Question of the Week: 3/6-3/12/23
March is Women’s History Month, so let’s ask the classic question:
Which woman from the Civil War era inspires you?
March is Women’s History Month, so let’s ask the classic question:
Which woman from the Civil War era inspires you?
Mary Walker. Am idividual ahead of her time, courageous, tenacious, an insoiration even in this age.
For the South: Rose O’Neal Greenhow, spy for the Rebels and based at Washington D.C., she received timely, accurate information in July 1861 in regard to “an imminent Federal troop movement,” and passed it to her “handler,” Thomas Jordan. Jordan alerted General Beauregard… and Confederate President Jefferson Davis later acknowledged Mrs. Greenhow ‘as providing the information that led to Victory at Bull Run.’
For the North: Mother Mary Bickerdyke of Galesburg Illinois, who ordered herself into action as Nurse, first serving at Fort Donelson (where she may have saved the life of a wounded John Logan (merely by changing his bandage.) After the Battle of Corinth she may have saved the life of Major General Stephen Hurlbut. When Union Army doctors complained to Major General Sherman ‘that Bickerdyke was meddling in their operations,’ General Sherman shook his head, shrugged and replied, ‘Nothing I can do… She ranks me.’
For Northerners, Clara Barton, for obvious reasons
For Southerners, Susie King Taylor of Georgia, who escaped from slavery to lead a brave life as a nurse, educator, and finally the author of one of the few memoirs of a formerly enslaved woman.
Mine is Arabella Wharton Griffith Barlow. She, like many made sacrifices to care for not only her husband but the numerous soldiers she provided comfort to only to lose the battle of disease herself that took the lives of so many others, too.
Mary Walker, MD
Two – one for her compassion and the second for her bravery. Clara Barton and Belle Boyd. There respective actions and stories speak for themselves.
Anna Dickinson, who ignored the “proper role” of women in that era and became a forceful advocate of abolition and Union victory.
Clara Barton. her legacy is still alive today, not only in the United States. Then, Harriet Tubman..
Mother Bickerdyke
‘Madame’ Nadine Turchin. I’ve only recently come across her story, but she and her husband, Union Brigadier General John Basil Turchin, both seem like quite interesting characters.
Clara Barton
All the wives, sweethearts, and daughters left behind in New York City when their Irish husbands, fathers, brothers and uncles signed up to fight for the Union.
I’m currently reading a book about Elizabeth Packard and her struggle during the 1860s for women’s rights in court of law after they were married. She’s my current favorite this month, and I’ll probably be able to share more in a blog post later on!