In the start of the civil war, women in the north would create gatherings and raise money for the union. Women started to volunteer and help the troops. Women started to use domestic strengths to help the war. Now, women made food to help support troops, using canned goods to aid in transportation. Women also started to sew clothes and repair uniforms for the soldiers in the civil war.
Women didn't only help in the domestic region; in fact, women started to work as nurses, a popular trend that started to garner support during war. With the new jobs as nurses, the value of women began to rise and the need for more nurses and support grew. Now, during the civil war more than 20,000 women were helping in hospitals taking care of the wounded. Women also acted as house keepers and provided comfort for many soldiers who were wounded.
In the south, women still had a role in the Civil war, however it lacked the momentum in the North. Women still did sew, cook, and clean however slave women were not free to help at all. The concept of slavery and the old fashioned mindset of the south, slowed down the movement of women joining in on the war. The fact that the south had less supplies could have also been a factor as well.
Overall, the movement to include women in the war sparked a wave of new modern thinking, that paralleled the civil war. As more women got involved, more opportunities began. However, the role of women was still not equal to men and not until the 20th century would they even get the right to vote. This was a start to the ongoing battle women had for equal respect, in order to eventually one day be equal to men.
Source : http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/women-in-the-civil-war
Good summary of the role of women during the war. Do you know if women's rights activists held a lot of support during this time period? Why didn't the spirit of equality touch the lives of women after black slaves were freed and black men eventually got the vote?
ReplyDeleteI like your post about women's role in the Civil War. Since we haven't talked much about women in the Civil War, your post has brought a new insight to how a huge population of America had to deal with and survive the war. Some questions I had surrounding the topic of women during times of Civil War included, "Did any women try to help fight in the war? If so, for which side?", and "If women were regarded as a main factor to the war, do you think they should deserve voting rights?"
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