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Admire, KS — A Civil War era picture of Jennie Hodgers shows her not wearing a corset, but rather a union soldier's uniform. She is one of many women historian Joyce Thierer says fought in the Civil War.
"Frances Clayton we believe fought at Mine Creek. This picture here you can see her in her corset. The only way you can tell is with the face," said Joyce.
Women fought on the Confederate and Union sides.
"There are some great stories coming out of the Confederate. The Union side wanted to really down-play it. Especially after the war," Joyce said.
Joyce says women would typically join the calvary because of the horses.
"Then they didn't have to do the walking. And the calvary intentionally chose 'slight of build' because it's easier on the horse," Joyce said.
Women changed their names, hid themselves under large uniforms, sometimes binding their breasts, even gluing on facial hair as did Loretta Velazquez.
During all her years of research Joyce has only be able to identify five Kansas women. One is Sarah Edmonds.
"That doesn't mean that there weren't more, it's just difficult to find a woman who is intentionally wanting to be unidentified," Joyce said.
And not being identified was relatively easy Joyce says. Sleeping arrangements were pup tents, two people per tent with a cloth divider. And at the time, men were very private.
"You never changed your clothes outside. You always had your shirt buttoned. You even washed with your long underwear on", Joyce said.
Women were usually discovered if they were wounded or sick. Then they would be removed from the army.
Women fought for the same reasons men fought; patriotism, things not going well at home, the need for money. In Kansas soldiers were paid $120 just for signing up.
Joyce says women soldiers in the Civil War are a piece of history still being discovered, And we should know about this piece of history because they took a stand.
"They ran the risk of, if they were identified they were socially outcast. And yet they took a stand for what they believed in. I think they were the most patriotic, but it's not so much they choose the Union cause or the Confederate cause. They choose to take a stand and step out of their proper role of women to take a stand like the men," Joyce said .
Want to see history come to life? Visit the Kansas Alliance of Professional Historic Performers Web site at www.historicperformance.com.
Women in the Civil War, Selected Bibliography
Austin, Lynn. Fire by Night. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2003.
Blanton, DeAnne and Lauren M. Cook. They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the American Civil War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2002.
Burgess, Lauren Cook. An Uncommon Soldier: The Civil War Letters of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, alias Private Lyons Wakeman, 153rd Regiment, New York State Volunteers. Pasadena: 1994.
Buresh, Lumir F. October 25th and The Battle of Mine Creek. Ed. Dan L. smith. Kansas City, MO: Lowell Press, 1997.
Durrant Lynda. My Last Skirt: The Story of Jennie Hodgers, Union Soldier. New York: Clarion Books, 2006.
Edmonds, Sarah Emma. Memoirs of a Soldier Nurse and Spy. Dekalb: Northern Illinois University, 1999.
Faust, Drew Gilipin. Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1996.
Garrison, Webb. Amazing Women of the Civil War. Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 1999.
Leonard, Elizabeth D. Yankee Women. New York: William H. Norton & Company, 1994.
Marten, James. The Children's Civil War. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1998.
Massey, Mary Elizabeth. Women in the Civil War. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1966.
Tsui, Bonnie. She Went to the Field: Women Soldiers of the Civil War. Connecticut: The Globe Pequot Press, 2003.
Aimed more for Youth and their Teachers
Canon, Jill Civil War Heroines. Santa Barbara: Bellerophon Books, 1997.
Copeland, Peter F. Famous Women of the Civil War. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1999.
Herbert Janis. The Civil War for Kids: A History with 21 Activities. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 1999.
Mach, Tom. SISSY!. Lawrence: Hill Song Press, 2003.
Marten, James. The Children's Civil War. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1998.
National Women's History Project. Women in the Civil War Teaching Guide. California: National Women's History Project.
Rinaldi, Ann. Girl in Blue. New York: Scholastic Press, 2001.
Websites
National Women's History Project, www.nwhp.org
Women and the Civil War (list serve and yearly conference) womenandthecivilwar.org
Clara Barton www.nps.gov (The only county in Kansas named for a woman is named for Clara Barton's role in the Civil War)
Woman's Work in the Civil War: A Record of Heroism, Patriotism and Patience
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