Civil War Nurse in Washington, DC In 1803, some families from Bristol and Meriden, Connecticut, moved to the wilderness of New York, and settled in what is now Otisco, Onondaga County. Among these were Chauncey Gaylord, a sturdy, athletic young man, just arrived at the age of twenty-one, and “a little, quiet, black-eyed girl, with a sunny, thoughtful face, only eleven years old.” Her name was Dema Cowles. So the young man and the little girl became acquaintances, and friends, and in after years lovers. In 1817 they were married. Their first home was of logs, containing one room, with a rude loft above, and an excavation beneath for a cellar. In this humble abode was born Lucy Ann Gaylord,…
Category: Civil War Women
Civil War Women
Judith Carter Henry
First Civilian Casualty of the Civil War At first, Americans viewed the Civil War romantically, as a great adventure. To many, it was a crusade of sorts that would be decided quickly, and would return both the North and South to a peaceful way of life, either as one nation or two. But events near the small Virginia community of Manassas Junction would change all that. Image: Ruins of Henry House after the Battle of Manassas The importance of the First Battle of Bull Run, or Manassas as it was generally known in the South, lay not so much in the movement of the armies or the strategic territory gained or lost, but shocked the nation into the realization that…
Fannie Lawrence Ricketts
Civil War Nurse Fanny Lawrence was the daughter of an Englishman of wealth, J. Sharpe Lawrence, who owned large estates on the Island of Jamaica. Her parents were married at Elizabeth, New Jersey, and after some years of migratory life between England and the West Indies, decided to remain. There their third daughter Fanny was born. Image: Fanny and James Ricketts In January, 1856, Fanny Lawrence married James B. Ricketts, a distant relative on her mother’s side who was then a captain in the First Artillery, U. S. Army. James was a career soldier who held the rank of captain. He was a graduate of West Point, and fought in both the Mexican and Seminole Wars and served in various…
The Nancy Harts
Female Militia in Georgia Near the beginning of the Civil War, almost all of the men of LaGrange, Georgia, enlisted in the Confederate Army, leaving the small town unprotected. Two upper-class ladies and some graduates of the LaGrange Female College decided that they should gather the women and form a female militia to help protect their community. They called themselves the Nancy Harts in honor of Georgia’s Revolutionary War heroine, who single-handedly defended her home against a group of invading British soldiers. Nancy Colquitt Hill Morgan had been married for only 6 months, and was only 21 years of age when her husband left for war. Mary Cade Alford Heard was 27 when her husband left, leaving her in charge…
Belle Boyd
Confederate Spy in the Civil War One of the most famous of Confederate spies, Belle Boyd served the Southern forces in the Shenandoah Valley, running her spying operations from her father’s hotel in Front Royal, Virginia. Betrayed by her lover, Boyd was arrested on July 29, 1862, and again in June 1863. Finally released but suffering from typhoid, she went to Europe to regain her health. Childhood and Early Years She was born Maria Isabelle Boyd in Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia), on May 9, 1844. Her father, a hotelier and storekeeper, was prosperous enough to send his spirited daughter to Mount Washington Female College in Baltimore, where she studied from 1856 to 1860. She learned to speak French fluently…
Lucy Buck
Lucy Buck from Front Royal, Virginia kept a diary of the events she witnessed from December 1861 to April 1865. Her diary entries describe daily life at her home with an extended family that included parents, a grandmother, aunts, cousins, younger siblings and visitors. Image: Bel Air, the home of Lucy Buck As taken from a sketch made in 1860 From her diary, Sad Earth, Sweet Heaven Early Years Lucy Rebecca Buck was born on September 25, 1842, in Warren County, Virginia, the third of thirteen children. She learned the social graces at two local schools. Lucy was 18 years old when the Civil War began, and she lived with her family in Front Royal, Virginia, throughout the war. Built…
Melcenia Elliott
Among the heroic and devoted women who labored for the soldiers of the Union in the Civil War, and endured all the dangers and privations of hospital life, was Miss Melcenia Elliott of Iowa. Born in Indiana, and reared in the northern part of Iowa, she grew to womanhood amid the scenes and associations of country life, with a generous nature, superior physical health, and a heart warm with the love of country and humanity. Her father was a prosperous farmer, and gave three of his sons to the struggle for the Union, who served honorably to the end of their enlistment, and one of them re-enlisted as a veteran, performing the perilous duties of a spy, that he might…
Mary Morris Husband
Civil War Nurse from Pennsylvania Mary Morris Husband was a well known Pennsylvania nurse, whose illustrious career found her serving the physical, psychological and legal needs of the men in her care. She was known as the nurse with the apron of miracle pockets, because her deep, wide pockets carried games and reading material that entertained and filled the soldiers’ long hours of recovery. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mary Morris was the granddaughter of Robert Morris, Revolutionary War financier and signer of the Declaration of Independence. She married a prominent and wealthy Philadelphia attorney, J. I. Husband. Her husband, her two sons and herself constituted her household at the beginning of the Civil War. Patriotic instincts were strong in the…
Frances Dana Gage
Writer, Abolitionist and Women’s Rights Activist Frances Dana Gage was a leading reformer, feminist and abolitionist. She worked closely with other leaders of the early women’s rights movement. She was among the first to champion voting rights for all citizens, without regard to race or gender. Childhood and Early Years On October 12, 1808, Frances Dana Barker was born in Union, Ohio. Her parents were among the first settlers in the United States Northwest Territory. A farmer’s daughter, Frances was educated at a log cabin in the woods, spun the garments she wore, made cheese and butter, and did outdoor chores. Frances made frequent visits to her grandmother, Mary Bancroft Dana, whose home was at Belpre, Ohio. Mary Dana was…
Margaret Breckinridge
Civil War Nurse for the Union Army During the first year of the Civil War, family responsibilities kept Margaret Breckinridge at home, but she could not be satisfied to remain with the Home Guards. She wanted to be close to the scene of action, and was determined to become a hospital nurse. Her anxious friends worried that her slender frame and excitable temperament could not bear the stress and strain of hospital work, but she had made up her mind. Childhood and Early Years Margaret Elizabeth Breckinridge was born in Philadelphia on March 24, 1832. Her paternal grandfather was John Breckinridge of Kentucky, once Attorney General of the United States. Her mother died when Margaret was only six years old,…