History 304 Readings Wiki

The Civil War caused women across the South to flee their homes. The increasing number of white women on the run challenged proslavery ideology, as the need to protect white women and white homes became a Confederate rallying cry. (Guy)

The Civil War witnessed the first major sustained assault on planter homes. Physical, psychological, and political, the war attacked the meaning of home for women of all races up and down the economic spectrum. (Guy)

The making of a proslavery nation required keeping “home” intact. In turn, it required keeping elite slaveholding women and enslaved people at home in their designated places. (Guy)

In the South the traditional values around women and families worked as a motivation for and against secession. At the beginning of the war, many white Southern men took up arms in order to protect their homes and wives. The view of women during this time was that they were innocent and needed to be protected by their husbands from the violent men of the North. As the war continued, and more Southern men died, traditional values made people move away from secession. Families were being disrupted by the war, many women lost their husbands, and many of them went into dire economic situations because of it. (Tanner Gillikin)

During the Civil War, in the South there were restrictions put onto women. They were not allowed freedom of travel, and needed to obtain a passport in order to go anywhere. This was seen as a point of pride for some Southern women, but as a whole it was seen as mostly a nuisance. (Tanner Gillikin)

One way that white women of the South exercised control was by breaking the families of enslaved people. It was at their discretion to do what they pleased with families. This kept enslaved people’s spirits low, and made them less privy to rebelling against their masters. (Tanner Gillikin)

Glymph brought up the irony of Southern women having to sneak foods and goods like enslaved individuals. This irony, which represents the mindset of the South, was not discussed by any of the Southern women in recollections. Glymph observed that the movement of Southern women was similar to that of slave coffles. Like enslaved people, they became displaced and surrounded by violence. (Hannah E.)

During the Civil War, much of the fighting was in the slave-holding South. This caused many slave-holding women to flee their homes and become refugees. Southern women were “broken” because they were not aware of how great their sacrifices would be, being the destruction of their homes and property. (Hank L)

Many refugees in the South were white women and children. After the Civil War broke out, the lives of white southern women completely changed. Rather then being powerful and on top of a “pedestal”, they were now mixed with the enslaved people they once held themselves above. Many southern white women were in shock because this reversal of their lives. (Hank L)

Interestingly, many southern white women had unrealistic expectations about what the Civil war would cost them. While they were aware the war would mean financial hardship and shortages, they were not expecting to lose their homes and slaves. Regarding the loss of slaves, Glymph points out that many southern white women subscribed to a “fiction of slave loyalty” and were unable to consider the alternative. Pg.22 (Ian Tiblin)

The elites in the South frequently hated and criticized poor white women. Elites' thought that poor white women weren't contributing enough to the Confederacy. Additionally, because they were less enthusiastic about the war, some elites criticized them. This shows the different thoughts and feelings of war between the rich and poor. (Hannah E.)

Poor white neighbors were not prepared for the rich refugees. If anything, they felt threatened by slaveholding women's efforts to restore their houses. It represented a threat and an intrusion into their world. (Hannah E.)

Hundreds of thousands of enslaved women had fled by 1865. The U.S. government had also modified their stance on slavery, creating black regiments in the U.S. army for men and other places in the war for black women. This also changed the idea of women in war, shifting from white women to black and white women. (Hank L)

“The convergence of the home front and battlefront” was often criticized by confederate women. Privately, women accused Northern commanders for waging war against southern women and their homes. On this topic, Glymph highlights the point of Mark Neely,that these criticisms were mostly based on the “hot words” of union commanders. Neely observes that the thoughts of the commanders, like General Sherman, were a measure of the “intense national feeling rather than a reflection of their issued order.“ In reality, confederate women harmed by the union were often involved with confederate guerilla efforts. Pgs.200-202 (Ian Tiblin)