Women of the North and South: Their Roles in the Civil War

Both the women of the Union and the Confederacy had important roles not

only on the home front, but also on the battlefields. Though these

women came from different backgrounds and were fighting for very dissimilar causes,

they took on related jobs during the war. Women such as Clara Barton became field

nurses. Others, like Pauline Cushman, became spies for their cause. Women also aided

in actual battles by assisting the men who used guerilla warfare.


Before and after the Civil War, gender in the North was divided. While the men

marched off to war, the women were to stay at home and tend to the children and the

housework. Preserving the Union became a noble, exalted role, which could be shared

by both men and women in the appropriate spheres. With the outbreak of the war and

the idea of safeguarding the Union, the barriers between genders were broken down.

Patriotic propaganda sanctions existing patterns of gender relations,...