Generally when we think of the role women played in the Civil War our minds immediately turn to nursing which was normally NOT a role for women. Prior to the war nursing was handled by men, but once the war started hospitals tended to be anywhere – a city street, a small village, a warehouse, a farm, alongside a road – and women were the only ones available to help.
Women took on other roles as well even though there were some class distinctions regarding their experiences. No matter the class though most women met together in order to make various garments for the soldiers and to gather and send supplies they could.
Women residing in cities and towns as well as women from the upper classes spent their war years raising money for the war effort attending raffles, fairs, bazaars and dances.
Women in the lower classes, of course, were hampered by economic issues. Wives of yeoman farmers had fewer resources and as the war progressed they had less and less.
An article published with the New Georgia Encyclopedia states most of what we know regarding the plight of women during the Civil War comes from fictional stories. Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind focuses on Scarlett O’Hara from the elite class while Margaret Walker’s Jubilee shares the story of the slave Vyry. However, some Southern women did leave diaries and journals that have become published works we can examine today for insight into how women fared during the war years. Mary Harris Gay left us Life in Dixie during the war. 1863-1864-1865
One journal, by Dolly Sumner Lunt (Burge) recounts her war years spent on a plantation with approximately 100 slaves. Her diary is online and can be accessed here.
Other stories of how women fared are merely family stories that are handed down or exist as community lore such as the story of one lone grave beside the road published at Georgia on My Mind.
Comments
Excellent article! When we think of women in the Civil War, I think we do tend to consider them in nursing roles. I wonder if this is when the roles were reversed as for many years nursing was considered primarily a female position. Men were no longer available for nursing duties;women took over and sort of stayed in that role. Sorta of like Rosie the Riveter, right? Although, Rosie's job at the factory filled with men again afterwards. There were still women who retained those positions after the war, weren't there? Cool details I never knew.
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