Julia Fusco
3/10/09
The Effects of War on the Home front

So unimaginably costly, war takes a toll on everyone. During the civil war, 620,000 people died, but they weren’t the only people effected. Families on the home front were impacted by the war in many ways. Children were used to support the soldiers women were nurses and spies. Families suffered losses when family members were wounded, missing or dead.
Boys were used in a number of ways in the Civil War for example; powder monkey- boys carried ammunition to gun crews. These boys were usually between the age of ten and fifteen years old. They had to be quick and scamper across the ships deck to the cannons. (McPherson, 78)(History Alive 123) Some boys were chosen to be drummers in the war. For example, in one image a woman is crying as a soldier beckons for a boy wearing a suit and a drum on his back. The young boy is being recruited to the war to be a drummer. (Ahlstrom Basker,8) When the boys returned, they were changed from seeing all the horrors. For example, in a second image a drummer boy recently returning home looks sad and serious (Ahlstrom Basker, 43)
Rich men could get out if being drafted by paying a fee or having another man go for them. Poorer men couldn’t buy their way out. Some men who didn’t want to fight protested in “draft riots.” (History Alive 123) (I’m going to add more here like some primary sources.)
Unlike before the war, women had more responsibilities and duties; they had to take care of the plantations. (History Alive) Some women hired others to help with the chores. (Arnold,68) Countless numbers of soldiers were set up in nurse’s station at the home front and the battleground. It was the women’s jobs to help these men. Good health care was scarce at the time. Doctors knew nothing about germs. There were no antibiotics to give the soldiers to make them feel better. Legs, arms and other bones were shattered from Minie -balls. Amputation was the only way to fix the bone. Anesthesia shipments ran out, so to put the soldiers to sleep doctors would use chloroform when operating on them. The craziest way the doctors put the soldiers to sleep was they would try to get them drunk on whiskey. The conditions weren’t very sanitary because the saw the doctor would use for an amputation would still have blood from the previous soldier. (McPherson, 60)
“All though there was much resistance no one could deny that the services of women were needed in hospitals during the civil war, in both the North and the South. This Hospital appears to be rather neat and orderly but hospitals were usually understaffed and ill-equipped to deal with the huge number of casualties the battles produced.”(Zeinert, 42)
Dorothea Dix and Clara Barton were two important nurses during the Civil war. Dorothea Dix was the superintendent of female nurses her main priority was to recruit nurses. (McPherson, 60) Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross in 1881. She took care of patients near Cedar Mountain. Both soldiers from the North and South came to her. She also traveled with the Union so she could nurse the wounded. One task Barton did was tracking the whereabouts of missing soldiers. (Zeinert, 52)
Women also offered to spy for their side and were constantly reminded they were risking their lives. These women would sneak on to the enemy’s territory. Some got too nervous and couldn’t spy anymore; others were discovered.
“I was highly commended by the commanding general for my coolness [during my escape from confederate pickets] but was told kindly and candidly that I would not be permitted to go out again in that vicinity in the capacity of a spy as I would most assuredly meet with some of those who had seen me… and I would consequently be hung up to the nearest tree.” Said Sarah Emma Edmonds, a union spy, (zeinert, 29)
During the civil war women spies were clever. They hid messages in mysterious locations such as their petticoats, their hairdos, behind the images in their locket/jewelry, even the mail. Some women didn’t need disguise themselves to help their side. Susie King, a slave, earned her freedom in 1862 when confederates left their slaves behind and fled. Elizabeth van Lew was one of the best spies. She was daring and successful at what she did. (Zeinert, 29) Lew was the kind of women who said what she thought. This caused people to ignore her and in this case, being ignored worked to her advantage. She cared for soldier’s health so she took food and medicine to Union soldiers. She asked lots of questions and asked the prisoners what they had over heard from the guards; which she would report back to the generals. An unusual way Lew sent the news to general grant was just sending information through the mail. One of Elizabeth’s slaves would go to Elizabeth’s farm. (To collect produce) Her shoe heel was hollow; she would put messages in the hollow part of the shoe to deliver. No one was suspicious of these doings. (Zeinert, 30-31)
Another spy was Sarah Emma Edmonds who mastered disguises. She enlisted her self in the army as Frank Thompson. Sarah fought on the battlefield, was a nurse, and became a spy; she would disguise herself as a slave so she could slip through the picket lines. (Zeinert, 31- 32) after escaping she noticed the soldier watching her he said,
“I can trust you and will tell you a secret. I am not what I seem but am a female. I enlisted from the purest motives, and have remained undiscovered…. I wish you to bury me with your own hands…” This is quoted by Elizabeth Van Lew.( Zeinert,33) Sarah buried the soldier as requested.
“I learned to handle a musket very well while in the regiment, and could shoo straight and often hit the target. I assisted in cleaning the guns and used to fire them off, to see if the cartridges were dry, before cleaning and reloading, each day. I thought this great fun. I was also able to take a gun all apart, and put it together again.(Zenert,28 civil war memoirs)
Women in the North helped soldiers by making equipment in factories they made: weapons, quilts to sell, uniforms, around 100.000 women and children worked in factories making the equipment. The children who worked in the factories got little pay for their services. Children worked at the factories for long hours. This was because the prices of food and every day items went up quickly but wages didn’t.(Arnold, 34) In the South the home front was very different. The South had hardly any supplies. Houses and farms were torn down. Livestock were killed, buildings were burned down to the ground.(Arnold,35) In the South, prices rose. Family member were lost during the wars. Even people who were not soldiers were being bombed and had to fight for their own life because there was fighting everywhere.Families would hide in the cellars to be safe from the bombing.Here is an excerpt from Carrie Berry . Aug. 14. Sun. Sure enough we had shells in abundance last night. We averaged one every moment during the night. We expected every one would come through and hurt some of us but to our joy nothing on the lot was hurt. They have ben throwing them at us all day to day but they have not ben dangerous. Papa has ben at work all day making the cellar safe. Now we feel like we could stay at home in safety. I dislike to stay in the cellar so close but our soldiers have to stay in ditches. During Shermans march to the sea Sherman terrorized the people living in that area. Ruining everything in the soldiers path. Aug. 23. Tues. We feel very comfortable since we have moved but Mama is fretted to death all the time for fear of fire. There is a fire in town nearly every day. I get so tired of being housed up all the time. The shells get worse and worse every day. O that something would stop them. (Carrie Berry www.American civil war.com) ( I will add a paragraph about families grieving for t heir lost, wounded, or dead family members.)
In conclusion, life was very tough for the women and children on the homefront; having to work long hours in factories, work on the plantations or the house. Without the women helping the wounded many wouldn’t have made it. Even though there were so many that ended up dying, women played a vital role in the war.