African American Women In The Civil War

Nathan Bedford Forrest once said, "war means fighting, and fighting means killing." The Civil War is known as America’s bloodiest conflict in history. Thousands of people died of disease and approximately 620,000 soldiers died in the line of duty (Civil War Casualties). During the Civil War, many groups of people were affected as they lived through the conflict between the Northern and Southern states. For some groups of people, they experienced negative impacts, while for others it was not as bad. Groups of people such as African Americans, women, and families on the home front were some of the many groups that were positively and negatively impacted as they lived through America’s bloodiest, the Civil War. thesis
African Americans were both …show more content…
The war provided new job opportunities for women as the demand for spies, soldiers, factory workers, and medical personnel began to increase. Women became eager to fight for the Union and Confederate armies, this resulted in “more than four-hundred women disguising themselves as men during the Civil War” (Women in The Civil War). This allowed women to have a source of income for their families if their husbands were in combat as well. Additionally, since most of the fighting took place near their homes, women would often turn their houses into medical shelters where they would “provide medical care to sick and wounded soldiers” (Textbook 116). Many of the women were greatly affected by the conflict of the Civil War as they began to try new jobs as nurses and other medical personnel. In 1861, one group of women began to search for a way “to work on the front lines, caring for sick and injured soldiers and keeping the rest of the Union troops healthy and safe” (Women in The Civil War). And as a result, by June of 1861, the federal government had agreed to establish the United States Sanitary Commission. The Sanitary Commission’s attempted to fight against “preventable diseases and infections by improving conditions…and relief to sick and wounded soldiers” (Women in The Civil War). Many women funded money and made clothes for soldiers, this became their way of life. Overall, women were positively affected as they lived through the conflict of the Civil War because they had many more job opportunities open