Women in the Civil War

I stumbled upon a unique blog today concerning a segment of the 19th century population about whom I am embarrassed to say I know very little. The blog "Civil War Women" seems well worth the read, containing stories of a wide variety of well and not-so-well known women from that era. The author deserves a great deal of credit for the time spent to pay the respect due to the women who gave what they could and, along with the men of the time, suffered for their cause.

One of the unique heroines of the Civil War, Elizabeth Thorn lived in Gettysburg and experienced the horrors of war first hand. Her husband Peter had enlisted one year prior to the battle leaving her as the Evergreen Cemetery's sole caretaker, a position the two had shared until the 1862. Before the Battle of Gettysburg, Elizabeth had averaged about 5 burials a month. Her charge would increase dramatically when the Armies of General Robert E. Lee and General George Gordon Meade collided in the fields around her home. The human wreckage was indescribable. About 10,000 dead lay upon the newly christened battlefield.

Monument to Elizabeth Thorn in Gettysburg's Evergreen Cemetery,
holding a shovel in her right arm.

Elizabeth would work very hard to put her home back together and to bury a number of the dead. She would later state, "Well, you may know how I felt, my husband in the army, my father an aged man. Yet for all the foul air, we started in. I struck off the graves and while my father finished one, I had another one started." The soon exhausted Elizabeth sought help among her friends. None endured for long however, all leaving for their homes within days due to illness. Elizabeth and her elderly father found themselves alone facing this exhausting work. She said of her predicament, "By that time we had forty graves done. And then father and I had to dig on harder again."

Elizabeth's efforts proved truly remarkable given that, during this time, she was six to seven months pregnant. A short time later, Elizabeth Thorn gave birth to precious little "Rose Meade Thorn", named in part for the commanding general of the victorious Union Army.

Sincerely,

Randy

Please visit my primary site at www.brotherswar.com

All original material Copyright © 2006. All Rights Reserved

Source: Beyond the Gatehouse. Gettysburg's Evergreen Cemetery. Brian A. Kennell, Evergreen Cemetery Association, 2000

A Surprise Guest at Pickett's Charge

When discussing the conspicuous feats of courageous gallantry during Longstreet's Assault on the final day of the Battle of Gettysburg, we often describe with rhetorical flourishes the actions of the countless men who faced death without flinching. Some ten thousand would die on those fields while three times that number would suffer non-mortal wounds. Two weeks after the battle, Union Brigadier General Alexander Hays, who commanded the portion of Cemetery Ridge just above The Angle, would submit a report on those dead that his command buried in the wake of the slaughter. On July 3, 1863, General Hays' men resolutely held their ground, withstanding the potentially crushing wave of Generals Pettigrew and Trimble's portion of Pickett's Charge. General Hays’ report served as a simple yet grim statement of the work death had done on that day. It would include one unexpected casualty.

"HEADQUARTERS SECOND ARMY CORPS,

Sandy Hook, Md., July 17, 1863.

Brigadier General S. WILLIAMS, Assistant Adjutant-General, army of the Potomac:

SIR: I have the honor to report the following number of dead buried at Gettysburg, Pa., by my command, from July 2 to 5, inclusive:

Forces.	Officers.	Enlisted men.	Total.
Union	18	369	387
Rebel	60	1,182	1,242
Total.	78	1,551	1,629

Remarks. - One female (private), in rebel uniform.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

WILLIAM HAYS,

Brigadier-General, Commanding Corps."

General Hays' uncomplicated summary gently reminds us all that, along with those who suffered on the home front, some women faced the horrors of battle, bled, and died as our country fought itself to determine the kind of nation it would become.

Respectfully,

Randy

Please visit my primary site at www.brotherswar.com

All original material Copyright © 2006. All Rights Reserved

"But We Do Know You"

While reading, "A Girl's Life in Virginia Before the War" first published in 1895, I came across this tidbit about a visitor to the home of the author, Letitia M. Burwell.

"Trust in God kept him calm in victory as in defeat. When I remember General Lee during the war, in his family circle at Richmond, then at the height of his renown, his manner, voice, and conversation were the same as when, a year after the surrender, he came to pay my mother a visit from his Lexington home.

His circumstances and surroundings were now changed: no longer the stars and epaulets adorned his manly form; but, dressed in a simple suit of pure white linen, he looked a king, and adversity had wrought no change in his character, manner, or conversation.

To reach our house he made a journey, on his old war horse "Traveler," forty miles across the mountains, describing which, on the night of his arrival, he said:

"To-day an incident occurred which gratified me more than anything that has happened for a long time. As I was riding over the most desolate mountain region, where not even a cabin could be seen, I was surprised to find, on a sudden turn in the road, two little girls playing on a large rock. They were very poorly clad, and after looking a moment at me began to run away. 'Children,' said I, 'don't run away. If you could know who I am, you would know that I am the last man in the world for anybody to run from now.'

" 'But we do know you,' they replied.

" 'You never saw me before,' I said, 'for I never passed along here.'

" 'But we do know you' they said. 'And we've got your picture up yonder in the house, and you are General Lee! And we aint dressed clean enough to see you.'

"With this they scampered off to a poor low hut on the mountain side."

Sincerely,

Randy

Please visit my primary site at www.brotherswar.com.

All original material Copyright © 2005. All Rights Reserved

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References for this article:

1. Documenting the American South