Civil War Women, Diaries and Letters

Caroline Cowles Richards

• Maggie

Civil War Civilian and Diarist The journal Caroline Richards started when she was 10, parallels a young girl growing up as the nation did too. Although raised by a Puritan grandmother, she was blessed with both humor and the intelligence to think for herself. When Richards heard Susan B. Anthony speak, she signed a pledge to help bring about equal rights for women. And during the Civil War, she sent a letter of support to General McClellan when he was criticized. Image: Caroline Cowles Richards in 1860 Caroline Cowles Richards was born in a small town in upstate New York in 1842 and was raised by her grandparents. Her grandmother, a very religious woman, held true to her Puritan family…

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Famous Wives

Sarah Pinckney

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Wife of Founding Father Charles Cotesworth Pinckney Image: Sarah Middleton Pinckney Henry Benbridge, Artist Sarah Middleton was born on July 5, 1756, at Charleston, South Carolina, daughter of Mary Baker Williams Middleton and Henry Middleton. Her father served as President of the Continental Congress and her brother Arthur Middleton signed the Declaration of Independence. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was born into the Pinckney family of aristocratic planters at Charleston, South Carolina, on February 25, 1746. He was the oldest son of Charles Pinckney, chief justice of the Province of South Carolina and the celebrated planter and agriculturalist Eliza Lucas Pinckney, who introduced the cultivation of indigo, which rapidly became a major cash crop in South Carolina. His brother Thomas Pinckney served…

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Authors, Civil War Women

Harriet Beecher Stowe

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American Abolitionist and Author Harriet Beecher Stowe was an abolitionist and author. Her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) was a depiction of life for African American slaves in the mid-nineteenth century, which energized anti-slavery forces in the North, while provoking widespread anger in the South. She wrote more than 20 books, and was influential both for her writings and her public stands on social issues of the day. Harriet Elisabeth Beecher was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, on June 14, 1811. She was the second daughter the sixth of eleven children born to outspoken religious leader Lyman Beecher and Roxanna Foote Beecher, who died when Stowe was only four years old. Harriet’s oldest sister, Catherine Beecher, then took over care of…

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Civil War Nurses, Civil War Women

Susan Landon Vaughan

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Founder of Decoration Day Image: Confederate Monument This monument on the grounds of the Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson, Mississippi sits about 60 feet high with a life-sized statue of a Confederate soldier on top of it. Inside the monument is a plaque that reads: It reeks not where their bodies lie By bloody hillside, plains or cave; Their names are bright on famous skies, Their deeds of valor live forever. Decoration Day Originated in Jackson, Mississippi, April 26, 1865 By Sue Landon Vaughn Susan Hutchinson Adams was born on October 12, 1835, in St. Charles, Missouri, on the Missouri River northwest of St Louis. She and her sister Sallie were the daughters of John and Margaret Ann Gill Adams….

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Theodosia Bartow Prevost Burr
Feminists, First Ladies, Women in the American Revolution

Theodosia Burr

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Wife of Vice President Aaron Burr In 1763 Theodosia Bartow married James Marcus Prevost, a British Army officer with whom she had five children. They lived in Bergen County, New Jersey, in a home they named the Hermitage. In 1776 James Marcus was called back to active duty in the Revolutionary War, while Theodosia tried to keep their home from being confiscated by the American government. Meanwhile she began a relationship with a young American officer named Aaron Burr. After her husband’s death in 1781, 35-year-old Theodosia Prevost, with five children, married 25-year-old Aaron Burr. Childhood and Early Years Theodosious Bartow died in a carriage accident in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, in 1746 at age 34, while his wife Ann was…

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Civil War Women

Bennett Place

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Confederate Surrender in North Carolina In 1846 at age 40, James Bennett, his wife Nancy and their three children settled on a 325-acre farm in north-central North Carolina that came to be known as Bennett Place. The family grew corn, wheat, oats, and potatoes, and raised hogs. James was also a tailor, cobbler, and sold horse feed, tobacco plugs and distilled liquor. Image: The First Meeting At Bennett Place Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston (left center) and Union General William Tecumseh Sherman (right center) met in the waning days of the Civil War to formally end hostilities. On April 15, 2010, Bennett Place State Historic Site unveiled this 44″ X 64″ oil painting by Civil War artist Dan Nance, which…

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Abolitionists, Activists, Civil War Nurses, Civil War Women

Hannah Ropes

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Head Matron at Union Hotel Hospital When her husband abandoned her, Hannah Ropes did not despair. She raised her two children, became an abolitionist and activist for social reform. She volunteered as a nurse during the Civil War and used her prominent social position to obtain enormous amounts of supplies for ill and wounded soldiers. Early Years Hannah Anderson Chandler was born June 13, 1809, in New Gloucester, Maine, the daughter and sister of prominent Maine lawyers. Hannah developed strong beliefs during her early years. Her religious faith was very strong, and she was passionately opposed to slavery. Hannah married educator William Ropes in 1834; they lived in Waltham, Massachusetts. Hannah gave birth to four children, two of whom lived…

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Women in the American Revolution

Martha Bell

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North Carolina Revolutionary War Heroine Image: Martha Bell Monument In 1928, Bell was honored with a granite monument at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park which reads: Loyal Whig, Enthusiastic Patriot, Revolutionary Heroine. Martha McFarland was born in 1735 in Alamance County, North Carolina. In 1759, Martha married Colonel John McGee, a prosperous farmer and trader who came to North Carolina in 1750. They had five children: Jane (1760-1835), Susannah (1761-1843), John (1763-1836), William (1768-1817) and Andrew McGee (d. 1819). The McGees were among the wealthiest people in the county. John McGee died in 1773, but left his family well provided for. Martha carried on his business and farming, just as he had been doing. His farming operations were quite extensive…

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Women in the American Revolution

Esther Reed

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Great American Heroine Esther De Berdt was born October 22, 1746, in London, England, one of two children of Martha Symon De Berdt and Dennis De Berdt, an English businessman who traded with the colonists in Delaware and Massachusetts. The fair-haired, attractive young Esther was a lively talker and a lover of books. The De Berdt children grew up near the Houses of Parliament, in Artillery Court, with summers spent in Enfield. Arriving in Philadelphia from London as a young bride, Esther De Berdt Reed had by 1774 become a zealous American Patriot. The Ladies Association she founded made shirts for the soldiers of the Continental Army, and became for the model for similar drives in Maryland, New Jersey and…

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Civil War Nurses, Civil War Women

Laura Jackson Arnold

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Sister of General Thomas ‘Stonewall’ Jackson Laura Jackson Arnold and her famous older brother were very close until the Civil War intruded in their lives. Laura was a staunch and unapoligetic supporter of the Union, while her brother became one of the most beloved generals in the Confederate Army. Their relationship was destroyed by the war, and they never saw each other again. General Stonewall Jackson was mortally wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863. Laura Ann Jackson was born March 27, 1826, in Clarksburg, [West] Virginia, along with her sister Elizabeth (1819), brother Warren (1821) and brother Thomas Jonathan (1824). Their parents were attorney Jonathan Jackson and Julia Beckwith Neale Jackson. Elizabeth (age 6) and Jonathan Jackson…

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