Category: Civil War Women

Civil War Women
Civil War Women

Ann Rutledge

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Abraham Lincoln’s First Love Ann Rutledge was Abraham Lincoln’s first love. The two met while he was boarding at her family’s inn in New Salem, Illinois, and he fell for her charms. Ann’s death at the age of 22 left Lincoln severely depressed, the first of many such incidents in his often difficult life. Image: Lincoln and Ann Rutledge by Fletcher Ransom Early Years On January 7, 1813, Ann Mayes Rutledge was born near Henderson, Kentucky, the third of ten children born to Mary and James Rutledge. In 1829, her father co-founded the town of New Salem, Illinois, and constructed a dam, sawmill and gristmill. As business expanded, James Rutledge decided to lay out a town and sell lots of…

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Civil War Women, Women Lawyers

Clara Foltz

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California’s First Woman Lawyer Clara Shortridge Foltz deserves to be called California’s First Woman. She became the state’s first woman lawyer, but only after fighting to change the law that denied women the right to become lawyers. That was only the beginning of her many firsts. She was the first woman to serve as clerk of the judiciary committee of the state assembly, the first woman deputy district attorney in the United States, and the first to run for governor. Early Years Clara Shortridge was born July 16, 1849 in Lafayette, Indiana, the only daughter of Elias and Talitha Harwood Shortridge. Trained as a lawyer, Elias Shortridge turned instead to preaching and in 1860 became pastor for a church in…

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Civil War Women, Famous Wives

Clara Harris Rathbone

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Witness to the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln Clara Harris was an American socialite. Harris and her then fiance Henry Rathbone were the guests of President Lincoln and First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865, when John Wilkes Booth fatally shot the President. Early Years Clara Harris was born on September 9, 1834 in Albany, New York, one of four children of Senator Ira Harris and his first wife Louisa Tubbs Harris. Clara’s mother died 1845. On August 1, 1848, Ira Harris married widow Pauline Rathbone, who had two sons, Jared and Henry. From the ages of 13 and 11 respectively, Clara and Henry were raised in the same household. To their parents’ dismay, the two…

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Civil War Nurses, Civil War Women

Jane Currie Blaikie Hoge

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Civil War Nurse and Relief Worker Jane Currie Blaikie Hoge was a Civil War nurse, sanitary reformer and relief worker who is best remembered for her impressive organizational skills in providing medical supplies and other items to Union soldiers during the Civil War. After seeing some of the deplorable conditions suffered by the troops, Hoge became a leader in sanitary reform, which included activities such as collecting and distributing food, clothing, and medical and hospital supplies. She was also active in recruiting nurses for the army. Early Years Jane Currie Blaikie was born on July 31, 1811 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of George Blaikie, a wealthy merchant, and Mary Monroe Blaikie. Jane was educated at the Young Ladies’ College,…

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Civil War Women, Diaries and Letters

Emma LeConte

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Witness to the Burning of Columbia, South Carolina Emma Leconte was only seventeen years old when she recorded in her diary the systematic burning of Columbia, SC during General Sherman’s Carolinas Campaign. During the war Emma remained in the city with her mother, while her father Joseph LeConte, a former professor at South Carolina College, worked as a chemist in the Confederate States Nitre and Mining Bureau attempting to make gunpowder for the Confederate army. After completing his famous March to the Sea by capturing Savannah, Georgia in December 1864, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman began planning his invasion of South Carolina. Emma LeConte began writing a diary on December 31, and her first entry leaves no doubt about her…

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Civil War Women

Maryland Women in the Civil War

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Women in the Border State of Maryland Many Maryland women made significant contributions to the Union war effort. As a border state having both slaves and free African American women, Maryland was divided in sentiment between the Union and the Confederacy. The most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman was also an escaped slave from Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Harriet Tubman also served as a Union nurse and spy, and she was the first woman to lead an armed expedition. In June 1863, she guided three steamboats around Confederate mines in the waters surrounding Port Royal, South Carolina in the Combahee River Raid, which liberated more than 700 slaves. Anna Ella Carroll played a significant role as advisor to…

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African Americans, Civil War Spies, Civil War Women

African American Women Spies

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Black Women Intelligence Agents in the Civil War Other than a very few famous African American women spies, little is known about the black women who gathered intelligence for the Union during the Civil War. We do know that some were former slaves and others were free women who volunteered to spy on the Confederacy, often at great risk to their own personal safety. Image: Unidentified African American Woman Escaped slaves served as a primary source of intelligence for the Union Army. Throughout the official records of the war, however, there are frequent references to bits of intelligence coming from contrabands, a term that dates back to early 1861 at Fort Monroe, Virginia. General Benjamin Butler refused to return three…

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Civil War Women, Famous Wives

Elizabeth Todd Edwards

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Sister of Mary Todd Lincoln In October 1839, twenty-year-old Mary Todd moved to Springfield, Illinois to live with her older married sister Elizabeth Todd Edwards. As was the custom, Elizabeth served as Mary’s guardian. Despite their sometimes rocky relationship, Elizabeth rescued Mary Todd Lincoln from an insane asylum in 1875, and gave her a home. Image: Elizabeth Todd Edwards and Mary Todd Lincoln Elizabeth Todd was born in 1816 in Lexington, Kentucky. Her sister Mary was born on December 13, 1818. Their mother Eliza Parker Todd died of a post-birth bacterial infection in 1824. Fourteen months later, their father Robert Todd married Elizabeth Humphreys. Over the next 15 years, nine half-siblings joined the family. Mary did not get along with…

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Civil War Nurses, Civil War Women

Diaries of Civil War Nurses

• Maggie

Volunteer Nurses: Forgotten Heroes of the Civil War At the beginning of the war, women in all walks of life saw the need for nurses and simply showed up at military hospitals. A few of the more famous nurses kept a written record of their experiences, including Hannah Ropes, Jane Stuart Woolsey, Kate Cumming and Katharine Prescott Wormeley. Some are merely names on lists in dusty government archives; others we will never know. Backstory In April 1861, Dorothea Dix and a hastily assembled group of volunteer female nurses staged a march on Washington, demanding that the government recognize their desire to aid the Union’s wounded. Secretary of War Simon Cameron quickly named Dix to superintend the women nurses assigned to…

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Civil War Women, Women Lawyers

Myra Bradwell

• Maggie

A Pioneer in American Law Myra Bradwell, a publisher and political activist, almost became the first woman lawyer in Illinois. Though she never practiced law, she became one of the most influential people in the legal profession, and paved the way for future women lawyers. Through her publication, the Chicago Legal News, she initiated many important legal and social reforms. Early Years Myra Colby was born on February 12, 1831 in Manchester, Vermont, the youngest of five children of Eben and Abigail Willey Colby. Shortly after Myra’s birth, the family moved to Portage in western New York, where they lived until 1843. They then moved to Shaumberg, Illinois, near Chicago. She attended finishing school in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and completed her…

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