Women's Role In The Civil War

On June 2 1865 the United States entered into its bloodiest battle it had ever gotten into since the founding of the country. Over 600,000 people died in battle and all over the issue of slavery. When the civil war was over many thought that slavery had ended and that black people would get the freedom that had been wanting. Although the civil war had ended, white southerners kept African Americans as slaves under new laws passed called Black Codes. After the civil war, African Americans wanted more rights and more freedom.

The Civil War was a fundamental time in the shaping our our nation. The United States was divided, brawling over the topic of slavery. Our country was split into 2 sides: North and South. Alfred M. Green, an African American Abolitionist, delivered a speech in April 1861, shortly after the onset of the war. The Union Army had prohibited African Americans from enlisting.

The Civil War was a battle between the north and south that neither side had anticipated would be so long and difficult. This long lasting war involved several battles that led to thousands of casualties on both sides. A total of more than six hundred twenty thousand American men perished. The objective of the Civil War was to abolish slavery from the north’s perspective, or to keep the southern lifestyle as the southerners justification to fight. The winning side of this war would change the history of slaves, and whether or not it still exists to this day.

The beginning of the book primarily focuses on the Civil War. This includes many battles and plans for victory on behalf of the Union and the Confederacy. One of the major issues of the Civil War was the presence of slavery in the southern states. The North was opposed to slavery and other practices in the South. The war lasted for four years under the leadership of President Lincoln and the president of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis.

Venturing into the woods, smoke everywhere, bombs flying over your heads, people around you being shot down one by another. This was just the beginning of the Civil War, the harshest war in American history, especially for the Texans. It all started because Abraham Lincoln was elected president, and didn’t want slaves. But, why did the Texans fight? They wanted to keep slavery, protect states’ rights, and overall, for the love of their state, Texas.

This would then boost the slaves in the South to runaway and join the Union and their cause, which was not hard considering the cause was to free them and bring the Union back together. Within those four years was the bloodiest war in history. More men had died in the Civil War than any other war put together. The Union had 1,566,678 casualties and the Confederacy had 1,082,119 (Doc B). If the Civil War had not occurred, neither would have the Reconstruction era.

Wives, mothers, and daughters, of Patriot soldiers were left to operate businesses and keep up with the duties of farms. Other women followed their soldiers to the battlefield. Though their presence around the army men was oftentimes controversial - they were commonly regarded as nuisances - having women around to clean and cook, along with being companions, benefited the American army. Women that wanted to fill the boots that their husbands left, or step up to the plate on their own, would disguise themselves as men so they could participate in battle. Post-war women’s roles were seemingly regarded the same as they had been before.

This war challenged the original, submissive roles for women, and rather, encouraged women for have courage and fight for what they believe. For some women, working behind the scenes or as a nurse was not enough, so they illegally joined the ranks by dressing up as a male. By the end of the war, “approximately 250 female Civil War soldiers have been documented by historians, and there were undoubtedly more” (“Women and the Civil War,” (n.d.)). Women would normally go to be near their relatives or husbands, but would sometimes go purely to be able to fight in the front lines due to their thirst for adventure. In order to join the army, like stated before, women had to dress up as males because it was illegal for women to be a part of the army.

Nineteenth century America was a time when women were expected to follow the cult of domesticity, a widely accepted opinion at the time. While fathers, brothers, sons, husbands and other male loved ones went off to fight in the American Civil War, women were left behind to take care of the remaining members of the family. “It was in the home that woman’s influence was paramount and her position assured.” For some women, this was enough, however, there were others who were not satisfied with this idea, and felt as though they were meant to become something more. However, there were some opportunities for women to step outside of the social customs and gender roles of the time.

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.

The Civil War was the bloodiest war in America to date, the war claimed thousands of lives, and left many families without members. The North and South fought for many reasons, but the most notable was slavery. Farming was one of the many reasons the South was for keeping slaves, with lush soil, lots of farmland, a great climate, interesting physical factors such as small hills here and there, communication potential, political and cultural significance, and much more, made it obvious why the South wanted to keep their slaves. A factor that affected the Civil War tremendously was population. The North had a plethora of people fighting for the Union, while the South, who had a diminished amount of residents, fought for the Confederates.

At least six hundred eighteen thousand Americans died in the Civil War, and some experts say the total even reached seven hundred thousand. The Civil War was caused by a feuding union, that knew it would not survive if things continued on in the devastating ways they were. No decisions could be made, people were arguing and weren’t getting along, and eventually the war began. Two of the most important causes of the Civil War were the Abolition Movement, and the Election of 1860. Although the Abolition Movement happened in the 1830’s, it was still a large cause of the Civil War.

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 Civil War was the war that ended slavery. The civil war was known as one of the bloodiest and deadliest conflicts the United States had ever seen. The loss of life was an estimated amount of 620,000 men. It lasted four years, from April 12, 1861, through May 9, 1865. However, while slavery was a major cause of the American Civil War, there were several other major factors.