Women and the American Civil War

Women and the American Civil War

During the Civil War, women played vital roles, from providing nursing care to leading armies. Women played a vital support role during the Civil War by supplying casualty care and nursing to Union and Confederate troops at field hospitals, raising funds for the war, and providing cooking and laundering services for soldiers. The absence of husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers meant that domestic manufacturing and farm labor also fell to women. A smaller proportion of women served as spies and soldiers or worked to free slaves.

Important Women of the Civil War

Harriet Tubman was a noted humanitarian, abolitionist, and spy. She is widely remembered for her work with the Underground Railroad, which she used to lead escaped slaves to the North for several years. She also worked for the Union Army when the Civil War began. Initially she worked as a cook, and then as a nurse in Port Royal. In June 1863, Tubman became the first woman to plan and execute an armed expedition in U.S. history, leading 300 soldiers 25 miles into the interior of South Carolina to free approximately 800 slaves. She continued her service a few months past the end of the war, attending to freed slaves and going on scouting expeditions for the army.

Dorothea Dix and Clara Barton are among the most prominent nurses of the Civil War. Dix served as the Union’s Superintendent of Female Nurses throughout the war, overseeing more than 3,000 nurses. Though she met some resistance from individuals who did not want female nurses in their hospitals, Dix set many hiring guidelines and took over operational responsibilities that made her a prominent figure within the medical community. Barton, convinced by her father that it was her duty as a Christian to assist in the war effort, gained permission from Quartermaster Daniel Rucker to serve on the front lines, distributing stores, cleaning field hospitals, applying dressings, and serving food to wounded and ill soldiers. She served in close proximity to several large-scale and well-known battles, such as Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Second Bull Run. In 1864, Union General Benjamin Butler appointed her the “lady in charge” of the hospitals along the front of the Army of the James. During her service, she earned the nickname “Angel of the Battlefield,” and eventually achieved widespread recognition by lecturing about her war experiences.

United States Sanitary Commission

Many Northern women participated in the war effort by joining the United States Sanitary Commission (USSC), a private relief agency that lent support to sick and wounded soldiers of the U.S. Army, created in June 1861. Directed by Frederick Law Olmsted, this organization enlisted thousands of volunteers across the North. Volunteers worked as nurses; ran kitchens in army camps; administered hospital ships; ran soldiers’ homes, lodges, and rests for traveling or disabled soldiers; made uniforms; and raised funds for the Union Army. The USSC also worked with Union veterans after the war to secure their bounties, back pay, and apply for pensions.

“Sanitary Fairs” were extremely successful fundraisers organized by the USSC that provided opportunities for local communities to participate in the national war effort. Fairs involved elaborate parades and large-scale exhibitions, including displays of art, mechanical technology, and period rooms. Over the course of the war, the USSC contributed more than $25 million to the Union.

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For further context, see this discussion of anti-slavery movements, including abolition: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-ushistory/chapter/anti-slavery-resistance-movements/