US History

Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)

Women

This collection uses primary sources to explore the experiences of women during the Civil War.

“Our Women and the War,” an engraving by Winslow Homer published in *Harper’s Weekly*, 1862.

A photographic portrait of Clara Barton attributed to Mathew Brady, ca. 1865. 

An excerpt from *Hospital Sketches* by nurse Louisa May Alcott, 1863. 

An excerpt from a catalog for the Philadelphia Sanitary Fair, edited by Thomas Izod, circa 1864.

“Two Brave Women” by Josephine Crump, an excerpt from the book *Confederate Women of Arkansas in the Civil War*, 1907. 

An advertisement for the 1876 book *The Woman in Battle* by Loreta Juaneta Velasquez, who fought for the Confederacy as Harry T. Buford.

The book jacket for *Belle Boyd: Confederate Spy* by Louis A. Sigaud, published in 1944.

A portrait of Susie King Taylor from her 1902 book *Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops*.

The title page to *Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops* by Susie King Taylor, 1902.

An 1862 illustration entitled “Civil War In America: Contraband Of War,” 1862. 

The term “contraband” was used to describe formerly enslaved people who escaped. Many went to Union camps and supported the troops in various ways. At first glance this image seems to depict only male “contraband,” but a woman appears in the center right below the second man on horseback. 

An engraving of Kady Brownell, a vivandière, from Frank Moore’s book *Women of the War: Their Heroism and Self-Sacrifice*, 1866.

A postcard with a drawing of a vivandière, circa 1870-1900.

A tintype photograph of Nancy Kile Green, circa 1860. 

Green was from Georgia, the daughter of a white itinerant preacher and a Native American woman. She raised seven children alone after her husband died of illness during the Civil War. 

An affidavit supporting Harriet Tubman’s claim to a military pension, circa 1898.

Transcript:

My claim against the U.S. is for three years services as nurse and cook in hospitals, and as commander of several men (eight or nine) as scouts during the late war of the Rebellion under directions and orders of Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, and of several Generals.

I claim for my services above named the sum of eighteen hundred dollars. 

The annexed copies have recently been read over to me and are true to the best of my knowledge information and belief.

I further declare that I have no interest in said case and am not concerned in its prosecution and allowance.

Owen McCarty? 
M. Eloie McCarty 
(In Affiant sign by mark, two witnesses who write sign here.)

Harriet X [her mark] Davis 
[sate?] Harriet Tubman 
(Signature of Affiants.)

[page 2] 
State of New York, County of Cayuga:

Sworn to and subscribed before me this day by the above named affiant, and I certify that I read said affidavit to said affiant, including the words [empty] erased and the words [empty] added and acquainted her with its contents before she executed the same. I further certify that I am in nowise interested in said case, nor am I concerned in its prosecution; and that said affiant is personally known to me and that she is a credible person.

Owen McCarty? 
(Official signature)

Notary Public 
(Official character)

[cover]

Additional Evidence 
Claim of 
Harriet Davis 
[sate?] Harriet Tubman

Affidavit of 
Claimant

An excerpt from “What women did for the war and what the war did for women,” a speech delivered by Josiah H. Benton, Jr. in 1894.

Questions

1. Analyze the activities for women during wartime portrayed in [Winslow Homer’s engraving](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-in-the-civil-war/sources/813). Describe the roles women play here. Who is shown playing these roles? Compare the women in the image to the real women in this set, such as [Clara Barton](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-in-the-civil-war/sources/814), [Susie King Taylor](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-in-the-civil-war/sources/820), and [Nancy Kile Green](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-in-the-civil-war/sources/825). Now compare ideas about women’s roles during the Civil War to ideas about women in war during the twenty-first century.
2. Read [Josephine Crump’s “Two Brave Women”](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-in-the-civil-war/sources/817) and the excerpt from [Alcott’s *Hospital Sketches*](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-in-the-civil-war/sources/815). Describe the hardships and sacrifices they portray. Discuss the similarities and differences between these eyewitness accounts. Evaluate the impact of the author’s loyalties, Confederate (Crump) and Union (Alcott).
3. Use [Josiah Benton’s speech](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-in-the-civil-war/sources/827) to identify the obstacles that hindered women’s involvement in the war effort. How does the speech support Clara Barton’s statement that the war helped advance women’s status?
4. Use the sources on Susie King Taylor, the [“Contraband of War” illustration](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-in-the-civil-war/sources/822), and [Harriet Tubman’s affidavit](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-in-the-civil-war/sources/826) to describe some of the roles black women played during the Civil War. Compare these to the portrayal of a black female character in a film set around the time of the Civil War and Reconstruction.


Activity

1. Divide students into groups. One group will compare the two images of vivandières: the engraving of Kady Brownell and the postcard. The other will compare the [drawing of Loreta Velasquez](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-in-the-civil-war/sources/818) with the [illustration of Belle Boyd](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/women-in-the-civil-war/sources/819). How do these images contrast the ideal with the actual?
2. Collectively research Harriet Tubman’s role in the Combahee River raid in 1863. Ask students to use this information to develop arguments supporting or denying Tubman’s claim to a military pension.


Teaching Guide: Exploring Women in the Civil War

Resources

1. [Selected Online Works by Civil War Era African American Women](https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/aacivilwarwomen/), The Library of Congress.
2.  “[The Women who fought in the Civil War](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-women-who-fought-in-the-civil-war-1402680/)” and “[Women Spies of the Civil War](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/women-spies-of-the-civil-war-162202679/),” *Smithsonian* magazine.
3. [Women in the Civil War](http://www.civilwar.org/education/in4/women.html), The Civil War Trust.
4. [*Women on the Border: Maryland Perspectives of the Civil War*](http://www.lib.umd.edu/civilwarwomen/exhibition/introduction_womenwar.html) online exhibit, University of Maryland Libraries. 
5. “[Women in Nursing during the Civil War](http://blog.nyhistory.org/women-in-nursing-during-the-civil-war/),” New-York Historical Society.

Overview

The American Civil War brought women new responsibilities on the battlefield and at home. Many became providers for their families, managing farms and businesses while male relatives served in the military. Many also contributed to the Union or Confederacy. Some raised money and supplies through ladies’ aid and soldiers’ aid societies as well as the US Sanitary Commission, a private agency that operated across the North and became critical to the Union victory. Others nursed soldiers (Louisa May Alcott, author of the beloved novel [*Little Women*](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/sets/little-women-by-louisa-may-alcott), worked as an army nurse), spied on the enemy, cooked and laundered for enlisted men, and served as uniformed battlefield helpers called vivandières. Unknown numbers of women fought as soldiers by concealing their identities and enlisting as men. 

The war affected different groups of women differently. Native American women dealt with divided tribal loyalties in the aftermath of forced removal from ancestral lands. Before emancipation, the Civil War worsened the condition of many enslaved women in the South, though African American women from various regions helped the Union or abolitionist cause. Harriet Tubman, the famous [Underground Railroad](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/sets/the-underground-railroad-and-the-fugitive-slave-act-of-1850) “conductor,” led an armed expedition in South Carolina, for example, and Susie King Taylor was an army nurse. Overall, the work women performed during the war inspired new ways of thinking about women’s place in society. Women such as Clara Barton awoke to fresh opportunities inspired by their war experiences. Barton, founder the American Red Cross, declared that the war put the American woman “at least fifty years in advance of the normal position which continued peace would have assigned her.”

Women in the Civil War

Discussion questions

Classroom activities

About This Guide

Created By

Primary source analysis

Additional tools