In many ways, the starting of Civil War challenged the ideology of women who initially were given the responsibility of household chores. The Victorian domesticity that defined the lives of women and men during the antebellum era was challenged. They left the household chores and became actively involved in the civil war. Instead of sitting idly and waiting for men to come home from the battlefield, they engaged themselves in the civil war. Many women offered the support during the civil war as aides, nurses while others took a different upfront approach and secretly enlisted themselves in the army and served as smugglers and spies. The new roles of women in the civil war redefined their traditionally accepted roles and made them an integral part of the civil war. Their efforts were significant in ensuring that the civil war became successful. Women’s efforts were therefore important during the civil war of the years 1840-1890 as they contributed significant efforts during this period of civil war.
During the American civil war of the years 1840-1890, it is speculated that hundreds of women agreed and actively served as spies. Those who offered to be spies served in the Union and Confederate army in the Civil War (Hall, 123). The primary responsibility of the women spies was to gather valuable military information that could help their male counterparts to fight actively in the civil war. It is speculated that they collected the relevant military information by flirting with male soldiers at dinners, parties and other social events and ceremonies. Even though the Civil War forbade the enrolment of women into war, women disguised themselves as if they are men and hit being women. They used the name of men and passed as men. It is estimated that over 250 women were secretly placed in the Union and Confederate army (Kalyvas, p.286). In the year 1888 Livermore and Mary Owens secretly became spies in the civil war by disguising themselves. Owens was only discovered a woman after she was wounded in the Army. This happened after serving for eighteen months without being discovered as a woman.
Furthermore, many women also took the responsibility of smuggling the ammunitions and medicine that were used by men in the war. They smuggled by hiding them underneath their big hoop skirts. Their creativity helped them to use their large hoop clothes to smuggle the ammunitions that assisted men to fight civil war efficiently. It is speculated that women also smuggled food to men in the civil war. Women such as Emeline Pigott from North Carolina collected military information by entertaining soldiers of the Union during the dinner.
In addition, women also contributed their efforts during the civil war by accepting to be nurses. It is reported that about 2000 to 5000 volunteered to be nurses in the war. The efforts that they provided as nurses were of great significance as they made men to fight effectively in the war. They agreed with all their hearts to clean and bandage wounded soldiers. They also engaged in feeding soldiers and also dispensing medication that were used for nursing the wounded soldiers. One of the recognized nurses of the civil war era was Clara Barton, who worked tirelessly as a clerk in the American patent department after the break down of the civil war. She used the office to nurse the wounded soldiers, and this gave her the name "Angel of the Battlefield. In the year 1881, she was inspired by this and thus founded the American Red Cross. Women, therefore, played critical roles by nursing the wounded soldiers.
A traditional woman’s role in every war is victim. Just as the traditional role of men in war is warrior, the traditional role of women is victim. In the underlying western heroic military tradition (medieval tradition), the warrior goes to war in order to protect the victim “fair lady”. Similarly, the enemy warrior considers the “fair lady” as an enemy or simply the “bad woman” and she is deemed to rape and death. The failure of warriors to protect women is a considerable humiliation and results to morale damage. As a result of the periodic absence of protection and provision from men during the course of the civil war especially in the South, where personal occasional assaults of women were rampant and more significantly the actual destruction of homes and lands, women were adversely affected. However, the stereotype of “fair lady” does not fit the real experience of women during the Civil War because many women struggled for their freedom. Several women never just seated around lamenting, waiting for their “cavaliers” to come back but significantly worked tirelessly to survive and rebuild from the atrocities of the Civil War.
Women played the role of being cheerleaders of the war. Cheering is the active face of a “fair lady” (Victim) because of her need for protection. Women worked hard to encourage men to go into war for their sake. Women ardently cheered men to enlist, disregard young men who refused to put on the army uniform, prayed for those at the battlefront, and wrote uncountable letters to men at the combat (Schultz, p.56). Women sufficiently played their cheerleader part in the civil war drama.
A significant amount of logistical support to the Civil War armies came from women. Private household producers supplied several items that were utilized in the Civil War particularly the army uniforms, general clothing, medical supplies and food. In July 1861, the U.S Sanitary Commission was formed in the North to address the army supplies difficulty that had emerged. The commission worked to coordinate the activities of women as significant providers in the Civil War. Women in their execution of duties for the commission provided socks, mittens and hospital stores for the Union’s army. Despite the fact that male soldiers headed the U.S Sanitary Commission, the majority of its staff were women.
More significantly, the women played the role of warriors in the Civil War. Several women gave up their female identity in order to serve in the army. On various occasions, the women disguised themselves and kept their true gender undisclosed during the entire war. Women regularly wore the army uniform as men and surprisingly passed the army recruitment exercise at ease. Surprisingly, even the pregnant women managed to pass the exercise easily. Participation of women in the Civil War is evident in the case of the Confederate officer who bore a son in prison (Righthand, p.39).
Women were restricted from joining the military during the Civil War, but an estimated number of more than 400 women served as secret soldiers. A good example of these women is the Secret Soldier Sarah Emma Edmonds (Blanton, p.79). In conclusion, women played a vital role in the Civil War. Women strongly supported men and other women in the Civil War by either providing the undisputable important information concerning the enemy’s plans and provision of direct services like supplies and nursing.
Works Cited
Blanton, DeAnne, and Lauren Cook Wike. They fought like demons: Women soldiers in the American Civil War. LSU Press, 2002.
Hall, Richard. Patriots in disguise: Women warriors of the Civil War. Paragon House, 1993.
Kalyvas, Stathis N., et al. "The logic of violence in civil war." (2006).
Righthand, Jess. "The Women Who Fought in the Civil War." Smithsonian Magazine (2011).
Schultz, Jane E. Women at the front: hospital workers in Civil War America. Univ of North Carolina Press, 2004.
