Enduring Hardships and Gaining Social Independence

The Home FrontWomen faced many hardships

Worry or grief for husbands, sons, brothers, fathers

Shortages of supplies (e.g. food, clothing)

Battles close to home

Challenges Faced by Southern WomenSouthern 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 suppliesSubstitutions for medicine, coffee,

kerosene, shoes Most major battles took place in the

SouthWomen became nurses involuntarily, as homes were used as hospitals

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 carePrior to the Commission, an “estimated 4

soldiers died of disease for every 1 in battle” (Women in the Civil War, 1999).

NursesWomen in both the North and South were motivated to become nurses to…Be near loved onesCompassionA sense of dutyFor the moneyFor a sense of adventure

Challenges for NursesBecoming a Nurse…

In both the North and South, laws were enacted to allow women to become nursesCircular 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)

Notable NursesDorothea Dix

Union’s Superintendent of Nurses, 1861-1866Recruited competent nurses

Mary Ann BickerdykeUnion nursewas the only woman (nurse) at the battles of

Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, caring for 1,700 wounded in a field hospital

Sally Louisa TompkinsRan 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)

SpiesMen 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)

Famous SpiesElizabeth 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)

ReferencesDix, 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.