Women In the Civil War
...on top. Women, taking over for their husbands while they were away fighting, filled many jobs besides taking care of the home during the Civil War. An article in The Spectator "comments on the willingness of Southern women to work in the field and manufacture their own textiles." They ran their husband's stores and tended to business affairs, and in doing so, experienced being in a position of leadership and made the way for future women in leadership roles. Some high-society women would become nurses in the makeshift hospitals. In Lynchburg, many women worked as nurses in the warehouses that had been converted into hospitals. This opened opportunities for women in the nursing profession originally dominated by men. In her article in The Outlook, Lida Welsh Bender writes about her memories of the civil war, and how, "a number of the young girls canvassed the town for hospital supplies, and that evening, with older women, we met to prepare them for use." The women were always willing to help the soldiers with their medical needs. The Spectator commends "the women of Greenville, who have furnished the sick and wounded soldiers with large supplies of provisions." Many soldiers and other men that they helped responded with gratitude in letters and articles. In The Vindicator, Charles H. Harris, Assistant Surgeon in Charge of Field Infirmary, Augusta County, "writes to the ladies of New Hope and its vicinity to thank them for their 'kind attentions and invaluable services' rendered to wounded soldiers." A few women even served in and for the armies, thus unlocking the possibility of women in the military. The women were eager to show that they could be patriotic, and did many things from giving food and other supplies to the armies to disguising themselves in order to s...