Women In The Civil War

The founder of the Red Cross, Clara Barton, once said that the Civil War caused “fifty years in the advance of the normal position” of women. Even before the Civil War, women gathered and raised money to help feed hungry families and to support the town. However, being allowed to form groups that helped the community was the most freedom women received before the Civil War. While widows in the past did own land, and other women left their farms to work in cities during the beginning of the industrial revolution, society still considered a woman’s role to be serving her husband, staying at home, and raising children. The Civil War changed this by providing women with opportunities to break free of gender roles and to do daring things like work …show more content…
The world’s new views on women in the workplace, military, and society in general, stuck. Because the Civil War led women away from housework, and instead to working on the frontlines or spying, it was a huge feminist movement for America.
Women participated more in the war effort by making the courageous decision to leave their homes and work in the frontlines as part of the U.S Sanitary Commission or even as soldiers. The U.S Sanitary Commission, operating in the North, was composed primarily of women that proved that even though they weren’t fighting, they were just as useful as men in the Civil War. Before the U.S.S.C, or “the Sanitary,” the ration of soldiers who died from disease to those who died in battle was 4 to 1, the Sanitary cut that ratio down to two to one, saving about 180,000 lives. The Sanitary raised money to provide soldiers with supplies, sent women to nurse and cook for the army, and overall raised the hygiene or living conditions of the Union army. Women who were uncomfortable with leaving their homes also used their skills to make bandages, blankets, socks, and shirts that the nurses or soldiers needed. These women held fundraisers in their town, such as fairs …show more content…
Harriet Tubman, best known for helping free hundreds of slaves and running the underground railroad, also worked as a spy for the Union army. Tubman left her home in New York and “went to South Carolina to support the Union Army as a nurse, caring for black soldiers and newly liberated slaves...The kind of information about Confederate troop locations and movements she was getting from black slaves (who knew her by reputation) was proving valuable to Union commanders.” Because of her excellent work as a spy, Tubman was later asked to lead a raid, accompanied by Col.James Montgomery, on June 1, 1863. On the raid, Tubman helped destroyed bridges, attacked plantations, and freed slaves; most importantly, she became known as the first women in American History to lead a military expedition. Tubman was able to use her knowledge of the Southern land from being a slave to sneak behind Confederate lines and gather information. She was also a very powerful figure among slaves, so they put their trust in her. Even before the War, Tubman used her bravery and persistence to run the Underground Railroad, but the Civil War allowed Tubman to channel that energy into helping the Union army. Another woman who spied for the Confederacy was Rose O’Neal Greenhow, or “Rebel Rose.” Because of her political connections and charm, Rose easily gathered information for the South. She quickly became the

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Civil War Women