Women's Roles During The American Civil War

The American Civil War was fought between the northern and southern soldiers during 1861-1865. This war played a crucial part in shaping the opinions of citizens and provisional gender roles during war time; females were encouraged to help aid the soldiers. Ladies at this time were “vivandieres” who were often known to accompany and provide support to the Union and Confederate army. A handful of women also impersonated themselves as men and joined the fight, while many other females were nurses and spies. As thousands of enslaved ladies were just beginning to be freed, they began their new lives surrounded by the barbarity and midst of the war. When the war was put to an end, 160,000 ladies were left mourning about their family members who had fought and passed away. The American Civil War notably impacted the lives of various American women. When analyzing women 's rights from former years, an American lady had ameliorated their additional legal rights. White and black women had the same rights; however, racial prejudice made it …show more content…
Today, people all around notably remember women during the Civil War as nurses. The most renowned nurse at the time was Clara Barton, who later was the founder of the American Red Cross. Ironically, the Northern and Southern unions surgeons demoralized the female nurses to work in official military hospitals. Schultz noted “Throughout the nineteenth century, women were excluded from medical networks on the basis of biological determinism that cast them as unfit to endure the intellectual and physical rigors of doctoring.” Female nurses were doomed to encounter the military surgeons temper and by civilian bureaucrats who placed these policies. Being a nurse during war time was difficult due to the barbaric environment they had to work in. The female nurses had to prove that they were fit to do the job and help aid soldiers at the