Female Confederate Spies
Ever since the establishment of the new world, women have held less power and privileges than men. As history progressed, the female role began to change. During the American Revolution, women supported the war by providing blankets and care for the hurt soldiers. In the Civil War, women took on new roles in the fight that were not as innocent as the jobs in the preceding events.
The government of the United States indirectly suppressed women almost as much as African Americans and other minorities. Throughout the 1700’s and early 1800’s, a woman’s place was in the household and not in the work force. Women remained innocent in the mind of the public, but eventually they used this consensus to their advantage. During the Civil War, as a result of the split in the nation, women were overlooked when it came to their opinion. Women used this alienation to seek information that they wished to give to the side in which they supported. Many of these famous women were spies for the
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She was born in Port Tobbaco, Maryland but moved to Washington DC during her adolescence years. She was engulfed into the capital’s highest section of society and welcomed with open arms. Like many other Confederate women spies, Greenhow used this elevated status to her advantage. Greenhow disappointed many suitors when she married Doctor Robert Greenhow. This influential man helped Rose climb the social ladder as well. After having four children, Dr. Greenhow passed away before the war began. Although her beloved husband was not present, Rose O’Neal remained friends with the circle of people surrounding her husband. Some of these people included “presidents, senators, [and] high-ranking military officers . . . many of whom played knowing or unknowing roles in the espionage ring she organized in 1861.” Greenhow’s connections created her beneficial sneaky character to help her country
After attending the Buckingham College Institute, she became a volunteer spy for the Confederate Army during the Civil War. She aided in 2 raids and 8 battles. In 1861 the Union occupied Fairfax, which is when Ford eavesdropped on the officers and gathered valuable information. She mainly heard about the strengths of the troops and their next moves.
During a time period where men went off to fight war and women remained behind to see to the house, several women challenged this notion, and arguably none had the impact which rivaled Van Lew’s. As aforementioned, in order to be a spy in the Confederate capital, it was necessary that Van Lew live two separate, but concurrent lives. She did all the things that were expected of Antebellum women; publically she displayed unrivaled compassion towards the Confederate casualties. The story could not be more different privately. Van Lew supplied financial assistances to hunted fugitives, including the one hundred and nine soldiers that escaped from Libby Prison during the chilled winter of 1864.
Rose O’Neal Greenhow was a Rebel Spy for the Confederacy during the Civil War. She was a well known woman among the government throughout her life, and served as an important spy. In her later life she was arrested for smuggling, and died in an unintentional accident. She impacted the spying society greatly, and influenced many people who shared a similar point of view as her. Rose O’Neal Greenhow’s early life was filled with many unfortunate events.
Georgia 's most heralded female participant during the Revolutionary War was Nancy Hart. An earnest patriot, Hart gained reputation during the revolution for her determined efforts to disembarrass the area of Tories, English soldiers, and British sympathizers. Six feet tall, very sinewy, and a proclivity to expeditious anger ; Nancy heart became a spy for the colonial militia who captured, and surprised many loyalists during the American Revolution. Being able to dress up as a man and pull it off, she spied on the British and got information to assail them indiscriminately.
Sarah Ryan March 23, 2016 Female Spies in World War II Females were not respected during World War II but they were very successful. The use of spies grew drastically during this war because it was a great tactic for warfare. Many women got involved because women were not allowed in combat, and it was hard for females to find any sort of job in war, so women became spies to be part of the warfare. Female spies were not allowed in combat, so a spy was the perfect fit for women who wanted to be in the warfare, and they ended up being very successful. Military units would not expect a female to be working in the warfare.
In 1817, a woman called “Wild Rose” or “Rebel Rose” was born in Maryland. When you think of a spy you probably think of a man. During the 1800’s, men were seen as the only gender to have the capability to be bold and manipulative enough to gain such secretive information. Rose had all of those endowed on her except that she was not a man but a woman. She earned the role of one of the most acclaimed spies in the history of the Civil War for her work.
When Fanny Trollope stepped on American soil, women were 100 years from their right to vote, forced to stay within their strict gender roles by their controlling husbands, and were forbidden to pursue an education or a professional career. Compared with Trollope’s familiar British society, America was far behind regarding their equality of women. Trollope came to America, without her husband, and with most of her children, an extreme feat in the eyes of Americans back in the 1820’s. She advocated for education, self-sufficiency, and occupation. Trollope saw through the “new free democracy” facade and noted in “Domestic Manners of the Americans,” that women were not in mind when the framers wrote the constitution, and that they played a subordinate,
During the Civil War, women spies were very successful at their jobs for a great deal of reasons. They were perfect for the role of spy because women were easily trusted and viewed as non-threatening by soldiers who, would often let their guard down around them. Men didn’t expect women would get involved in such a dangerous job, so women spies often went undetected during the early part of the Civil War. Women often gathered information about the enemy’s plans, troop size, fortifications and supplies on scraps of paper or fabric and then sewed them into their blouses or rolled them into their hair. If they were to smuggle goods such as morphine, ammunition or weapons, they often attached them to the frame of their hoop skirts or hid them in baskets and inside dolls.
Winning Independence The American Revolution was a war of dependence that consisted of thirteen colonies declared against British’s political ideas and religions during 1765 to 1783. Under the achievement of revolution, there were the Continental Amy—which was created by George Washington, who was a commander-in-chief, and John Adams—Congress, who helped to raise the Continental Amy, and large groups of colonists. In addition to those groups of revolutionists, women were also one of major forces that helped waged war against the British redcoats and soldiers. These women had participated and contributed to the outcome of the revolution.
Important Women and their Role in the Civil War The American Civil war lasted for four years from 1861-1865. The war occurred because of a controversy on differences of beliefs, with the primary reason being slavery and state’s rights. The war resulted in the killing of over 600,000 soldiers. The war had a lot of advances in American culture.
Her skills resulted in obtaining information that Washington’s troops were to be ambushed in early December. Darragh’s dedication showed when she walked through the snow to deliver her message to the military. Women were not thought to be as clever or as smart as men so they were often overlooked and thus privy to classified
The Civil War was a series of battles fought from 1861 to 1865 between the North, the Union, and the South, the Confederacy, of the United States of America over the disagreements on the acceptance of slavery. It was a long fought war with high casualties on both sides. Due to that, even more civilians were needed to become soldiers, spies, and etc. Men were always the ones that were expected to fill those positions, despite some of them not wanting to. Women were expected to stay home as the men in their life left for the war.
Justin Lau (Wingkit) Professor Rogers History 100AC 29 September 2015 Response Paper: “The Women Is as Bad as the Men- Women 's Participation in the Inner Civil War.” , “General Benjamin Butler and the threat of Sexual Violence during the American Civil War”, “General Butler and the Women” and “The Other Side of the Freedom” A lot of North Carolina women showed uncooperative actions on the disorderliness by participating the protest in order to maintain their communities and social orders. These women would prefer to join the conflict that separated state and community rather than being its victims. Thus, their loyalties to husbands and sons, and strong determination of protecting their own property prompted them to disregard the female’s conventional behaviors.
The American Revolution was a political upheaval that brought many changes to America by greatly altering the popular understanding of women’s partisan status and creating a widespread debate over the meaning of women’s rights. White women had large, essential roles in America’s victory in the American Revolution creating new opportunities for women to participate in politics and support different parties. Women were able to take advantage of these opportunities until a conservative backlash developed by 1830 that stopped any political advancement of women. In Rosemarie Zagarri’s book, Revolutionary Backlash, the author talks about the many things that played a part in causing a backlash against women in the early republic starting when women’s
Mary Boykin Chesnut was a prominent member of the upper-class society in the South during the Civil War. She was married to James Chesnut, the general of the South Carolina reserves. Mary Chesnut is the author of her Civil War diary which details the society of Southerners during the war. She had access to a great deal of information through her husband, and she relays this information through her diary. Mary Chesnut’s diary gives insight into pivotal events during the war and details her own opinions about the Civil War.