Lesson 17.2b: War Affects Society

Essential Question What was the role of women during the Civil War and what happened to the soldiers who were taken as prisoners.

Vocabulary counterpart: a person who has a rank, job or role similar to that of another person. but on the other team or side exposure: effects of being without protection from the weather dwarfed: made to seem small by comparison

What we already know… In the North, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation led tens of thousands of African Americans to join the Union army.

What we already know… Before the Civil War, few women worked outside their homes.

Women Aid the War Effort With so many men away at war, women in both the North and the South assumed increased responsibilities.

Women Aid the War Effort Women plowed fields and ran farms and plantations. Mayflower Compact = self rule

Women Aid the War Effort They also took over jobs in offices and factories that had previously been done only by men. Mayflower Compact = self rule

Women Aid the War Effort Other social changes came about because of the thousands of women who served on the front lines as volunteer workers and nurses. Mayflower Compact = self rule

Women Aid the War Effort Women volunteers went to work washing clothes, gathering supplies, and cooking food for soldiers. Mayflower Compact = self rule

Women Aid the War Effort Battlefield nursing, which was once done only by men, became a respectable profession for many women during the Civil War. Mayflower Compact = self rule

Women Aid the War Effort Before the Civil War, most military nurses were men, like the poet Walt Whitman. Mayflower Compact = self rule

Women Aid the War Effort By the end of the war, around 3,000 nurses had worked under the leadership of Dorothea Dix in Union hospitals. Mayflower Compact = self rule

Women Aid the War Effort Mary Ann Bickerdyke was a widow who made herbal medicine before the war. Her study of natural medicine, which stressed the benefits of clean water and cleanliness, is credited with saving more lives than all the army physicians. . Mayflower Compact = self rule

Women Aid the War Effort Susie King Taylor was an African-American woman.. Married to an African Amerian soldier, she moved with her husband's regiment, serving as nurse and laundress, and teaching many of the black soldiers to read and write during their off-duty hours. . Mayflower Compact = self rule

Women Aid the War Effort Trained as a schoolteacher, Clara Barton organized a relief agency to help with the war effort.“While our soldiers stand and fight,” she said, “I can stand and feed and nurse them.” She also made food for soldiers in camp and tended to the wounded and dying on the battlefield. Mayflower Compact = self rule

Women Aid the War Effort At Antietam, Clara Barton held a doctor’s operating table steady as cannon shells burst all around them. The doctor called her “the angel of the battlefield.” After the war, Barton founded the American Red Cross. Mayflower Compact = self rule

Women Aid the War Effort Women also played a key role as spies in both the North and the South. Mayflower Compact = self rule

Women Aid the War Effort Harriet Tubman spied for the Union all along the South Carolina coast. Mayflower Compact = self rule

Women Aid the War Effort The most famous Confederate spy was Belle Boyd. Although she was arrested six times, she continued her work through much of the war. At one point, she even sent messages from her jail cell by putting them in little rubber balls and tossing them out the window. Mayflower Compact = self rule

Women Aid the War Effort A popular Washington widow and hostess when the Civil War began, Rose Greenhow used her feminine charms to pass along to Confederate officials information on the defenses of Washington and Union troop movements. Mayflower Compact = self rule

Women Aid the War Effort Rose Greenhow is credited with providing General P.G.T. Beauregard with information resulting in the Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861. Mayflower Compact = self rule

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

Which new role was not taken by women during the Civil War ? A. Working in offices and factories, doing jobs formerly held by men. B. Nursing. C. Holding positions in the government. D. Working on farms and running plantations. E. Spying for the government.

Which of the following women did NOT serve as a Civil War nurse? A. Clara Barton B. Sarah Rosetta Wakeman C. Mary Ann Bickerdyce D. Susie King Taylor

What did Clara Barton do after the war? A. Was given the position of Captain in the Union Army. B. Founded the World Health Organization under the United Nations. C. Founded the “Forever 21” clothing chain. D. Was appointed Surgeon General by the president. E. Helped to found the American Red Cross.

Which of the following women did NOT serve as a Civil War spy? A. Harriet Tubman B. Belle Boyd C. Mary Ann Bickerdyce D. Rose Greenhow

Women Aid the War Effort Both the Union and Confederate armies rejected the enlistment of women. Women who wanted to serve in the army disguised themselves as men and assumed masculine names. Mayflower Compact = self rule

Women Aid the War Effort Because many of them successfully passed as men, it is impossible to know with any certainty how many women served in the Civil War. At least 135 women soldiers are known to have fought in the Civil War disguised as men, although estimates believe the figure to be closer to 400. Mayflower Compact = self rule

Women Aid the War Effort Of these brave women one named Sarah Rosetta Wakeman served from April 1862 and fought in the Battle of Pleasant Hill in April 1864. She died from dysentery one year later. Her true gender was not known until Wakeman's many letters she wrote home were discovered many years later by a relative.

Women Aid the War Effort In some areas of the country, women formed Home Guards in order to protect the home front while the men and boys were gone.

Women Aid the War Effort Some of these Home Guards consisted only of teenagers and young women, who practiced and drilled and made their own uniforms to look like those worn by male soldiers. Mayflower Compact = self rule

CIVIL WAR PRISON CAMPS We have discussed how many soldiers were killed or horribly wounded; but what about those that were captured? Mayflower Compact = self rule

CIVIL WAR PRISON CAMPS At prison camps in both the North and the South, prisoners of war faced horrible conditions. Mayflower Compact = self rule

CIVIL WAR PRISON CAMPS Snow covered. One of the worst prison camps in the North was in Elmira, New York. In just one year, one in every five of Elmira’s 12,121 prisoners died of sickness and exposure to severe weather. Mayflower Compact = self rule Snow covered.

CIVIL WAR PRISON CAMPS Conditions were also horrible in the South. The camp with the worst reputation was at Andersonville, Georgia. Mayflower Compact = self rule

CIVIL WAR PRISON CAMPS Mayflower Compact = self rule Built to hold 10,000 prisoners, at one point it housed 33,000. A staggering 13,700 men died within thirteen months at Andersonville.

CIVIL WAR PRISON CAMPS Inmates had little shelter from the weather. Most slept in holes scratched in the dirt. Drinking water came from one tiny creek that also served as a sewer. Mayflower Compact = self rule

CIVIL WAR PRISON CAMPS As many as 100 men per day died at Andersonville from starvation, disease, and exposure. People who saw the camps were shocked by the condition of the surviving soldiers, comparing them to mummified corpses.

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

What were two of the nation’s worst Civil War prison camps? A. Bradenton, Maryland B. Elmira, New York C. Andersonville, Georgia D. Paducah, Kentucky E. Evansville, Illinois

Most prisoners of the Civil War died from. A. Being hung by their captors. B. Exposure to the elements. C. Forced labor. D. Diseases brought about through malnutrition, unsanitary living conditions and neglect. E. Boredom (Choose all that apply.)

A and B Discuss What advantage do you think a woman would have over a man as a spy. What advantages do you think a man would have as a spy?

Portfolio 17. 2 Study Questions (p54) 7 Portfolio 17.2 Study Questions (p54) 7.  What did Southerners like Jefferson Davis believe the Constitution said about the rights of states? 8.  How did the South’s principle of states’ rights undermine the Confederate war effort? 9.  How did President Lincoln deal with Copperheads and war protests? 10.  How did the draft laws in the North and South differ? 11.  How did the war affect the economy in the South and the North? 12.  What new roles did women take on during the war? 13.  Why did so many soldiers suffer and die behind enemy lines in places like Andersonville, Georgia and Elmira, New York?

(Copy the following 17.2 Class Notes chart on Portfolio p) New war-time roles for women – Clara Barton – Mary Ann Bickerdyce – Susie King Taylor – Harriet Tubman – Belle Boyd – Rose Greenhow – Sarah Rosetta Wakeman – Andersonville, Georgia – Elmira, New York – Causes of death for prisoners of war – Skip two blank lines between each one!