Women and Civilians

Civilian photo

Click here for Northern Civilian Letters & Diaries
Click here for Southern Civilian Letters & Diaries
Also see  "Nurses" in the Medical Section
See also the "Quilts" section

CIV109  Ladies' Southern Florist (A facsimile of the 1860 edition)
Mary C. Rion
 "The author of this volume, desiring a book on Flower Gardening which might be adapted to the South, and, at the same time, written in such a manner as to be intelligible to  to one not a professional Florist, was unable to find any work answering either of these requisites"  from the preface to the original edition.  Hardcover  140 pp.  

FEM107 When A Rose Is Not A Rose
Rebecca D. Larson
 It is estimated that around 400 women disguised themselves as men to fight in the Civil War.  Some were quickly discovered, others revealed the secret when their husband was killed or discharges, and a few managed to keep their gender a secret for a long period of time.  Here are the stories of some of those women.  Paper.  66 pp. 

CK028   Ersatz in the Confederacy. Shortages and Substitutes on the Southern Homefront.
First published in 1952, this book remains the definitive study of the South's desperate struggle to overcome critical shortages of food, medicine, clothing, household goods, farming supplies, and tools during the Civil War. Creative Southerner's substituted sawdust for soap, okra seeds for coffee beans, and gourds for cups. Paper. 233 pp.  
  

FEM096 All The Daring of the Soldier.  Women Of The Civil War Armies.
E. D. Leonard
 These are stories of the women who worked as spies, as daughters of the regiments, or, disguised, as male soldiers to join the war.  Learn about Belle Boyd, Confederate loyalist and spy; Annie Etheridge, whose four years of courageous work on the field earned her a Kearney Cross; Sarah Emma Edmonds, who enlisted as "Franklin Thompson," and remained with her regiment for two years; and others.   

CW055 The Children's Civil War
by J.A. Marten
 Discusses how children had to take on the responsibilities of the men who left for war.

CIV064H Lessons of War.  The Civil War in Children's Magazines
ed by R. B. Moynihan
 A view of the civil war through the Children's magazines published during that time.

CIV079 Bazaars and Fair Ladies.  History of the American Fundraising Fair.
Beverly Gordon
 Includes Sanitary fairs for raising money during the Civil War.

FEM034P An Uncommon Soldier
L. C. Burgess
 The letters of Sarah Wakeman who disguised herself as a man with the 153rd NY.

 

CIV061 The Boy's Own Book: A Complete Encyclopedia of all the Diversion, Athletic, Scientific, and Recreative, of Boyhood and Youth
W. Clarke
 Originally published in 1829, this is a book that many Civil War soldiers would remember reading.

FEM056P Army Wives on the American Frontier.  Living Within the Sound of Bugles
Anne Bruner Eales
 A glimpse into the lives of fifty military wives during the latter part of the 19th century.

CIV001 Introduction to Civil War Civilians
Juanita Leisch
 An informative and broad examination of civilian life during the Civil War.

FEM021 Women in the Civil War.
M. W. Massey
 A tribute to women on both sides of the struggle.

FEM008 Blue & Gray Roses
R. D. Larson
 Female spies active during the Civil War.