WOMANHOOD SHAPED BY THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

Victoria Matthews
US History 1700: Research Paper/Final Paper
April 20, 2017
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Leading up to the American Civil War, women, in general, could claim economic, social,

and intellectual advances. It was a time of beginnings, and not fulfillment, a time when most

women realized and accepted the fact that they lived in a mans world.1 Prior to the war, most

women shared their fathers and husbands views and refused to affiliate themselves with causes

which the males didnt support. In order for these long held perspectives to change, it would

require something major. Major was brewing, and what happened during 1861 to 1865, the

American Civil War, will never be forgotten in US history. The Civil War brought about a

movement that stimulated womens emotions, allowed men and women to work united, removed

women from their domestic world, and challenged them to accomplish new tasks and

responsibilities.

The pulverizing nature of the war, the vast number of men called to duty, and extensive

death on the battlefield, caused women to step up to new responsibilities at home and participate

directly in the war effort. A common theme of women in the United States during the Civil War

was that they were required to do more and assumed roles previously reserved for men, of which

the women became further independent.

Women did more by taking total control of the home front while their men were at the

battle, as well as many were engaged in the war effort itself. They worked in the fields, as well as

managed the family, maintained the home, and acquired new skills and tasks. These new skills

were as basic to everyday life as driving a horse buggy. In the Illustration, Our Watering Places

The Empty Sleeve at Newport illustrated by Winslow Homer in 1865,2 portrays a story in

1 Massey, Mary E. Women in the Civil War, University of Nebraska Press, 1994, 23.

2 Homer, Winslow. [Illustrator] Our Watering PlacesThe Empty Sleeve at Newport. Newport:
Unknown. American Art. Wood engraving, 1998.105.91.
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which a Captain comes home from battle to find that his wife had learned how to drive a buggy.

Winslows artwork during the Civil War, commonly depicted women fulfilling more independent

roles out of necessity, and the conflicts that it caused in their relationships when their men

returned home.

Women

also did more by

playing a vital role

directly in the war

effort. Many

served as nurses, hospital administrators, cooks, laundresses, teachers, recruiters, some served as

spies, and some disguised themselves as male soldiers.

Iwantsomethingtodo,3saidLouiseMayAlcott,acompassionatenurseduringthe

CivilWar.HerlettershomerevisedandpublishedintheBostonantislavery

paperCommonwealthandcollectedasHospitalSketchesbroughtherfirstrecognitionforher

observations.Shewroteaboutherexperiencescaringforsoldiersandworkingwithdoctorsand

surgeons.Alcotthadgreatadmirationforthesoldiersandoftenwroteabouttheirresolve,

determination,andabilitytowithstandgreataffliction.Sheobserved,Theirfortitudeseemed

contagious,andscarcelyacryescapedthem,thoughIoftenlongedtogroanforthem,when
3 Alcott, Louisa. Hospital Sketches. Washington: James Redpath, 1863, 9.
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pridekepttheirwhitelipsshut,whilegreatdropsstoodupontheirforeheads,andthebedshook

withtheirrepressibletremoroftheirtorturedbodies.4Inwritingaboutherexperiencewith

doctorsandsurgeons,Alcottwrites,Thesurgeonsbegantheirrounds;andItookmyfirstlesson

intheartofdressingwounds.Itwasn'tafestivescene,byanymeans;forDrP.,whoseaidI

constitutedmyself,felltoworkwithavigorwhichsoonconvincedmethatIwasaweaker

vessel,thoughnothingwouldhaveinducedmetoconfessitthen.5

Over four hundred brave females disguised themselves as males and marched off to

battle. Some enlisted because they were saddened by their losses, others enlisted because they

were poor and were enticed by the wages promised by the army. Money meant freedom and

independence from their previous roles. Several women soldiers were simply patriotic and

wanted to serve their country. The women fought with great courage, and their disguise was not

known until after the war.

A woman named Frances Clayton, also known as Jack Williams was one of the many

women who disguised herself as a man during the civil war. She enlisted alongside her husband,

leaving their 3 kids behind, assisting in several battles. There are many reports of her serving

both in Calvary and Artillery units. Her story became widely known due to her life, which was

dedicated solely to service. Several photos show Clayton disguised as a man. In this particular

photo taken in 1865, Frances L Clalin 4 mo. Heavy artillery Co. I, 13 mo. Calvary Co. A. 22

months6, her hair is chopped above the shoulders. She is in uniform and holding a gun. Frances

4 Ibid., 46.

5 Ibid.
6 Clalin, Frances L. [Photographer] Frances L. Clalin 4 mo. heavy artillery Co. I, 13 mo.
Calvary Co. A. 22 months Boston: 1865. 1 photographic print on carte de visite mount :
albumen ; 10 x 6 cm (mount), http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2011645144/.
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Clayton contributed greatly in pushing for womens rights and roles

in society after the Civil War. Women served in the war, for many

personal reasons. Many women including Frances Clayton

supported their own cause whatever that might be, but even without

knowing, they supported the feminist movement as well.

One female in specific by the name of Rose O'Neale

Greenhow was a strong independent woman unafraid to speak her

mind, in an era, when women were expected to be submissive. She

was considered to be one of the most dangerous women in the country, and received the

nickname Wild Rose." She, as well as hundreds of other women, served as informants for both

sides during the Civil War. She loved the South, and when it seceded from the Union, she didn't

hesitate on taking on the dangerous task of spying for the Confederates. She used her Southern

charm and was able to obtain information from politicians and diplomats to help the

Confederates cause as well as recruiting other women to the cause. Many attributes Rose for

procuring northern plans for the Battle of Manassas and was thereby responsible for the

overwhelming Confederate victory. She wrote of some of her activities, On the 17th (July) I

dispatched another missive to Manassas, for I had learned of the intention of the enemy to cut off

the Winchester railroad so as to intercept Johnson."7 She was placed under house arrest due to

Union suspicions concerning her activities at the beginning of 1862, and in June of that year, she

was released under the provision that she stay behind Confederate lines. Rose's contributions,

and those of other women informants aided both sides with secrets about war strategies during

7 Greenhow, Rose ONeale. My Imprisonment and the First Year of Abolition Rule at
Washington. London: Richard Bentley, 1963, 16.
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the war.

As a result of taking on these new responsibilities, women gained confidence and became

further independent. They realized that their participation in society was of great significance and

that they did matter. Many women were willing to speak out against socially accepted norms that

deprived others of their civil liberties based on race and sex.

Women of all race joined the abolitionist movement and found this to be a unifying cause

that played an important role in helping to organize an early feminist movement. Female activists

demonstrated that all humans have been given unalienable rights, which are god given natural

rights--they aren't rights granted from one person to another. These activists enlightened and

inspired their audience to recognize these natural rights and not to accept being treated or

treating others as anything less than equal.

Aint I a woman? was a speech given by a well-known abolitionist, and womens rights

activist, Sojourner Truth. In 1851 in Akron, Ohio she delivered one of the most famous speeches.

In this speech she talks about her capabilities and how they are similar to a mans, I have as

much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped and

husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that? I have heard much about

the sexes being equal; I can carry as much as any man, and can eat as much too, if I can get it. I

am strong as any man that is now.8 Truth addressed the fact that if she can do as much as a man,

she as well as every woman, should be treated equally to them. Later on in the speech, she spoke

about the power of women uniting together to be treated as equals, and that men should allow

them to do such. If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside

8 Ibid.
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down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up

again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.9

One such independent-minded woman was Clara Barton. She was a humanitarian in

every respect. She had a personal relationship with the president, Abraham Lincoln. President

Lincoln commissioned Barton to help in the search of missing soldiers. She played a tremendous

role in being the arbitrator between the people back home, and the people in the midst of the

Civil War. She worked tirelessly to either reunite the missing persons with their families or help

them learn the fate of their loved ones. Clara Barton wrote often in the newspapers addressing

the concern of missing soldiers, accompanied by a list of missing names of officers, generals,

and soldiers.

On one occasion Barton wrote in the newspaper, Each name here enrolled is taken from

the letter of some relative or friend, who has written to me asking my aid in their painful search:

and in their behalf I appeal to you to give such facts relative to the fate of these men as you

recollect or can ascertain. They have been your comrades on march, picket, or raid, or in battle,

hospital, or prison; and falling there, the fact and manner of their death may be known only to

you. 10 After the Civil War, Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross in 1881, which has

become one of the largest humanitarian organizations in the world that respond to wars and

natural disasters. Clara Barton teamed up with Susan B. Anthony and Fredrick Douglas and

became a proponent of woman's suffrage movement and an activist for civil rights.

9 Truth, Sojourner. Aint I a Woman? Speech, Womens Convention, Akron, 1851.

10 Clara Barton Papers: Subject File, 1861 to 1952; Civil War; Office of Correspondence with
the Friends of the Missing Men of the U.S. Army; Miscellany, 1864 to 1888, undated. 1864.
Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress,
https://www.loc.gov/item/mss119730445/. (Accessed March 25, 2017.)
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The Civil War challenged the ideology that had well-defined the lives of men and women

for many generations. The war propelled females into public life like never before, feminine

submissiveness and domesticity was questioned and tested. Women also made meaningful

contributions to initiating and recruiting support for social reforms. Many were recognized and

respected for their achievements, even from President Andrew Johnson.

In conclusion, the Civil War significantly transformed the state of womanhood. Many

women out of necessity, and some with a burning desire to join the cause, fulfilled new roles and

responsibilities, many of which were previously reserved just for men. Some took a call to action

and helped those in need and others spoke out for equality and injustice, which propelled the

feminist movement. Under difficult circumstances, women gained new skills and gained a

greater sense of confidence, independence, and respect than what they had previously

experienced.

Bibliography

Alcott,Louisa.HospitalSketches.Washington:JamesRedpath,1863.

Clalin, Frances L. [Photographer] Frances L. Clalin 4 mo. heavy artillery Co. I, 13 mo.
CalvaryCo. A. 22 months Boston: 1865. 1 photographic print on carte de visite mount :
albumen ; 10 x 6 cm (mount), http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2011645144/.

Clara Barton Papers: Subject File, 1861 to 1952; Civil War; Office of Correspondence with the
Friends of the Missing Men of the U.S. Army; Miscellany, 1864 to 1888, undated. 1864.
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Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress,

https://www.loc.gov/item/mss119730445/. (Accessed March 25, 2017.)

Greenhow, Rose ONeale. My Imprisonment and the First Year of Abolition Rule at Washington.
London: Richard Bentley, 1963.

Homer, Winslow. [Illustrator] Our Watering PlacesThe Empty Sleeve at Newport. Newport:
Unknown. American Art. Wood engraving, 1998.105.91.

Massey, Mary E. Women in the Civil War, University of Nebraska Press, 1994.

Truth, Sojourner. Aint I a Woman? Speech, Womens Convention, Akron, 1851.