Research Material
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Women and the Confederacy by Julie A. Johnson
Women in the Confederacy had a great impact on the Civil War. They were thrown into totally different lifestyles--ones that did not include men taking care of the land and other businesses. Women had more control of their lives than ever before. Some took it upon themselves to get involved directly with the war while others just kept the home fires burning. Whatever roles they played, women contributed a multitude of skills to the Civil War effort. The life of a plantation mistress changed significantly once her husband left to join the Southern army. A majority of them stayed right on the land even if they were rich enough to move to a safer place. While there, the women and children would do a plethora of things: plant gardens, sew, knit, weave cloth, spin thread, process and cure meat, scour copper utensils, preserve and churn butter, and dip candles. Another important chore for a plantation mistress was caring for all the slaves. This included providing food, clothing, shelter, and medical care.1 Since money was scarce, "everything was made at home" according to one Southern woman. In a letter to her sister, she added that they "substituted rice for coffee . . . honey and homemade molasses for sugar . . . all we wore was made at home. Shoes also. You would be surprised to see how neat people looked."2 Even a ten-year-old girl wrote in her diary how she would have to go to work to help her mother: "Mama has been very busy to day and I have been trying to help her all I could." This same little girl cooked for her family and cared for her little sister while her mother was busy keeping the plantation alive. 3 Not only did the women stay busy trying to keep their home safe and prosperous, but they also kept up-to-date on news concerning the war.4 Many Southern women read the newspapers on a regular basis. Some, however, were much closer to the battlefield than they would have liked to have been. Lucy Breckinridge, a nineteen-year-old girl who lived in the Shenandoah Valley, wrote in her diary how she could hear the cannons over the mountains. Carrie Berry consistently wrote that her family spent a good part of two months in the cellar while her home was being bombarded by shells. Another nineteen-year-old, Sarah Morgan, from Baton Rouge, went to the levees to watch the battles, even though it was against her mother's wishes.5 But some women took it a step further: rather than just watching the men fight for the Southern states, a few women decided to pick up a gun and join the ranks. It is not known how many women actually participated in battle; however, the number seems to be higher than anyone expected. These women played the role of the warrior and literally gave up their gender to fight. One such case is Amy Clark. She dressed like a man to serve in the Confederate army with her husband. After his death, she continued her service and was wounded and captured by the Union. Once the North discovered her true identity, they released her back into the Southern army and insisted that she wear a dress. Some say that Amy Clark may have worn lieutenant's bars on her uniform. Another women who dressed as a man to fight was Malenda Blalock, who posed as a brother to her husband. Another southern female warrior was Madame Loreta Janeta Velazquez, also known as Lieutenant Henry Buford. She raised her own cavalry and fought in the Battle of Bull Run. After being wounded twice, she joined in on another activity in which an elite group of southern women participated: espionage.6 Confederate women helped out their fellow men by being "covert operatives." Rose Greenhow passed vital information to Beauregard during the Battle of Bull Run. After she was sent to prison, Mary Chestnut said that Rose "was a great woman spoiled by education--or the want of it. She has left few less prudent women behind her--and many less devoted to our cause." Kate Beattie burned Union boats while Belle Edmondson smuggled goods to the Confederate soldiers under her petticoat. Belle Boyd, a nurse who eavesdropped on conversing Union soldiers, reported her learned information to General Stonewall Jackson. And Jennie Chew, whose nickname was "Rose of the Valley," tracked Sheridan's moves throughout the Shenandoah Valley. If these women spies and smugglers got caught by the Union, they were usually imprisoned briefly and then released back to the South. The Union had no idea how helpful Southern women could be, especially to the wounded Confederates.7 Southern women picked up nursing quickly. Some did not have much of a choice. Lucy Breckinridge "had" to practice medicine; after taking care of her younger family members, she said, "I can make or take a diagnosis now as quickly as any M.D." Sophia Gilmer Bibb headed the Ladies' Hospital Association and also had her own hospital. In fact, the surgeon general informed Jefferson Davis that it was the best managed and most comfortable hospital in the South. Ella King Newsom of Arkansas was called the "Florence Nightingale of the southern army" while Juliet Hopkins was called "Angel of the South" by Joseph Johnston because she helped the wounded soldiers out on the battlefield and was wounded twice while doing so. The most famous nurse, however, was Sally Tompkins. She was the only woman in the Civil War to be given a military rank. Mary Chestnut was a volunteer at the Tompkins' hospital and brought peaches and grapes to the wounded Confederates. But the Southern women's duties did not end there.8 Helping the Southern soldiers took up much of the women's time. "Everybody was so much taken up in providing for the soldiers that there was no time for frolicking." Many southern women served the Confederacy by sewing shirts, knitting socks and rolling bandages. "Half soldier heroines," also known as Daughters of the Regiment, marched with the armies and provided food and water during battles. Others helped clean up the battlefields once all combat was done. The women who stayed at home provided food and shelter and medical care to Confederates who stopped by. Sarah Morgan recalled taking care of her brother when he was injured at Antietam; she had to keep the flies off his grotesque wound. Other women took a more feminine approach to helping the South by cutting their hair and selling it to European wigmakers and giving that money to the government. Mary Chestnut had a very strong opinion about those women who refused to contribute to the South: "I'm shocked to hear that dear friends of mine refused to take work for the soldiers because their sempstresses had their winter clothes to make. I told them true patriotresses would be willing to wear the same clothes until our siege was raised."9 The women of the South helped the Confederate cause partly because of their feelings towards Yankees. Not only did they hate the Federals, but they also feared them. Rape was their greatest concern: it was a "dishonor infinitely worse than death." Physical harm was another horror. Cordelia Scales from Mississippi had her earrings ripped out and her hair pulled out, and she was knocked out by a Union officer. A sixty-five year old women was whipped to death for her alleged money. These cases were not as common as having homes burned and pillaged. Some Yankees would snoop through houses in search of Confederates while others would steal expensive items, even those with the family name engraved on them. One woman reported that a northern officer wrote obscenities on the walls and stole ladies' apparel. When confronted, the soldier replied, "Ain't I got a wife and four children in the north?" Even though most women commented on the drunken behavior of the Union soldiers, a few did notice the kindness of some. In one such case, a Union soldier helped a woman's sick baby. When the Yankees came to little Carrie Berry's home, she wrote that they were "orderly and very well. I think I shall like the Yankees very well." Her thoughts changed, however, when they took her family's last pig. "We will have to live on bread." Mary Chestnut summed it up nicely: "Only let us alone--we ask no more of gods or men."10 With the poor behavior of Union soldiers fresh in their minds, southern women were very opinionated about the Confederacy. Some were so against the Union that they would rather die than let the North have victory. One woman said, "'If the fortunes of war should threaten me with degradation I am not compelled to live." But the women tried to remain hopeful, especially at the beginning of the war. Every time a paper reported a Confederate victory, they believed that peace and Confederate success was in the near future. Mary Chestnut ignored the "silly advances" Lincoln and General Seward had made and concluded that there "may be a chance for peace after all." After much destruction, she firmly believed that even if the Yankees did murder the South and destroy the land, the Union would never conquer the Confederacy. Realistically enough, as these women's diaries continued throughout the war, they became extremely bitter and hopeless. As Lucy Breckinridge read books and listened to music, she thought "fondly of the past" but had no "bright thoughts for the future." She no longer thought that peace was in the near future and would be totally unprepared for such a state of America. As Sarah Morgan's hopes faded, she ridiculed the Northern newspapers for reporting such abusive articles towards the South. "There must be many humane, reasonable men in the North, can they not teach their Editors decency in this their hour of triumph." Not only did they recognize their own losses, but also the suffering of their own soldiers. The war was ruining the young men and was having an "immoral effect upon everyone." Many women prayed on a regular basis for the soldiers of the Confederacy.11 As the women were praying for the fighting men, they were also making great strides. With the men away at war, women were given much more responsibility. The Civil War was "a means of reconstructing political hierarchy, reconfiguring social constellations and claiming new states." Southern women also "celebrated [the] ethic of independence" by wearing different clothes, changing their habits, and beginning new customs. At the very least, the Civil War created a sense of forming one's own opinion on controversial matters, especially slavery.12 Mary Chestnut was appalled by slavery. She referred to it as a "monstrous system" and "wondered if it be a sin to think slavery a curse to any land." She blamed slavery on the North, however, writing that they "grew rich, we grew poor. . . . Yankees cause is noble in freeing the slaves ... we received these savages they stole from Africa and brought to use in their slave ships." She hypothesized that if slavery would have stayed in New England, the blacks would have shared the "Indians' fate." Lucy Breckinridge agreed with Mary Chestnut in believing that slavery "is a troublesome institution and I wish for the sake of the masters that it could be abolished in Virginia." She also wrote on their treatment of their slaves: "I am so thankful that all of us have been properly raised and never allowed to scold or strike a servant." Some women had such strong feelings against slavery because they felt like slaves themselves. Plantation mistresses were "the most complete slaves" on their land. But not all women thought that slavery was a horrible institution.13 Sarah Morgan did not think that slavery was wrong. In fact, when the northern soldiers pillaged her house, she wrote in her diary that she would rather have her stuff burned than have "some negro wear it." At the same time, she would commend the slaves on their behavior. Because all of them refused to fight for the Yankees, she wrote that the "conduct of all our servants is beyond praise." Although she favored slavery, once the war started, she helped the slaves do their work since everyone had to take on more responsibility. In her diary, Sarah mentions the affection the slaves showed towards her. She wrote, "Flattery from these humble creatures does not seem fulsome to me." There was a rare happenstance when the Southern women would have quilting parties with their black servants. However, most women did not have that relationship with their slaves. Regardless of her feelings about slavery, one woman said that the slaves would "only work as they please" and when one had a complaint about anything, "they would run and tell the Yankees." Some women felt guilty about having slaves. The plantation mistresses would give gifts to the servants in order to "define themselves as moral human beings." And still others ignored the whole issue of slavery, referring to the slaves as "house servants and field hands." Many feelings Southern women had about slavery were a reflection of what they thought about themselves.14 One of the roles Southern women had during the war was that of the victim. These women would simply wait at home for their "knights in shining armor" to return from battle. Some, however, did not want any part of that role. These women knew what skills they possessed and had the desire to help the men in battle, if that was at all possible. The lives of women were not more precious than the men's; if it was allowed, some would "gladly shoulder pistols and shoot some Yankees" or trade their corsets and petticoats for boots. According to Sarah Morgan, women of the South were just as brave as the men fighting. The women would have never allowed the North to put an American Flag in Baton Rouge as the men had. Mary Chestnut believed if she would have been a man she "would have either been killed at once or made a name and done some good for my country." Instead, the most some Southern women could do was start a United Daughters of the Confederacy for the purpose of "commemorating the courage and virtue of the short-lived southern republic."15 As women struggled with the roles they had to assume during the war, they thought about other roles as well, such as love and marriage. A nineteen-year-old girl wrote in her diary that she would rather be an old maid and prove to the world that life can be wonderful without a man taking care of a woman. Women make fools of themselves for their men so without the men, women would act less foolish. Sarah Morgan saw her own "shocking ignorance and pitiful inferiority" and became upset because she was not given the same opportunities as men, especially in education. However, even though women suffered from feelings of inferiority, they knew how important it was for them to stand by their men, especially during times of war.16 Women definitely supported the men as they went off to fight for the Confederacy. Southern women were incredibly patriotic, if not in their own feelings, then at least for their men's sakes. Women literally had to play the role of the cheerleader. They encouraged the men to enlist and even snubbed those who refused to do so. Women started to adore and admire "personal bravery in a man above and beyond all else." The women of the South knew that if they could appear to be courageous and take care of the home themselves, then that would enable the men to "emerge victorious." That was one of the "sacred duties" that Southern women had to fulfill. Standing by their men was one of the most difficult things a women had to do in the 1860s, not only to see their husbands go to war, but also their fathers, their brothers, and especially their sons. Sarah Morgan wrote that a "Woman's mission" during the war was to stand by a dying soldier and "bid him God speed as he closes his dying eyes."17 Although it is true that women did much for the Confederacy, some sources actually blame the Southern women for losing the war. One author wrote that the Confederacy "did not endure longer because so many women did not want it to." Some women did write damaging letters to their Southern soldiers which leads to the assumption that their letters were the cause of so much desertion throughout the war. One wife wrote to her husband, "I want you to come home as soon as you can after you get this letter." Another wife wrote to her sister, "Lee surrendering was rather unexpected and very mortifying to all but I was willing to give up all our rights to have a home and get Robert (husband) back safe." Maybe those are selfish feelings, but one cannot put too much of the blame on the Southern women because they contributed much more than complaining letters to the war effort.18 Southern women are not given enough recognition for what they had accomplished during the Civil War. They seem to get much more attention for supposedly prostituting themselves than for actually fighting in battles or for nursing the Confederate soldiers back to health. The myth of the South is that women were like those from Gone With the Wind, but they were not in dress and attitude. However, most Southern women did possess the passion, the drive, and the desire to commit themselves to the Confederacy and supported their loved ones any way they knew how.19 Notes Works Cited Primary Sources: Berry, Carrie. Diary. Online. Internet. http://www.cee.indiana.edu/gopher/Turner_Adventure_Learning/Gettysburg_Archive/Primary_Resources/Berry_diary.txt East, Charles. The Civil War Diary of Sarah Morgan. Athens and London: U of Georgia P, 1991. Robertson, Mary. Lucy Breckinridge of Grove Hill: The Journal of a Virginia Girl 1862-1864. Woodward, C. Vann. Mary Chesnut's Civil War. New Haven and London: Yale UP, 1981. Secondary Sources: Bernhard, Virginia, Betty Brandon, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, and
Theda Perdue. Southern Women:
Boritt, Gabor, ed. Why the Confederacy Lost. New York: Oxford UP, 1992. Clinton, Catherine. Tara Revisited: Women, War, and the Plantation Legend. New York: Abbeville, Hunter, Alexander. The Women of the Debatable Land. Washington D.C.: Corden, 1912. Merriam, Eve. Growing Up Female in America. New York: Doubleday, 1961. Muhlenfeld, Elisabeth. Mary Boykin Chestnut: A Biography. Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State Roland, Charles P. An American Iliad: The Story of the Civil War. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1991. Scott, Anne Firor. Unheard Voices: The First Historians of Southern Women. Charlottesville: Tucker, Susan. Telling Memories Among Southern Women: Domestic
Workers and Their Employees in
Articles: DePauw, Linda Grant. "Roles of Women in the American Revolution and the
Civil War." Social
Hall, Richard. "Women in Battle in the Civil War." Social Education (Feb. 1994):80-82. Newspapers: "Sister Writes from Vanquished South." The Brooklyn Chronicle. April 12,1995.
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