Women in the Civil War

After a generation of scholarship on women and the Civil War, we have discovered that the nation’s women were involved in almost every phase of the conflict. They worked in shops, farms, and plantations; they served as nurses, spies, and journalists; several thousand of them served as soldiers. But we need to know more about how women experienced the war’s other transformations, such as the intense political discussions on the war’s meaning, as well as the war’s long-term impact on civilians.

These excellent articles, both based on original research, make important contributions to our knowledge of these subjects. Margaret Storey describes the political debates that broke out after Yankee officers’ wives arrived in occupied Memphis in 1862. These women hotly debated with white female residents over the war’s purpose, in addition to proper definitions of gender, part of the public dialogue between civilians all over the country. Victoria Bynum reveals the impact that ruined families and the sluggish postwar economy could have on vulnerable individuals such as Mariah Murray. Murray’s suicide reminds us that white women could suffer from what we now know to be post-traumatic stress disorder long after the armies disbanded.

The conflict affected almost every person, female and male, who lived through it. These essays should inspire other historians to explore the rich subject of women’s history during and after the Civil War.