Women's Role In The Civil War

Women, around the 1860’s and even before that, were already put in their place. They were supposed to be the wives, mothers, cooks and cleaners that men knew them to be. In 1861, the American Civil war broke out among the Northern and Southern states. The war lashed out simply because of moral issues. Abraham Lincoln, who was elected as President prior to the war in 1860, was an Anti-Slavery, Republican man. That alone arose tension between the states. The Civil War opposed neighbor against neighbor and in some cases, brother against brother. Though that war had been considered “a man’s fight”, women felt the need to help/fight for their country as well. Women played a very important part in The Civil War. Some women were nurses while others
Thought their intentions were pure, women on the battle field didn’t always work out. Some of the women were caught early and discharged, were caught be accident, and others got away with it and continued to fight. For example, a woman named Mary Owens was fighting when her arm was injured. After returning to her home town, the press was all over her trying to get her story. She served in the war for eighteen months under the name John Evans. Those that got away with being in the war, didn’t have it easy. Many were captured and held in prisons, and because they pretended to be men, they received harsh punishments. Other women that did not want to fight in war, joined volunteer brigades to become nurses for injured soldiers. Many women began feeling desperate halfway through the war. This desperation led to the widespread looting of stores and raids on warehouses by groups of destitute women, often driven by hunger. Such riots occurred in major cities and small towns. In April 1863, for example, sixty-five women, some armed with pistols and knives, moved down Broad Street in Columbus, looting several stores before police were able to restore