Belles Take The Battlefield
The roles of women in the Confederate South drastically changed during the civil war; when the war broke out, some women felt empowered to step up and brake the Antebellum Southern Belle stereotype. Southern women left their homes to become brave volunteers to help the Confederacy during the civil war.
The roles of women in the Confederate South drastically changed during the civil war; when the war broke out, some women felt empowered to step up and brake the Antebellum Southern Belle stereotype. Southern women left their homes to become brave volunteers to help the Confederacy during the civil war.
Antebellum (in this context) means "existing before the civil war."
The women in the drawing above perfectly embody the Antebellum Southern Belle stereotype.
An antebellum Southern Belle's role was to be an object of beauty and to please her husband no matter what. Her daily life would be simple, with little rights or opinions of her own. The ladies in the drawing are dressed in lavish, proper clothes as they step outside their Southern Plantation mansion. The two girls above also seem very delicate as they look at dainty flowers. They portray the stereotypical idea of simple, proper antebellum Southern women.
BUT.... When the civil war begins, some Southern women abandon this perfectly simple house life. About 750 women became field nurses and others aided the Confederacy in other ways.
Shortly after people realized that that the Civil War would not be a quick war, around June 1861 after the first Battle of Bull Run, women began to volunteer to help the wounded. This battle in Manassas Junction, Virginia was extremely bloody. The Confederate government didn't have the money or organization to hire field nurses so the brave women who came to help were all volunteers.
Prior to the Civil War, the stereotypical Southern woman would have been very sheltered from the horrors of war. She would have sat at home and stayed there to protect the children. When women began to bombard the battlefield to help the soldiers, it slightly broke this stereotype.
Prior to the Civil War, the stereotypical Southern woman would have been very sheltered from the horrors of war. She would have sat at home and stayed there to protect the children. When women began to bombard the battlefield to help the soldiers, it slightly broke this stereotype.
APRIL 1862 - KATE CUMMINGS
The perfect example of a Southern Belle who left her home for the battlefield would be Miss Kate Cummings. She was raised in Alabama in a wealthy family. She felt empowered to offer her help to Confederate soldiers as the war rage on. Although her family didn't approve and thought that nursing was unladylike.... she defied their wishes and went anyways in April 1862. She believed that all patriotic women should aide the cause.
Cummings volunteered all over the South beginning in Mississippi and later Georgia. The atrocities of war moved her so much that she kept a journal in which she wrote almost daily. A journal of hospital life in the Confederate Army of Tennessee is the name of her accounts. Her writing is one of the few accounts of the Civil War Confederate Nurses and has great historical significance. Kate Cummings will be remembered as one of the women who rose up and left her typical sheltered life of a Southern woman to aide a much greater cause.
The perfect example of a Southern Belle who left her home for the battlefield would be Miss Kate Cummings. She was raised in Alabama in a wealthy family. She felt empowered to offer her help to Confederate soldiers as the war rage on. Although her family didn't approve and thought that nursing was unladylike.... she defied their wishes and went anyways in April 1862. She believed that all patriotic women should aide the cause.
Cummings volunteered all over the South beginning in Mississippi and later Georgia. The atrocities of war moved her so much that she kept a journal in which she wrote almost daily. A journal of hospital life in the Confederate Army of Tennessee is the name of her accounts. Her writing is one of the few accounts of the Civil War Confederate Nurses and has great historical significance. Kate Cummings will be remembered as one of the women who rose up and left her typical sheltered life of a Southern woman to aide a much greater cause.
MAY 1862- BELLE BOYD
Also another Southern Belle who rose up to help during the civil war was Belle Boyd. Belle was born in Virginia and wanted to aide the Confederate soldiers so she devised a brilliant plan to embrace her "Southern Belle stereotype." Her genius idea was to flirt with Union soldiers in order to get helpful information to give to Confederate troops. Boyd was brave, she knew how dangerous her schemes were but she did them regardless to make a difference. She fully embraced her feminine Belle stereotype but really, she was not a polite gal. She was a fearless, cunning spy.
Instead of directly contradicting her given stereotypical Southern Belle identity, she broke it in a secret way. This also signifies the changing role of women. During the civil war, lots of ladies altered the idea of how women should behave. Just like Boyd and Cummings, women were no longer helpless and submissive, but moving towards equal status with the men.
Also another Southern Belle who rose up to help during the civil war was Belle Boyd. Belle was born in Virginia and wanted to aide the Confederate soldiers so she devised a brilliant plan to embrace her "Southern Belle stereotype." Her genius idea was to flirt with Union soldiers in order to get helpful information to give to Confederate troops. Boyd was brave, she knew how dangerous her schemes were but she did them regardless to make a difference. She fully embraced her feminine Belle stereotype but really, she was not a polite gal. She was a fearless, cunning spy.
Instead of directly contradicting her given stereotypical Southern Belle identity, she broke it in a secret way. This also signifies the changing role of women. During the civil war, lots of ladies altered the idea of how women should behave. Just like Boyd and Cummings, women were no longer helpless and submissive, but moving towards equal status with the men.
What Belle Boyd might say..... "I clearly look like a Southern Belle with my massive dress and perfect ringlets.
My name even says Belle in it! But I was a brave undercover spy who was arrested
several times. Ironic, huh?"
1863 - EUPHEMIA GOLDSBOROUGH
After these brave women accepted the challenge to rise above their social norm and make a difference in their Southern lives, women began to feel empowered. Their diaries and stories gained recognition and the role of a woman in Southern society slowly but surely began to change.
Euphemia Goldsborough was another dignified Southern nurse. Like Cummings, she kept a diary of her life through out the civil war. She played a major role in the "underground" deliveries of food and medicine to the Confederate troops. Although arrested in November 1863 by Union soldiers, her works and her story were very important to the Confederate cause and more importantly the respect that women gained.
Euphemia and her other female counterparts will be remembered as one of the very first stepping stones to women gaining equal rights and status as men in America. The roles that she and the women mentioned above played were motivation for future ladies to rise up above their stereotype of being inferior to men.
After these brave women accepted the challenge to rise above their social norm and make a difference in their Southern lives, women began to feel empowered. Their diaries and stories gained recognition and the role of a woman in Southern society slowly but surely began to change.
Euphemia Goldsborough was another dignified Southern nurse. Like Cummings, she kept a diary of her life through out the civil war. She played a major role in the "underground" deliveries of food and medicine to the Confederate troops. Although arrested in November 1863 by Union soldiers, her works and her story were very important to the Confederate cause and more importantly the respect that women gained.
Euphemia and her other female counterparts will be remembered as one of the very first stepping stones to women gaining equal rights and status as men in America. The roles that she and the women mentioned above played were motivation for future ladies to rise up above their stereotype of being inferior to men.
To all you strong, independent women out there, Take some advice that Euphemia would have given you. Rise above the image that society thinks you are!!!
WORKS CITED:
Civil War Biographies: Sally Louisa Tompkins. Patricia L. Faust. 2008. Web. 3 December 2013.
Civil War Women: Kate Cumming. Maggie MacLean. 2006. Web. 3 December 2013.
Nurse Heroines of the Confederacy. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 2009. Web. 3 December 2013.
Medicine. Library of Virginia. 2013. Web. 3 December 2013.
A Nurse’s Diary. WGBH Educational Foundation. 1996. Web. 3 December 2013.
How Slavery Defined Antebellum Southern Women. Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History. 2011. Web. 3 December 2013.
Exile To Sweet Dixie. Tower.com. 1995. Web. 3 December 2013.
Baptists and the American Civil War. Bruce T. Gourley. 2011. Web. 3 December 2013.
Civil War Women.Civil War Academy.com. 2007. Web. 3 December 2013.
All is Fair: Women and the American Civil War. Feminist.com. 1995. Web. 3 December 2013.Web.
Civil War Biographies: Sally Louisa Tompkins. Patricia L. Faust. 2008. Web. 3 December 2013.
Civil War Women: Kate Cumming. Maggie MacLean. 2006. Web. 3 December 2013.
Nurse Heroines of the Confederacy. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 2009. Web. 3 December 2013.
Medicine. Library of Virginia. 2013. Web. 3 December 2013.
A Nurse’s Diary. WGBH Educational Foundation. 1996. Web. 3 December 2013.
How Slavery Defined Antebellum Southern Women. Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History. 2011. Web. 3 December 2013.
Exile To Sweet Dixie. Tower.com. 1995. Web. 3 December 2013.
Baptists and the American Civil War. Bruce T. Gourley. 2011. Web. 3 December 2013.
Civil War Women.Civil War Academy.com. 2007. Web. 3 December 2013.
All is Fair: Women and the American Civil War. Feminist.com. 1995. Web. 3 December 2013.Web.
Webpage created by: Keil Gerard, Garrison Weaver, Arianna Jopling and Lauren Sharrock