Women have been fighting in wars since the late eighteen-hundreds even though until around WWI they were not permitted to serve. Originally women involved in battle had few jobs such as becoming nurses, spies, etc. while the men fought for days on end. What would happen if the two worlds collided? Women would cross-dress to fight alongside the men. This was common along the war front as women wanted to accompany their husbands or other family in battle, and some wanted to be patriotic and serve for their country. These women put their lives on the line and played the part of a comrade in war, and people believed them until they were discovered and sometimes sent back home. Although women had small roles as nurses, those who took on the important role of secretly becoming soldiers in battle ultimately changed women’s roles in society.
The decision to cross-dress wasn’t very easy for many women who joined the army, however for some they felt it was absolutely necessary. As a child, Sara Emma Edmonds received a book about a woman who dressed as a male pirate in the American Revolution. Soon Edmonds had found a hero in this character and later stated in her memoirs that “when [she] read where ‘Fanny’ cut off her brown hair and donned the blue jacket and stepped into the freedom and glorious independence of masculinity, [she] threw up [her] old straw hat and shouted.”(Tsui 7). She had been inspired from an early age and escaped to masculinity when she was fifteen with the help of her mother. From there she joined the Union army as Franklin Thompson and fought as she had intended. Another factor that influenced women and their decision to join the army was their husbands or other male family members. Loreta Janeta Valazquez succumbed to...
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...Civil War. Guilford, CT: TwoDot, 2003. 23-35. Print.
Tsui, Bonnie. "Sarah Emma Edmonds." She Went to the Field: Women Soldiers of the Civil War. Guilford, CT: TwoDot, 2003. 7-22. Print.
"Women's Changing Roles during the Civil War." The Herald-Mail. N.p., 16 Sept. 2002. Web. 06 Mar. 2014.
Wakeman, Sarah Rosetta. "July, 1863-December, 1863." An Uncommon Soldier: The Civil War Letters of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, Alias Private Lyons Wakeman, 153rd Regiment, New York State Volunteers. Ed. Lauren M. Cook. Pasadena, MD: Minerva Center, 1994. 41-42. Print.
Blanton, DeAnne, and Lauren M. Cook. "Means and Motivations." They Fought like Demons: Women Soldiers in the American Civil War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 2002. 27-30. Print.
"GENERAL SAMANTHA LEE A Tiger's Heart." General Samantha Lee. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2014. .
Clinton, Catherine. The Other Civil War, American Women in the Nineteenth Century: Hill and Wang, New York 1986
Sarah Rosetta Wakeman's tale is not unusual. Wakeman was one of many who died from chronic diarrhea. Eventually dysentery would kill nearly half a million soldiers during the war. The Civil war was a terrible, bloody war, and many facts are still unknown or unconfirmed, Wakeman’s letters offer a rare glimpse into civil war life that is confirmed and accurate. This is true simply because her letters were written during her serving actively in the army, rather than a set of memoirs or stories compiled after the fact for publication purposes.
Within Megan H. Mackenzie’s essay, “Let Women Fight” she points out many facts about women serving in the U.S. military. She emphasizes the three central arguments that people have brought up about women fighting in the military. The arguments she states are that women cannot meet the physical requirements necessary to fight, they simply don’t belong in combat, and that their inclusion in fighting units would disrupt those units’ cohesion and battle readiness. The 1948 Women’s Armed Services Integration Act built a permanent corps of women in all the military departments, which was a big step forward at that time. Although there were many restrictions that were put on women, an increase of women in the U.S. armed forces happened during
The Confederate jobs, wealth, and property (including slaves) were at stake. “Confederates fought for independence, for their property and way of life, for their very survival as a nation” (McPherson, 27). For this reason, dedication for the cause was strong for Confederates. A collection of letters from Civil War soldiers online, alongside with McPherson’s evidence, shows the patriotism and dedication to their nation and slaves. Confederates stood behind each other and were dedicated to having their own nation; one soldier stated, “that if he was killed, it would be while ‘fighting gloriously for the undying principles of Constitutional liberty and self government’” (McPherson, 11). Private Street, while on his death bed, wrote to his wife: "we must never dispair, for death is preferable to a life spent under the gaulling yoke of abolition rule" (Street, 1862). The reasons that fueled Confederate soldiers were the very practices that they strived on in everyday life; these soldiers naturally had dedication, but patriotism towards their nation and brotherhood is universal between the letters presented, and helped unify the Confederacy.
Brockenbrough, Judith White, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, The American Civil War: Letters and Diaries. Richmond: Randolph and English (1889): 174.
Lederle, Cheryl. "Women Soldiers in the Civil War, Part 1: Going Behind the Gender Lines." Women Soldiers in the Civil War, Part 1: Going Behind the Gender Lines | Teaching with the Library of Congress. N.p., 19 Feb. 2013. Web. 30 Apr.
In the book Women in the Civil War, by Mary Massey, the author tells about how American women had an impact on the Civil War. She mentioned quite a few famous and well-known women such as, Dorothea Dix and Clara Barton, who were nurses, and Pauline Cushman and Belle Boyd, who were spies. She also mentioned black abolitionists, Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, feminist Susan B. Anthony, and many more women. Massey talks about how the concept of women changed as a result of the war. She informed the readers about the many accomplishments made by those women.
Kimble, Lionel, Jr. "I Too Serve America: African American Women War Workers in Chicago." Lib.niu.edu. Northern Illinois University, n.d. Web.
Book Title: The American Civil War: A Handbook of Literature and Research. Contributors: Robin Higham - editor, Steven E. Woodworth - editor. Publisher: Greenwood Press. Place of Publication: Westport, CT. Publication Year: 1996
many men were involved in the war, women finally had their chance to take on many of
Clara Barton’s ‘The Women Who Went to the Field’ describes the work of women and the contribution they made on the civil war battlefield in 1861. Barton highlights the fact that when the American Civil War broke out women turned their attention to the conflict and played a key role throughout as nurses. Therefore, at first glance this poem could in fact be seen as a commemoration of the women who served in the American Civil War as its publications in newspapers and magazines in 1892 ensured that all Civil War veterans were honoured and remembered, including the women. However, when reading this poem from a feminist perspective it can be seen instead as a statement on the changing roles of women; gender roles became malleable as women had the
"From Home Front to Front Line." Women in War. Ed. Cecilia Lee and Paul Edward Strong. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. The Churchill Centre. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
The.. Eggleston, Larry. A. Women in the Civil War? North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 2003. Print. The.. Schwartz,
"After the soldiers left, silence and anxiety fell upon the town like a pall, what should we do next? To be idle was torture" (Confederate, 24) Sara Pryor wrote in her diary. Since women were not allowed to fight in the war they provided clothing, tents, and other supplies for the soldiers who would. Judith McGuire wrote, "Ladies assemble daily, by hundreds, at the various churches, for the purpose of sewing for the soldiers" (Confederate, 25). Many women were excited by the idea of being able to suppor...
Many agree, that in certain military occupations, women can function at the same level as men. The controversy about having women fighting with men in wars is the fact that they have a different physical structure, deal with stress and emotions differently , are more susceptible to injury and just don't have the killer instinct necessary to get the job done. Although the last statement might appear to be a stereotype, most women would not be capable of supporting the demanding rigors of war-like situations. It would be a great mistake to allow women in these stressful and dangerous situations.