Women Working in U.S. Army Hospitals During the Civil War
A register preserved in the National Archives lists the names of about 2,773 women who served as nurses, cooks, and laundresses in U.S. Army hospitals during the Civil War. The
Tag: women in the civil war
Legends and Lies in Female Soldier Portraits
By Kurt Luther Historians estimate that at least 400 women presented themselves as men and fought in the Civil War, on both sides of the conflict. Verified period portraits of
“Mother Ransom”
By Melissa A. Winn By the time the Civil War erupted, Eleanor Ransom had already lived a full life—as a wife, a mother, and a Hoosier shaped by years of
York’s Ministering Angels
By Elizabeth A. Topping Tucked beneath this intimate image of nine young ladies holding hands or interlocking arms was a patriotic envelope depicting a mother eagle tending to her young.
“I Set Forth in the December Twilight”
By Melissa A. Winn Long before Little Women became a beloved classic, Louisa May Alcott emerged as a young woman of principle and passion, shaped by poverty, reformist ideals, and
A Useful Life: Sarah Chamberlin Eccleston, Civil War nurse and educator
By Sidney Dreese Nothing mattered more to Sarah “Sallie” Chamberlin than to live a useful life. A fire burned in her patriotic heart, and she was both anxious and determined
The Rise of “La Belle Rebelle”
By Melissa A. Winn The morning of July 4, 1861, “dawned brightly,” according to the postwar memoir of Maria Isabella “Belle” Boyd. However, this anniversary of the country’s independence was