Category: Civil War Women

Civil War Women
Civil War Spies, Civil War Women

Civil War Women Spies for the South

• Maggie

Female Confederate Spies Washington, DC was an ideal place for Confederate operatives to gather information against the North. Not only was it adjacent to slave-holding states, it was full of Southern sympathizers, many of whom were members of Congress or held other government positions, which gave them easy access to valuable intelligence. Confederate recruiters only had to find the men and women who were brave enough to act as agents. Image: Rose O’Neal Greenhow with her daughter Old Capitol Prison, Washington, DC, 1862 The earliest known spy recruiter was Virginia Governor John Letcher, who immediately set up a spy network in the federal capital. He had been a Congressman in the 1850s and knew the inner workings and social life…

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Civil War Women, Famous Children

Nellie Grant

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Daughter of Union General Ulysses S. Grant Nellie Grant was the third child and only daughter of Union general and later president and first lady, Ulysses S. Grant and Julia Dent Grant. Grant was an affectionate father and his devotion to Nellie was touching to all who observed it. Nellie was only thirteen when she moved into the White House, and the press adored her. Image: Nellie at age 15 Early Years Nellie Grant was born on the Fourth of July in 1855 at White Haven, her mother’s family home near St. Louis, Missouri. She was first named Julia, at the insistence of her father, but was christened Ellen Wrenshall Grant at eighteen months to honor her dying grandmother. She…

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Civil War Women, Generals Wives

Helen Dortch Longstreet

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Second Wife of General James Longstreet Helen Dortch Longstreet, known as the Fighting Lady, lived a long and eventful life. She earned her nickname as a champion of causes such as preservation of the environment, women’s suffrage and civil rights for African Americans. She also spent a great deal of time and energy defending her husband’s actions during the Civil War. Helen Dortch, born on April 20, 1863 in Carnesville, Georgia, was the daughter of Mary Pulliam and James Speed Dortch. She was educated at the Georgia Baptist Female Seminary in Gainesville, Georgia and the Notre Dame Convent in Baltimore, Maryland. On July 3, 1863, General James Longstreet (1821-1904) strongly objected to plan of attack formulated by General Robert E….

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Civil War Women, Famous Firsts, Feminists

Women’s Rights During the Civil War

• Maggie

Women Find New Power and Independence The American Civil War illustrates how gender roles can be transformed when circumstances demand that women be allowed to enter into previously male-dominated positions of power and independence. This was the first time in American history that women played a significant role in a war effort, and by the end of the war the notion of true womanhood had been redefined. During the decades prior to the Civil War, female activists flocked to the abolitionist movement and exerted considerable pressure on the Southern slavocracy. Authors like Lydia Maria Child published pamphlets and books condemning the institution of slavery. Although many male politicians searched for a negotiated settlement, female abolitionists refused to accept any compromise…

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Civil War Women, Famous Children

Grace Bedell

• Maggie

A Child’s Letter to One of Our Greatest Leaders Image: In 1999 the village of Westfield, New York erected these statues commemorating the meeting between Abraham Lincoln and Grace Bedell on February 16, 1861. Grace was eleven years old in 1860, when she wrote a letter to the presidential candidate from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln. Grace’s father was a staunch Republican and active Lincoln supporter, and one day in October 1860 he brought home a picture of Lincoln and his running mate in the 1860 presidential election, Hannibal Hamlin. Years later Grace explained her feelings that day: You are familiar with Mr. Lincoln’s physiognomy, and remember the high forehead over those sadly pathetic eyes, the angular lower face with the deep…

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Civil War Women, Famous Firsts, First Ladies, Generals Wives

Caroline Harrison

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First First Lady to Support Women’s Rights Caroline Harrison, the wife of President Benjamin Harrison, was First Lady from 1889 until her death. She is remembered for her efforts to refurbish the aging White House. Her public support of women’s rights and higher education for women focused greater attention on those issue and promoted greater acceptance of a First Lady’s political ideals. Early Years Caroline Scott was born on October 1, 1832 in Oxford, Ohio, the second daughter of Mary Potts Neal and John Witherspoon Scott, a minister and professor of science and math at Miami University in Oxford. Along with two sisters and two brothers, Carrie, as she was called by friends and family, was raised in a modest,…

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Civil War Women, Diaries and Letters

Sarah Ballou

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A Union Soldier’s Letter to His Wife Image: Sullivan and Sarah Ballou Sarah Ballou’s husband, Sullivan, left his family, law practice and a promising political career to enlist in the Union Army. On July 14, 1861, Sullivan Ballou wrote a poignant letter to his wife, expressing his love for her and his patriotism toward his country. A week later he fought in the first battle of the Civil War at Bull Run. Sarah would not see this letter for many months. Sarah Hart Shumway was born on February 26, 1837 in Worcester, Massachusetts to Christopher Columbus and Catharine Fowler Shumway. Sullivan Ballou was born March 28, 1829 in Smithfield, Rhode Island to Hiram and Emeline Bowen Ballou. He lost both…

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Civil War Women, Educators, Famous Firsts

Mary Jane Patterson

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First African American Woman to Graduate from College Mary Jane Patterson was the first African American woman to earn a bachelor’s degree (Oberlin College, 1862). She became a successful teacher and was later appointed as the first black principal at America’s first public high school for blacks (Preparatory High School for Colored Youth, Washington, DC, 1871). Patterson spent her career creating new educational opportunities for African Americans after the Civil War. Early Years Mary Jane Patterson was born on September 12, 1840, in Raleigh, North Carolina, the daughter of Henry Irving Patterson and Emmeline Taylor Patterson. Mary was probably the oldest of at least seven siblings. Her father, a boyhood friend of future U.S. President Andrew Johnson, was a bricklayer…

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Abolitionists, Activists, African Americans, Civil War Women, Feminists, Poets and Writers, Women in Education

Maria Stewart

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First African American Woman to Lecture in Public Maria Stewart was an essayist, lecturer, abolitionist and women’s rights activist. She was the earliest known American woman to lecture in public on political issues. Stewart is known for four powerful speeches she delivered in Boston in the early 1830s – a time when no woman, black or white, dared to address an audience from a public platform. Childhood and Early Years She was born free as Maria Miller in 1803 in Hartford, Connecticut. All that is known about her parents is their surname, Miller. At the age of five, she lost both her parents and was forced to become a servant in the household of a white clergyman. She lived with…

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African Americans, Civil War Women, Famous Firsts, Women Lawyers

Charlotte Ray

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First African American Woman Lawyer Not only was Charlotte Ray the first African American woman lawyer in the United States, she was one of the first women to practice in the District of Columbia and the third American woman of any race to earn a law degree (Howard University Law School, 1872). Charlotte E. Ray was born in New York City on January 13, 1850 to Charlotte and Reverend Charles Bennett Ray. She had six siblings, including two sisters, Cordelia and Florence. Reverend Ray was an important figure in the abolitionist movement and edited a paper called The Colored American. Education was important to the Rays, and all of their girls went to college. Shortly after the end of the…

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