Women Soldiers During the Civil War

Liz Gaytan
History 1700: American Civilization
December 1st, 2014

1
Women have always been regarded as fragile, passive, and dependent, even more

so in the Victorian era. Men were the fighters and a women on the battlefield during the
civil war was seen as out of the norm and out of place. Even today women dont fight on
the front lines. However, cultural limitation did not stop over 400 women from disguising
themselves as men to fight in the Civil War.1 Women didnt have the same rights as men
yet still felt compelled to take up arms for a variety of reasons. Some fought to stay
alongside there lovers, some fought to make a soldiers wage, others fought because their
patriotism compelled them to do so. Women served for different reason but all who
served found value in a soldiers uniform. Being a soldiers gave women an identity that
was very different than who they were expected to be Dressing in a soldiers uniform to
fight in the Civil War proved women were more than what society expected them to be.
They proved that women were capable of much more than they were given credit for.
Women served in the army as soldiers, nurses and even spies. Women proved there worth
by holding their ground amongst men in the army.
There were many women who served as nurses during the Civil War. Women were
able to serve in the war as soldiers by disguising themselves as men to join the army.
They would pass as young men for there lack of facial hair and the baggy clothes would
conceal any feminine curves. However, the fear of discovery was something these
women had to deal with everyday of there service. Mary Livermore wrote a book called
My Story of the War recounting her experience as a nurse during the Civil War. She
recounts her encounters with women who served disguised as male soldiers during the
war. One of these accounts was of a woman who had been discovered in the ranks. She

1 Blanton, DeAnne, and Lauren M. Cook. They Fought like Demons: Women Soldiers in the American
Civil War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2002.

begged not be exposed so she could continue to serve in the same regiment as her
husband. She was discharged and when Livermore offered to take her home she ran
away. Later Livermore met her at an institution after she attempted suicide by jumping of
a bridge into a river. She stated that she would run away and disguise herself as a man
once again to fight along side her husband. The next day she was gone and Livermore
believed she set out to do what she had said the night before.2 This woman wanted to
serve alongside her husband more than anything. This shows one reason why a woman
would want to risk her life to serve in the military. This is just one of the several
instances that Livermore accounts about a women disguising themselves as men to fight
along side their husband. In many cases the chance of making it out of the war was not
high, these women were not afraid to be in the center of the action as long as they were
with their husbands. Livermore also talks about a woman named Madame Turchin who,
in the spring of 1862, took her husbands place in the military when he fell ill. She not
only nursed hum back to health but lead his regiment in his absence. The soldiers in her
regiment followed her orders just as they would follow any superiors orders. It did not
bother them that a woman had taken charge. They respected her as a leader. As soon as
her husband was ready to serve once again she stepped down and continued to help the
injured and wounded as a nurse.3 These two examples from Livermores book are
significant because they show why women risked there lives and how there role in the
military was perceived by others. People higher up in the military did not agree with the
fact that women were serving alongside men on the battlefield. In contrast the soldiers

2 Livermore, Mary A. My Story of the War. Hartford, Conn.: A.D. Worthington and Company, 1896.
3 Livermore, Mary A. My Story of the War. Hartford, Conn.: A.D. Worthington and Company, 1896.

who were serving along these women, disguised or not, didnt seem to mind a comrade in
battle. These women showed they could handle themselves on the battlefield as nurses
and as soldiers. The only thing holding them back was the social restriction in their
society.
Similarly in the article War Women of Note the author tells the story of Major
Belle Reynolds. Bell Reynolds was a teacher who joined the army to follow her husband
who had enlisted after Lincolns second call. She collected the fare of a soldier and soon
took to helping soldiers in field hospital were she was referred to as that angel of
mercy. She was promoted to major after Governor Dick Yates heard of her work in the
field. After the war she studied medicine and became a physician.4 This was significant
because the source implies that Bell Reynolds did not disguise herself to serve but instead
openly served as a woman. There were few other stories I read of women who had
similar experiences. It was hard to believe that a woman was serving in the army at the
time let alone as a major. This particular article was written in 1897, 32 years after the
end of the war. Some stories of the war can seem far-fetched but all stem from fact.
In another article written the same year the author talks about Sarah Edmonds, alias
Frank Thompson. This article titled A Woman Soldier appeared in the Houston Daily
post on April 23rd, 1897. Unlike the last article Sarah Edmonds Seelye did disguise
herself as a man to serve in the war. Sarah Edmonds Seelye chose to serve in the war to
escape an arranged marriage.5 An unmarried woman did not have much of a chance to
succeed in Victorian society and as a soldier she could collect a soldiers wage Seelye
found new opportunities by serving in the war and went on the right a popular book after

4 War Woman of Note. The Omaha Daily Bee, April 24, 1897.
5 A

Woman Soldier. The Houston Daily Post, April 23, 1897.

the war. Sarah Edmonds was significant because she was able to collect a soldiers
pension after the war. Most women who fought in the war did not receive the same
benefits their male counterparts did after the war.6
Other women didnt have as much success. In the article A Women in the War
the author recounts a scene on the battlefield. He and a fellow soldier were out of
ammunition during a battle. They had to look through the fallen soldiers for ammunition.
While scavenging for ammunitions they found 2 bodies, upon further inspection they
found out one was a sergeant and one was a women soldier who had cut her hair short.
They were not unable to recover the bodies and came to the conclusion that they were
perhaps lovers who had been retreating when they were struck down.7 The truth was that
many of these women did not make it out alive and were often discovered after injury on
the battlefield or death. Just like there male counterparts, they were young and
inexperienced. Most of these soldiers were patriotic and fought to serve their country.
The number of women who served as soldiers in the Civil War is debatable. Its
estimated that around 400 women disguised themselves to fight the war but Livermore
suspects the number was higher.8 In the newspaper article Disguised Her Sex to Go to
War John L. Steele states that the government had very little record of women serving
during the civil war. According to the article the government only had records of two
women disguising themselves as men to go to war. The first was of Sarah Edmonds
Seelye, who survived to collect a soldiers pension, and a woman whos alias was Charles

6 Blanton,

DeAnne, and Lauren M. Cook. They Fought like Demons: Women Soldiers in the American Civil
War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2002.
7 A Woman in the War. The Omaha Daily Bee, October 2, 1891.
8 Livermore, Mary A. My Story of the War. Hartford, Conn.: A.D. Worthington and Company, 1896.

Freeman. Charles Freeman was discovered after 16 weeks and sent home.9 This source
shows how women werent being recognized for the sacrifice they were making. It was
easy to see that the government wasnt too proud that women were taking on such
masculine roles. You cant really blame the women though. With the war propaganda and
Lincolns call to action it was hard for anyone not to feel the serge of patriotism. These
women were fulfilling their patriotic duty to the country.
Though we will never really know exactly how many women served in the Civil
War we know hundreds of them were out there on the battlefield. These women fought
for different reasons. Some fought to be near their husbands, others to escape the
Victorian lifestyle. The chance to fight in the war was a chance to break out of the mold.
Women were considered non violent and fighting was so out of the norm.10 Women who
fought in the Civil War described disguising themselves as men as taking citizens dress.11
Men had rights, they were the citizens and women were not. What I found interesting was
that although women soldiers might have been looked down upon at the time the war was
being fought the newspaper articles paint a different picture, primarily for the time after
the war had ended. The majority of the sources I found about women soldiers were
newspaper articles written in The Omaha Daily Bee and The Washington Times from
1891-1897. Sometime after the war women soldiers became a popular news story. The
thought of women disguising themselves as men to fight was something that people
found intriguing. Soldiers would recount there time serving along side these women or

9 Disguised

Her Sex to Go to War. The Washington Times, May 26, 1895.

DeAnne, and Lauren M. Cook. They Fought like Demons: Women Soldiers in the American
Civil War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2002.
11 Blanton, DeAnne, and Lauren M. Cook. They Fought like Demons: Women Soldiers in the American
Civil War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2002.
10 Blanton,

remembering there female comrades. Others would write about the specific women who
served openly as women. These stories died out with the last of the Civil War veterans.
Even today many people dont know women disguised themselves to fight in the Civil
War. Its an interesting topic that should get more recognition. This doesnt make their
sacrifice any less significant.
Women in the military are still a controversial topic today and to say these
Victorian women were ahead of there time is an underestimate. Although these women
may not have changed the outcome of the war they were fighting a much larger battle.
Women in this era had little rights. They were expected to act a certain way. They
certainly were not meant to fight as soldier yet many felt the need to. These women found
value by dawning a soldiers uniform. Women were second-class citizens in their own
country and could not be denied the right to fight when disguised as men.12 These women
were able to serve in the war, some served with their husbands, brothers, and fathers. It is
significant that these women fought in the war because it was so out of the norm. These
women showed that they were capable of so much more than what was expected of them.
They were not fragile flowers they were warriors.

12 Blanton, DeAnne, and Lauren M. Cook. They Fought like Demons: Women Soldiers in the American
Civil War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2002.

7
BIBLIOGRAPHY

PRIMARY SOURCES
Livermore, Mary A. My Story of the War. Hartford, Conn.: A.D. Worthington and
Company, 1896.
A Woman in the War. The Omaha Daily Bee, October 2, 1891.
War Woman of Note. The Omaha Daily Bee, April 24, 1897.
Disguised Her Sec to Go to War. The Washington Times, May 26, 1895.
A Woman Soldier. The Houston Daily Post, April 23, 1897.
SECONDARY SOURCES
Blanton, DeAnne, and Lauren M. Cook. They Fought like Demons: Women Soldiers in
the American Civil War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2002.