Women Soldiers of the Civil War
The War Between the States was also a war between brothers, cousins, friends and neighbors and some of them were women. I use to think women were only supposed to housework like take care of the family, cook, clean, and just do what they are supposed to do. But now I’ve read or heard stories about how women were nurses, sutlers, and as Union and Confederate soldiers, and even spies.
During the civil war there were about 400 women who fought for their country on the Union side and the Confederate. That is totally apart from the thousands who worked as nurses during that time. Many of those 400 women were involved as either spies or messengers, or soldiers. I’ve would learn later that some of the women would either be completely responsible for the outcome of at least one major battle, and in some way at least responsible for several others. I think that women were only involved during the war is for two reasons and that is loyalty to their country, and their beliefs especially concerning about slavery.
The south and north states wouldn’t let women sign up to fight. So only way women could join is to change their names in to masculine names, disguised themselves as men just so they could fight. While recruits on both sides of the conflict were supposedly subject to physical examinations, those tests usually were silly. Most recruiters only looked for visible handicaps, such as deafness, poor eyesight, or lameness. Both armies standardized the medical exams, and those charged with performing them hardly ever ordered recruits to undress.
I would feel sorry for them if they had like cut off their hair, or had to go a camp that was dirty, and who were held prisoners, who also fought and died for their country. It was hard to guess how many women served in the Civil War because they look so much like men. There would be an estimated 250 women who had served during the war. There would be countless battles and cruel killings from both sides that were fighting. Women would accidently get reveled when wounded in battle or by casualty. For an example Mary Owens had enlisted in the army, only to be discovered as a woman when she was wounded in the arm and was sent back home in Pennsylvania. She served 18 months under the alias of John Evans.
The army itself would completely have no regard for women soldiers Union or Confederate. The army would deny women playing in military role in the Civil War. Sarah Edmonds Seelye served two years in Michigan Infantry as “Franklin Thompson.” On April 19, 1863 Sarah deserted the army because she had caught malaria. She had then got married and had kids. But in 1886 she had received a government letter describing to having a faithful service in the ranks. She died in Texas of September 5, 1898.
For the most part women would have to practice how to use a gun and try not to act all girly towards suspicious people. So basically a women who enlisted as a male in the war would have to weeks with out changing their clothes or taking a shower and many refused. The women soldiers learned to be warriors like men. From a historical point of view the woman combatants of 1861 to 1865 were just not ahead of their time; they were ahead of our time.
The War Between the States was also a war between brothers, cousins, friends and neighbors and some of them were women. I use to think women were only supposed to housework like take care of the family, cook, clean, and just do what they are supposed to do. But now I’ve read or heard stories about how women were nurses, sutlers, and as Union and Confederate soldiers, and even spies.
During the civil war there were about 400 women who fought for their country on the Union side and the Confederate. That is totally apart from the thousands who worked as nurses during that time. Many of those 400 women were involved as either spies or messengers, or soldiers. I’ve would learn later that some of the women would either be completely responsible for the outcome of at least one major battle, and in some way at least responsible for several others. I think that women were only involved during the war is for two reasons and that is loyalty to their country, and their beliefs especially concerning about slavery.
The south and north states wouldn’t let women sign up to fight. So only way women could join is to change their names in to masculine names, disguised themselves as men just so they could fight. While recruits on both sides of the conflict were supposedly subject to physical examinations, those tests usually were silly. Most recruiters only looked for visible handicaps, such as deafness, poor eyesight, or lameness. Both armies standardized the medical exams, and those charged with performing them hardly ever ordered recruits to undress.
I would feel sorry for them if they had like cut off their hair, or had to go a camp that was dirty, and who were held prisoners, who also fought and died for their country. It was hard to guess how many women served in the Civil War because they look so much like men. There would be an estimated 250 women who had served during the war. There would be countless battles and cruel killings from both sides that were fighting. Women would accidently get reveled when wounded in battle or by casualty. For an example Mary Owens had enlisted in the army, only to be discovered as a woman when she was wounded in the arm and was sent back home in Pennsylvania. She served 18 months under the alias of John Evans.
The army itself would completely have no regard for women soldiers Union or Confederate. The army would deny women playing in military role in the Civil War. Sarah Edmonds Seelye served two years in Michigan Infantry as “Franklin Thompson.” On April 19, 1863 Sarah deserted the army because she had caught malaria. She had then got married and had kids. But in 1886 she had received a government letter describing to having a faithful service in the ranks. She died in Texas of September 5, 1898.
For the most part women would have to practice how to use a gun and try not to act all girly towards suspicious people. So basically a women who enlisted as a male in the war would have to weeks with out changing their clothes or taking a shower and many refused. The women soldiers learned to be warriors like men. From a historical point of view the woman combatants of 1861 to 1865 were just not ahead of their time; they were ahead of our time.
