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Civil War Women In The Thesis

This allowed Washington, D.C. socialite Rose O'Neal Greenhow to continue spying for the Confederacy throughout the duration of the war, earning her a place as one of the most productive and renowned spies for the South in the war, male or female (Duke). The North had its spies as well; Sarah E. Thompson continued recruiting for the Union and providing information on Confederate movements around her home in Tennessee even after her husband's death (Duke). There were also women during the Civil War who were not content just to aid the war effort from the periphery, or to deal with the effects of war in the aftermath of military hospitals. There are many stories of women who dressed as men and assumed male identities in order to join in the fighting, both for the Union and the Confederate armies. It is impossible to know exactly how many of these female soldiers truly existed, as it is likely that the majority of them managed to keep their secret for the duration of their time in the war, but estimates out the numbers of women soldiers...

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Many of these women returned home to much fanfare once their stories had been publicized, and were commended for their bravery and their loyalty by their commanding officers (Blanton). The fact that these women has to pretend to be men in order to accomplish what they did illustrates quite clearly the needless bias that existed during the war, as many women served just as competently as their male counterparts.
The end result is that women were just as instrumental in mounting a successful war, for better or for worse, as the men of this country were. The women of the Civil War supported the effort openly through aid societies and grassroots organizing, through nursing efforts directed only at save livings and relieving suffering, secretly as conveyors of sensitive information, and even more secretly as disguised soldiers fighting alongside the men of their neighborhoods and families. In short, women were simply and absolutely essential for the Civil War effort for both the Union and the Confederacy, regardless of how little they are remembered.

Works Cited

ACW. "Women of the American Civil War." American Civil War.com. Accessed 15 October 2009. http://americancivilwar.com/women/women.html

Blanton, DeAnne. "Women Soldiers of the Civil War." National Archives. Accessed 15 October 2009. http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1993/spring/women-in-the-civil-war-1.html

Duke. "Civil War Women." Duke University Library. Accessed 15 October 2009. http://library.duke.edu/specialcollections/collections/digitized/civil-war-women/

Stein, Alice. "The North's Unsung Sisters of Mercy." America's Civil War; 12(4) (1999), pp. 38-45.

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Works Cited

ACW. "Women of the American Civil War." American Civil War.com. Accessed 15 October 2009. http://americancivilwar.com/women/women.html

Blanton, DeAnne. "Women Soldiers of the Civil War." National Archives. Accessed 15 October 2009. http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1993/spring/women-in-the-civil-war-1.html

Duke. "Civil War Women." Duke University Library. Accessed 15 October 2009. http://library.duke.edu/specialcollections/collections/digitized/civil-war-women/

Stein, Alice. "The North's Unsung Sisters of Mercy." America's Civil War; 12(4) (1999), pp. 38-45.
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