Women
In those days of few inventions the life of a woman on the far was hard work from day-light to dark, with no vacation. Yet during the war these brave women somehow found time to do the men's work too and to make clothing for the boys in the South. I think they deserve a monument quite as much as the soldiers but I have never found one for them. (Slocum 113)
Civil War Women will attempt to document the activities of women, on both sides of the rebellion, who are mentioned in writings by and about Vermonters and Vermont units, and some that have struck me that aren't about Vermont. Since I'm not sure how much material will eventually be available, the format for this article will remain fluid until a future date.
From March 1863 to 1871, Martha Johnson (9/17/1822-12/21/1871), an abolitionist from Peacham, Vermont, served as a freedman's teacher in Port Royal, South Carolina. Documented in McShane, Alice, ed. "Reading, Writing, and War: A Vermonter's Experience in the Port Royal Experiment, 1863-1871." Vermont History 67, no. 3-4 (1999): 101-14. In addition, Johnson Family papers, Vermont Historical Society, include a biography and letters. See also The Flow of History newsletter, Fall, 2006.
What Women Did for the War, and What the War Did for Women, a Memorial Day address by Josiah H. Benton, late private, Twelfth Vermont.
Mrs. Calista Robinson Jones.
Mrs. Calista Robinson Jones, nineteenth national president of the Woman's Relief Corps was teaching inChicago when the Civil War broke out. To show her patriotism, she, with two other teachers, sat up all one night to make a flag to throw to the breeze the next day. When the banner was completed they raised it over their school, and so far as is known it was the first flag to be raised over a schoolhouse in Chiccago, and perhaps in the state. All through those dark days, she worked with the various societies which had sprung up, and in every way possible showed her loyalty to her country and its defenders. From her entrance into the order which promoted her to its highest office, she worked for all its interests and was faithful in performing all its duties. Mrs. Jones made an excellent presiding officer. Her home is in Bradford, Vermont.
John A. Logan and Mary Simmerson Cunningham Logan, The Part Taken by Women in American History, The Perry-Nalle Publishing Co., Wilmington, De., 1912, p. 353.
Nurses
See Linda Welch's article on Eliza Atherton
Mrs. Black, Nurse, Second Vermont Infantry
Amanda Matilda Colburn Farnham Felch, Nurse, Third Vermont Infantry.
Mrs. L. B. (Jenison) Downs, Brattleboro, Nurse, U.S. Hospital, Worcester Mass.
Eliza Hamilton "Mother" George
Fanny H. Titus Hazen, Vershire, Nurse, 4th Vermont Infantry, Washington DC
Estelle S. Johnson, Nurse, 4th Vermont Infantry
Mary J. Safford, "Cairo Angel," native of Vermont
Harriet M. Scott, Irasburg, Nurse, Washington DC
Lydia A. Wood, Nurse, 4th Vermont Infantry (sister of Estelle S. Johnson)
Mrs. Sarah J. Dumas was Miss Sarah J. Steady, and her first work at nursing was at Sherburn Barracks Hospital, in Washington, D. C., February 14, 1865. She served until December of the same year, when her services being no longer needed, she returned to her home in Vermont.
Mrs. Lucy A. (Newton) Young served in camps of Vermont soldiers as a volunteer nurse seven months. She is 69 and lives in (St.) Johnsbury, Vt.
Source: Mrs. John A. Logan, The Part Taken By Women in American History, The Perry-Nalle Publishing Co., Wilmington, Del., 1912, pp. 365 and 374, respectively.
The patriotic and liberal efforts of the ladies of [Jericho], in collecting and sending forward, every article, which only the ingenuity and sympathy of woman can devise, to add to the comfort and alleviate the sufferings of the sick and wounded soldiers, deserves honorable mention, in this Record.
The Medical Department of the army was taxed to its utmost, and could hardly supply the most common wants of the sick and wounded. The articles most needed in the hospitals, and the delicacies necessary for the comfort and cure of its inmates, were, in great part, supplied by the contributions and labors of the people at home.
In procuring and preparing these, the ladies took the lead. Nor were those of our own town behind, in responding to the appeal made to their sympathy and generosity, by these wants of the suffering soldier.
Collectors were appointed, and money, or such articles as were needed, were solicited, and almost every family, rich or poor, contributed something. Meetings and social gatherings were held, and these contributions were prepared in the manner thought to be most useful and convenient, and several boxes were thus filled and sent forward, mostly through the Sanitary or Christian Commissions.
The value of these contributions is not known, as no record of them was preserved.
This noble work, carried on, willingly and cheerfully, asking for no reward, except such as deeds of love and charity always bring, was the means of saving thousands of lives, and alleviating an untold amount of the sufferings of those who went forth to fight the battles of our country, and the sympathy and care thus generously manifested, did much to dispel the dread of enlistment, and to cheer the hearts of the soldiers on to final victory.
Source: E. H. Lane, The Soldiers' Record of Jericho, Vermont, (E. S. Styles, Burlington, 1868), pp 36-7.
Woman and the War
(Not related to Vermont, but indicative of women on both sides of the conflict)
"The attitude of woman is sublime. Bearing all the sacrifices of which I have just spoken, she is moreover called upon to suffer in her affections, to be wounded and smitten where she feels deepest and more enduringly. Man goes to the battlefield, but woman sends him there, even though her heart-strings tremble while she gives the farewell kiss and the farewell blessing. Man is supported by the necessity of movement, by the excitement of action, by the hope of honor, by the glory of conquest. Woman remains at home to suffer, to bear the cruel torture of suspense, to tremble when the battle has been fought and the news of the slaughter is flashing over the electric wire, to know that defeat will cover her with dishonor and her little ones with ruin, to learn that the husband she doted upon, the son whom she cherished in her bosom, and upon whom she never let the wind blow too rudely, the brother with whom she sported through all her happy days of childhood, the lover to whom her early vows were plighted, has died upon some distant battlefield, and lies there a mangled corpse, unknown and uncared for, never to be seen again, even in death. Oh! those fearful lists of the wounded and the dead! How carelessly we pass them over, unless our own loved ones happened to be linked with them in military association, and yet each name in that roll of slaughter, carries a fatal pang to some woman's heart -- some noble, devoted woman's heart. But she bears it all, and bows submissively to the stroke. He died for the cause. He perished for his country. I would not have it otherwise, but I should like to have given the dying boy my blessing, the expiring husband my last kiss of affection, the bleeding lover the comfort of knowing that I kneeled beside him."
Source: A sermon by Bishop Elliott, at Savannah, Georgia, quoted in "The Tri-Weekly Mercury," Charleston, S.C., Thursday, January 15, 1863.
References to Union Women
See Woman's Relief Corps, an auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic.
References to Confederate Women
During the battle for Charlestown on 21 Aug 1864, General Getty authorized sharpshooters from the First Vermont Brigade to occupy a house " known as the Packett House, and which had been hitherto under the care of a safeguard. Among the inmates were several young ladies, one of whom, tall and beautiful, dressed in mourning, and especially noticed for her bravery in the trying scenes that followed, was understood to be a daughter of Col. Washington, the vendor of Mount Vernon, who had been killed in the rebel Service . These people were all at once notified to leave, and could then have done so with perfect safety, but they were overcome by the perversity of fear and could not be induced to go; though urged, reasoned with, and entreated, they insisted upon taking refuge in the cellar of the house. Still, as the fight was with musketry alone, there seemed to be no danger for them behind he heavy basement walls." (Aldace Walker, The Vermont Brigade in the Shenandoah Valley, 1864, Free Press Association, Burlington, Vt., 1869), p. 64)
Read about a Good Samaritan in Aldace Walker's "The Vermont Brigade in the Shenandoah Valley, 1864."
