Women in the

American
Civil War
Carmen Gruebl, Kaitlyn Hunsinger, and Trinity Woodus
Senior Division
Group Website
Student-Composed Words: 1,197 words
Process Paper: 463 words
 Process Paper

We chose our topic because our group thought the discrimination between women and men

was very common in America. We wanted to educate people on how important it was that

women didn’t have the same rights as men and they were not treated equally. The Civil War

demonstrates the process in which women weren’t allowed to fight in the war and weren’t able to

do things that men could. It also showed how much ount of discrimination today, now women

have the right to fight because of people like Elizabeth Finnern, Sarah Edmonds, and Jennie

Hodgers.

We conducted our research by utilizing google to look up information about women in the

American Civil War. We came across three women that represented the struggle and the process

they went through during the war. Our group decided to go more in depth with our research to

find out more about Elizabeth Finnern, Sarah Edmonds, and Jennie Hodgers and how they fit in

with our topic. Finnern, Hodgers, and Edmonds stood out to us because they had fascinating

stories, and had the willpower to go on with their lives even through tough times. They fought

for our country while hiding among groups of men.

We selected a website because we thought it would be the best way to present Women in the

Civil War. We felt inspired by the past participants that created websites and thought it would be

an amazing idea to create our own. The layout of a website best suited our topic and made it

easier for us to display our information. We used weebly.com to create our website. We took

information from our notes and our sources and gradually added them to our website

Our project relates to the National History Day theme because women were discriminated

against and banned from fighting during the Civil War. This was the time which women hit their

milestone that led to a woman’s right to fight in the military today. It helped women prove that
they are capable of the same things that men are. This theme is an example of conflict because

women were discriminated against joining the military. Because they had the urge to protect

their country they disguised themselves as men. This theme is also an example of compromise

because Edmonds, Finnern, and Hodgers led to women being able to join the United States

Armed Forces. They, along with many other women, helped people realize that everyone should

be allowed to do the same things and that women are no less than men.
 Annotated Bibliography

Primary Sources

"Canuck Quotes: Sarah Emma Edmonds." Canadiana Connection. Last modified

December 1, 2010. Accessed December 7, 2017.

http://www.canadianaconnection.com/2010/12/canuck-quotes-sarah-emma-edmonds/.

This website we use two of Sarah Edmonds quotes. This site gave when she said the quotes and
word for word of what they were.

Secondary Sources

Benck, Amy. "Albert D. J. Cashier: Woman Warrior, Insane Civil War Veteran, or

Transman?" Out History. Accessed December 6, 2017. http://outhistory.org/

exhibits/show/tgi-bios/albert-cashier.

This website talked about Jennie Hodgers and war life. This site didn’t give a lot of information
on her early but did give information on her time living as a man after the war. We used this
website because it gave us very detailed information on Jennie Hodgers living as a man during
the war.

Brooks, Rebecca Beatrice. "Sarah Emma Edmonds: Female Spy of the Union Army."

Civil War Saga. Last modified December 19, 2012. Accessed December 7, 2017.

http://civilwarsaga.com/sarah-emma-edmonds-female-spy-of-the-union-army/.

This website we took one of the pictures of Sarah Edmonds. We used the pictue of Sarah in the
black dress walking next to her horse.

Civil War Trust. "Jennie Hodgers." Civil War Trust. Accessed December 5, 2017.

https://www.civilwar.org/learn/biographies/jennie-hodgers.

This website is on Jennie Hodgers and her life as man in the American Civil war. This site gave a
lot of information on how she fought in all the battles while posing as a man. This site didn’t
give much information on her early life, but that is due to her dementia. We used this website
because it gave a lot of useful and detailed information on Jennie Hodgers.
———. "Sarah Emma Edmonds." Civil War Trust. Accessed November

30, 2017. https://www.civilwar.org/learn/biographies/sarah-emma-edmonds.

This website gave us information on Sarah Edmonds. It gave us information on her early life, her
war life, and her after war life. This site gave a lot of information on her entire life, but it didn’t
have all her missions listed on it. We used this website to gather more information on Sarah’s life
story.

"Emma Edmonds Union Spy." Video file, 2:52. YouTube. Posted by Yperson, February

1, 2017. Accessed December 7, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=h9Ds8dRgktE.

This website we used the video about Sarah Edmonds life story. This video gave good details
about Sarah’s life.

Encyclopædia Britannica. "Sarah Edmonds: American Civil War Solider."

Encyclopædia Britannica. Accessed December 7, 2017.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sarah-Edmonds.

This website gave us more information on Sarah Edmonds war life and early life. This site
reinforced our details that we had on her already.

"Female Soldiers in the Civil War." Civil War Trust. Accessed October 26, 2017.

https://www.civilwar.org/learn/articles/female-soldiers-civil-war.

This website was the starting point of all our research. This site gave us the names of the women
we researched, but it didn’t give a lot of women to choose from. We used this website to gather
the first bits of our research.

"Germany." Operation World. Accessed December 7, 2017.

http://www.operationworld.org/country/germ/owtext.html.

This website we took the picture of Germany. It was the one where Germany is orange with
yellow surrounding it.
Hepinstall, Becky. "Women Soldiers in the Civil War: How Did They Get Away With

It?" Entry posted March 26, 2015. https://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2015/

03/26/women-soldiers-in-the-civil-war-how-did-they-get-away-with-it/.

This website tells us how woman in the war adopted themselves to fit in with the men around
them. These women practiced walking like a man, lowering their voices, swearing, spitting,
tobacco chewing, and card playing. This source is reliable because gives a source of a book
called Sisters of Shiloh. The author of the book also wrote this article.

The Huntington Herald (Huntington County, IN). "Grave of Woman Soldier Is Strewn

with Flowers." June 1, 1912, midwest edition, 6. Accessed December 7, 2017.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/

?spot=4093329&fcfToken=2f5a376f4254754e353773427a755270627133776a65664f795546

6176

76797778594f456e3748556f55755a545866337443364d704c6b56355343462b5a784d.

This website gave us the picture of the news paper excerpt about Elizabeth Finnern. This site was
reliable because it was a real life new paper from their time.
Lowman, Eric. "Pvt Elizabeth Finnern." Find A Grave. Last modified March 1,

2005. Accessed December 7, 2017. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/

10542794.

This website gave more information on Elizabeth Finnern. This site had information on her birth
and death but didn’t give much information on her war life, only her death. We sued this website
to learn what Elizabeth Finnern’s birth and death was.

MacLean, Maggie. "Jennie Hodgers." Civil War Women (blog). Entry posted August

2, 2007. Accessed December 6, 2017. https://www.civilwarwomenblog.com/

jennie-hodgers/.

This website talks about Jennie Hodgers and her life during and after the war. This gave a lot of
information like, how she was the smallest ‘man’ in her unit and many other examples. We used
this site to gain more information on Jennie Hodgers.
Meyer, Greg. "Elizabeth Finnern: A Woman in the Civil War." Decatur County

History (blog). Entry posted March 5, 2012. Accessed December 7, 2017.

http://decaturcountyhistory.blogspot.com/2012/03/

elizabeth-finnern-woman-in-civil-war.html.

This website gave information on Elizabeth Finnern and her story. This site gave a lot of
information on her war life, but not a lot of information on her early life. We used this website to
gather information on Elizabeth Finnern.

Miller, Daniel. "The Women Who Fought as Men: Rare American Civil War Pictures

Show How Females Disguised Themselves so They Could Go into Battle."

Daily Mail, February 28, 2013. Accessed November 30, 2017.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2285841/

The-women-fought-men-Rare-Civil-War-pictures-female-soldiers-dressed-males-fight.

This website goes into detail about different woman who disguised themselves as men and
fought in the American Civil War. Woman like Francis Clalin, Sarah Edmonds, Sarah Pritchard,
Jennie Hedgers, and many more have changed their looks and character to serve in the war. This
is a reliable and useful source because the it gives us much background on these women and
their life before and after they disguised themselves. This will help a good introduction to the
women in this project.

National Park Service. "Jennie Hodgers, Aka Private Albert Cashier." National

Park Service. Accessed December 6, 2017. https://www.nps.gov/articles/

jennie-hodgers-aka-private-albert-cashier.htm.

This website helped us to gather more information on Jennie Hodgers. This site gave different
information on her war life, but didn’t give any information on her early life. We used this
website to find more information on Jennie Hodgers and her war life.

Sarah Edmonds, 2nd Michigan Infantry. Photograph. Flickr. Accessed December 7,

2017. https://www.flickr.com/photos/elycefeliz/6032187240/.

This website we used the picture of Sarah Edmonds. The picture shows Edmonds as a girl and
Edmonds as Franklin Thompson.
"Tralee Ireland Map Clip at Clker." Map. Steel Jewelry Pandora. Accessed

December 7, 2017. http://www.steeljewelrypandora.com/

simple-map-of-ireland.html.

From this website we used the picture of Ireland that has a green outline of Ireland.

U.S. Army Center of Military History. A Brief History of Female Nurses in the

Military, from the American Revolution to World War II (PHOTOS).

Photograph. Accessed December 7, 2017. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/

cate-lineberry/history-military-nurses_b_3225854.html.

This website had a picture of a woman being a nurse to wounded soldiers in a tent.