries that shattered the boundaries and limits placed on them by society in order to help in every way possible. They deserve a huge amount of recognition for their contributions to the Civil War and without their efforts, the Civil War might have been drastically different.

http://www.forttejon.org/ussc/ussc.html

Sources

http://americancivilwar.com/women/

http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/greenhow/1863-07-20/1863-07-20.html

http://userpages.aug.com/captbarb/femvets2.html

http://www.hallrichard.com/civilwomen.htm

http://www.civilwarhome.com/civilwarnurses.htm

http://www.dtsk8.org/6_8/8/Civil%20War%20Webpage-RS/indexcivil.html