Page 24 - Civil War Curriculum Book

ALL IS FAIR: WOMEN AND THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

When the American Civil War broke out in 1861, women turned their attention, and their
considerable energy, to the conflict. In both the North and the South, women gathered in aid
societies, circulated petitions, and, at home, took over the masculine duties of running the
household. (i) While these activities kept the women at home busy, many women wanted to
support their causes closer to the battlefield. Rather than face low-paying, grueling factory
work or even prostitution, poorer women followed their husbands, brothers or fathers to
camp. Slave women also found protection in camps. These women, in particular, were
vulnerable to the horrors of war, often forced to protect them and their children from
Confederate raiders who might rape, kill, or capture them. Escaping to a Union camp was
often their most promising option.
(ii)

Many of the poor and middle-class women who joined the troops worked as nurses, or even
as soldiers. Throughout the war, about 10,000 women served as nurses on either the
Confederate or the Union side. (iii) Smaller numbers of zealous women enlisted with the
troops, disguised as men. Cautious estimates place approximately 250 Confederate and
400 Union female soldiers on the battlefields. (iv)

For both the nurses and the female soldiers, their jobs required forgoing the modesty and
innocence attributed to white women at the time of the Civil War. No illusions of feminine
weakness could be sustained in the face of the day-to-day hardships of war. There
existed, however, yet another option for patriotic women who wanted to work for their
cause -- spying. This option could allow a woman to not only maintain her femininity, but
also greatly capitalize on it.

Perhaps the greatest example of femininity as a powerful weapon comes from the infamous
Belle Boyd, who made a wartime career of spying for the Confederacy. Charming and
flirtatious, Belle Boyd masked her fierce will with innocent smiles and coquettish
conversation. Her dark ringlets and flashing eyes, as well as quick wits and deep
determination, led her to become a great menace to the hapless Union army. One major
even informed her, “You will do more harm to our cause than half the men could do.” (v)

Belle began her career at the age of seventeen, when she shot a Union soldier for using
offensive language when speaking to her mother. Instead of punishment, Union officers who
agreed that a lady had a right not to hear offensive language absolved her of guilt. Less than
a week later, Union officers pardoned her yet again, this time for soliciting information from
Union soldiers and passing it on to Confederate officials. (vi)

The infamous spy continued her work throughout the war, completing such feats as
capturing Union cavalrymen as her prisoners (they agreed to escort her back to the
Confederate line after her horse ran into the Union line.) (vii) In fact, the charming Belle
Boyd is credited with having enabled Jackson’s troops to capture Front Royal, Virginia from
the Union. In order to deliver information about the Union movements in the