Women in the Civil War

 

Introduction

The civil war was a fight between the northern United States and the southern United States. The war started as a result of controversies about the enslavement of the black people. Before the civil war, the true women according to history were supposed to be devoted to taking care of their families, creating a comfortable and clean home for their husbands and children. The men, on the other hand, were to provide for the family. During the civil war, many women moved their attention from the domestic sphere to what was happening in the outside world. Very many women both from the south and the north volunteered and signed up to work as nurses, spies, and disguised soldiers.

This is the first time in the history of America that a woman had played an important role in the civil war. The women came up with ladies to help societies that could provide the soldiers with all that they required. These needs included food, clothes which they sewed, knitted socks and gloves, and money among other things. They organized campaigns, performances, and all other kinds of ways that would help them to raise money to be able to get medical supplies and other necessary stuff. During the war, women got new duties and responsibilities other than what they were historically known for and this changed the perspectives of many people. Many publications have been made about the different women and their duties, their braveness, and their will to help in the civil war and are viewed as having been useful and patriotic.

Mary Bell was a woman soldier who joined the confederate army disguised as a man. Being a farm girl, she was used to hard work, riding horses, hunting and that meant that being a soldier would not have been a problem for her. When she felt she was ready to maintain the disguise, she presented herself for recruitment (Eggleston 2015). She enrolled her name as Tomy parker and because of her riding capabilities, she was accepted and given a post. This happened after her uncle left Virginia and moved north to join the union army. This angered her and thought of her uncle as a traitor. This prompted her to join the southern soldiers and do her part to try and make up for her uncle being a traitor.

 Bell worked in the army for two years without being detected. She was considered to be a brave fighting soldier and was promoted to be a corporal. For her to be able to continue keeping her sex a secret, she decided to reveal her secret to a young captain. The reason for this revelation is for the captain to help her when it came to medical checkups and other responsibilities of the army that might have exposed her. Her accomplishments as a soldier made the captain overlook her gender and keep it a secret (Eggleston 2015). The captain was later captured in battle and Mary decided to confide in another young lieutenant who reported her to the general. She tried to plead with the general reminding him of the good fighting record she had but it was to no avail. She was put to prison for two weeks with no charges made and after the three weeks, she was allowed to return home in her full uniform. Bell’s story was unique because she had to cut her hair to look like the rest of the soldiers, wear thick woolen shirts to cover her breasts and curves, and then practiced to talk in a low tone. She did all this to be able to join the army.

Sarah Edmonds who was the daughter of a farmer was a great rider and an expert in using the squirrel rifle. She decided to run away from home at the age of sixteen and even drop the last letters of her surname since she despised her father and anything she did to please him did not mean anything to him. Dropping the letters from her surname to her meant she wanted an entirely new life for herself. She was in search of a job and discovered that all the jobs that she wanted to have were given to men. It is then that she decided to become a man to secure a job. She cut her hair and changed to a male attire to get a salesman job that had been advertised. She then changed her name to Frank Thompson and got a job as a bible salesman (Garrison 1999). Much later there was a slot in the regiment where Frank signed to offer three months of service. Because she was small and active she was put in the list as a nurse with a private position and this was a period when all nurses were male.

She worked as a hospital attendant for several months and nursed the wounded soldiers. Although there is no official record to prove it, it is said that she served as a union spy and invaded the confederate army several times. Frank contracted malaria and that meant that he had to be hospitalized. This meant that she would have her body examined and this would have exposed her and so she decided to desert. She could not return to the regiment after she recovered because she had been listed as a deserter (Garrison 1999). She decided to resume her female attire and her name Sarah Edmonds and continued to serve her new country but now as a female nurse. The most unique part of Sarah is working as a spy and disguising herself as other people while she was also disguising herself as a man.

Elizabeth Van Lew was an outspoken woman who openly conveyed her views on slavery (Eggleston 2015). After the death of her father, she freed all the slaves that were in their home. She loved her country and when she heard of the battle, she thought of a way in which she could help to reunite the country. After the first land battle if the war, the Confederate government set five prisons in Richmond that the captured Union soldiers would be housed. Elizabeth offered to help the prisoners by giving them food, clothes, and medicine. She also gave them books and provided them with information about the war. She was allowed to enter the prisons to take care of them and when there she realized that these men could provide her with valuable information that could be of help to the federal troops. She also gathered information from the government officials and officers that visited her home. To get the information to the Union army, she used former slaves and the people who supported the union. For security, she came up with a code that would keep any person who got the couriers from accessing the message. After her death, a copy of the code was found on the back of her watch.

She worked as a spy for generals, commanders in the armies, and commander of the Union forces (Eggleston 2015). The messengers wore boots that had hollow soles that contained the coded messages, maps, plans, and letters. Elizabeth pretended to be foolish and crazy and no one could think that she was capable of the complex activities that she was doing and she was never discovered. Elizabeth’s story was unique because of her sympathy towards the slaves and the prisoners to the point of freeing them.

Conclusion

The women in the civil war were fearless and wanted to act in the best of their country. Some left their homes and joined the army and participate in the battles. They left their families behind to just go and fight for their country. For the love of their countries, they even disguised themselves as men to be allowed in the army. They fought against the men and help to win battles and even managed to get promotions and big titles. Because of the intensity of the fights, some of the women decided to share their secrets about their gender to the leaders above them to be able to stay in the army. This was to help them in case they were wounded and needed a physical checkup which would have revealed their gender causing them to be put in prison. This went bad for some of the women who decided to share their secrets to some of the leaders because it led to imprisonment and in the long run they were sent home.

Being disguised as a man was not easy for a nurse that worked in the army and fell sick. This called for a medical checkup and her true gender would have been revealed. She opted to leave by herself and never to return. Working as a spy for some women was out of sympathy for slaves and prisoners. They gave information to generals, commanders in the armies and commanders in the unions.  Being a spy needed one to be smart and put preventive measures because the information being delivered could have fallen to the wrong hands. Women in the civil war showed their prowess, courage, sympathy, and patriotism towards their countries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Eggleston, L. G. (2009). Women in the Civil War: Extraordinary Stories of Soldiers, Spies,

Nurses, Doctors, Crusaders, and Others. Jefferson NC: McFarland & Company, Inc.,

Publishers

Garrison, W. (1999). Amazing Women of the Civil War: Fascinating True Stories of Women Who

Made a Difference. Nashville: Thomas Nelson