Women's Roles in the Civil War

WOMEN'S roles during the civil war

During the years prior to the Civil War, women were subjected to strict Victorian social standards. Whether a woman was of high or low status, her place was primarily expected to remain within the home raising her family and maintaining the household. Women's confinement to the home ended however with the commencement of the Civil War. With the majority of all able-bodied men off fighting, women were able to make their way into roles at every level of the conflict.

FACTORY WORKERS

Filling cartridges at the United States Arsenal at Watertown, Massachusetts Courtesy of the Library of Congress In the North and the more industrialized cities of the South, women during the Civil War were able to experience employment for the first time at factories making ammunition for their armies. They did repetitive work for ten hours a day, six days a week for an average pay of fifteen dollars a month.

NURSES & administrators

Susie King Taylor, known as the first African American Army nurse Courtesy of the Library of Congress Prior to the Civil War, nursing was an uncommon profession dominated by men. Most women who did practice nursing did so in the form of midwifery or in private for their families. However, soon after the Civil War began, hospitals quickly became overwhelmed with wounded soldiers leading to the essential participation of women as nurses. The role required women to not only support physicians and surgeons with their daily duties, they also most importantly maintained the sanitary, social and psychological needs of the soldiers.

POLITICAL LEADERS

Sojourner Truth with President Abraham Lincoln Courtesy of the Library of CongressElizabeth Cady Stanton Courtesy of the Library of CongressWomen who participated in activism also played a vital role to the Union war effort. It was women's groups who organized community donations for refugees and soldiers, supported government agencies and policy reforms, and maintained unified moral. Despite already fighting for women's rights, activists groups like the Women's Loyal National League headed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony, paused their suffrage campaigns to gather hundreds of thousands of signatures across the Union in support of the abolition of slavery. The efforts of African American activist Sojourner Truth even gained the attention of President Abraham Lincoln for her work with the National Freedman’s Relief Association; recruiting African American soldiers and rallying communities to donate food, clothes and supplies in support of Black refugees.

Women's activists groups were extremely influential during the Civil War gathering one million signigatures in support of the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery

SOLDIERS

Frances Clayton also known as Frances Claylin Courtesy of the Library of Congress Frances Clayton also known as Frances Clalin Courtesy of the Library of CongressDuring the Civil War, hundreds of women in both the North and the South disguised themselves as men and enlisted into service. A conservative estimate claims there were between 400 and 750 female soldiers while other historians say it could have been as many as one thousand women who fought in battle during the Civil War.

1 Thousand

Historians estimate that there could have been as many as 1,000 women who served as soldiers during the Civil War

The exact number of women who served as administrators during the Civil War is unknown, however, a noteable few are responisble for establishing essential organizations to our government...

/mo.

$13

White Private Soldier

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$15

Union Factory Worker

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40+ thousand

There were over forty thousand northern and southern women who acted as nurses during the Civil War

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Jennie Hodgers aka Albert Cashier Courtesy of Battlefield.orgIt is estimated that women fought in every major battle of the Civil War. One soldier in particular, Albert Cashier (born Jennie Hodgers), fought in more than forty engagements.

Loreta Janeta Velazquez aka Harry T Buford Courtesy of Battlefields.orgResearch has discovered that women took up arms during the Civil War for the same reasons as their male counterparts. Some women fought for democracy, while others faced the reality of needing the extra income, some even fought for the chance at adventure.

Sarah Emma Edmonds also known as Franklin Flint Thompson of the 2nd Michigan Infantry Courtesy of Battlefields.orgSarah Emma Edmonds enlisted into the 2nd Michigan Infantry under the name Franklin Flint Thompson on May 25, 1861. She fought for the Union army for two years before deserting out of fear of discovery, and later served as a nurse for the remainder of the war. She is the only woman to ever receive a veteran's pension for her service during the Civil War.

Dorothea Lynde Dix Courtesy of the Library of Congress Although it was rare, there were several women who served in administrative and clerical positions during the Civil War. Dorothea Lynde Dix held the role of Superintendent of Army Nurses and recruited more than three thousand women to fill the position of nurses. Clara Barton traveled with the Union army providing aid to soldiers on both sides from her own supply wagon, and eventually went on to establish the American Red Cross in 1881. Also, women's groups like the Women's Central Association of Relief were advocates for educating the public and organizing support for necessary government reforms/agencies such as the United States Sanitary Commission which was responsible for managing the sanitary demands of war.

Allegheny Arsenal Courtesy of the Library of Congress Working in factories during the Civil War with live gun powder proved dangerous and in some cases deadly due to the implementation of inadequate/unenforced safety standards. On September 17, 1862 in a town near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Allegheny Arsenal was blasted by a massive explosion killing seventy-eight workers, majority of which were women who "died in horrific ways." Two years later in June 1864, a similar tragedy struck an arsenal in Washington D.C. when unattended fireworks exploded killing twenty workers.

The average white private serving in the Union army was paid thirteen dollars a month with the average Confederate private making eleven dollars a month. African American soldiers were paid even less making only ten dollars a month.