Women in the Civil War

1. Women in the Civil War Enduring Hardships and Gaining Social Independence

2. The Home Front • Women faced many hardships • Worry or grief for husbands, sons, brothers, fathers • Shortages of supplies (e.g. food, clothing) • Battles close to home

3. Challenges Faced by Southern Women • Southern women “came into more direct contact with the horrors of war than did most Northern women” (Hillstrom, K. and L. C. Hillstrom, 2000) • Shortages of food and supplies • Substitutions for medicine, coffee, kerosene, shoes • Most major battles took place in the South • Women became nurses involuntarily, as homes were used as hospitals

4. Northern Women Coped by… • …Getting jobs. • Many factory jobs needed to be filled, since the men who worked them went to war. • Many women also needed the income from such jobs • …Forming Aid Societies. • 7,000 + aid societies were formed in the North. • U. S. Sanitary Commission raised money for medical supplies, trained nurses, and standardized health care • Prior to the Commission, an “estimated 4 soldiers died of disease for every 1 in battle” (Women in the Civil War, 1999).

5. Nurses • Women in both the North and South were motivated to become nurses to… • Be near loved ones • Compassion • A sense of duty • For the money • For a sense of adventure

6. Challenges for Nurses • Becoming a Nurse… • In both the North and South, laws were enacted to allow women to become nurses • Circular Order No. 8 (July 1862) • Battlefield Conditions… • Nurses in the South often had to continually move patients and hospitals in order to remain behind battle lines (Hillstrom, K, and L. C. Hillstrom, 2000)

7. Notable Nurses • Dorothea Dix • Union’s Superintendent of Nurses, 1861-1866 • Recruited competent nurses • Mary Ann Bickerdyke • Union nurse • was the only woman (nurse) at the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, caring for 1,700 wounded in a field hospital • Sally Louisa Tompkins • Ran a Confederate hospital in Richmond, where it is believed that she lost only 73 of her 1,333 patients (Women in the Civil War, 1999)

8. Spies • Men didn’t believe women were capable of deceit, and would not be spies • Women spies relied on their status as women for greater leniency if caught • Women who were suspected of espionage were run out of town….even if there was no proof. • These women were often innocent of the accusations • (Hillstrom, K. and L. C. Hillstrom, 2000)

9. Famous Spies • Elizabeth Van Lew--“Crazy Bet” • Pretended to be eccentric so that Confederate officials would think of her as harmless • Helped Federal prisoners escape from Richmond, and provided the Union with information that helped Grant capture Richmond • Rose O’Neal Greenhow— • A Washington, D. C. socialite who used her social status to gain information from Union officials; she sent secrets to friends in the South • Helped turn the First Battle of Bull Run into a Confederate Victory in 1861 • (Hillstrom, K. and L. C. Hillstrom, 2000)

10. References • Dix, D. L. (1999). Circular Order No. 8. In The Civil War. Woodbridge, CT: Primary Source Media. • Hillstorm, K., and L. C. Hillstrom. (2000). Women in the Civil War. In American Civil War reference library (Vol. 3, pp. 165-172). Detroit: UXL. • Women in the Civil War. (1999). In Women in America. Woodbridge, CT: Primary Source Media.