Women's Contributions to the Civil War

A detailed Summary of Women's Contributions to the Civil War

Everyone knows that men were soldiers during the Civil War. But how many people actually know about the women? Women in the nineteenth century were beginning to liberate themselves. Thus, when the Civil War came along, many ladies were not content to sit home and set up fund-raisers for the cause. Some women took a more active, romantic role during an era when action was reserved for the gentlemen. The women of the Civil War are best remembered for their colorful hoop skirts, tenderness at the bedside, holding up the home front, and sitting on the porches of illustrious plantations. But some women for whatever reason joined the army, to be beside their husbands and loved ones, or to prove to themselves and society that women could do a man's job just as well or maybe even better, and some just thought the war opportunity for excitement and travel. The fact of the matter is that women contributed to the Civil War by becoming soldiers, spies, and spending time and e!

First, women frustrated by their limitations in society entered into the army as soldiers. Approximately 400 women tied up their hoops and pulled up pants to serve beside husbands, brothers, or to aid the cause. Perha

3. Internet: http://www.nora.gov/publications/prologue/women3.html Women Soldiers of the Civil

young Canadian nurse with a flair for dramatics. So she went under cover as a black man and snuck behind Confederate lines. She was able to give the Union reliable information on troop placements and strength, and managed to reveal a Southern spy working for the Union. The code of male chivalry meant that women spies, unlike male counterparts, were not shot when captured, and that even the more notorious among them were most often jailed briefly and then banished to the other side. Women spies also played up their powers "as beautiful charmer-deceiver seductress."

Once in the ranks, successful soldier-women probably learned to act and talk like men. With loose uniforms and lack of facial hair the women could pass as young men. Also, Victorian men, by and large, were modest by today's standards. Soldiers slept in their clothes, bathed in their underwear, and went as long as six weeks without changing their underwear. Thus, a women soldier would not call undue attention to herself if she acted modestly, sneaking to the woods to answer the call of nature and attend to other personal matters, or if she left camp before dawn to privately bathe in a nearby stream. The women soldiers easily concealed their gender in order to fulfill their desire to fight. The women soldiers faced few disadvantages. The vast majority of the common soldiers during the Civil War were former civilians who volunteered for service. Many privates had never fired a gun before entering the army. Hence, the women soldiers learned to be warriors just like the m!

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In conclusion, women contributed to the Civil War by becoming soldiers, spies, and spending time and energy healing the sick and wounded. The women in th

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Category: History