UNION SPRINGS - During the Civil War, not all women remained in their roles as mothers or wives, some worked their way along the front lines, fighting next to their male counterparts, tending to the injured or acting as covert agents.
“These women were on the front lines as soldiers, nurses and spies, and some of them died there, but a lot of them came back,” said Linda Zach, during her presentation about some of the key women who served during the Civil War. “During the war, they opened an already slightly ajar door a little bit more for equal rights in a male-dominated world.”
The presentation, which was held at in the Frontenac Museum in Union Springs Sunday afternoon, included Medal of Honor recipient Mary Walker, a Syracuse University graduate, who served as both a surgeon and a spy; Maria Lewis, a black woman who posed as white male officer in a Union cavalry unit; and Anna Ella Carroll, who some historians believed was a member of former President Abraham Lincoln's war cabinet.
Zach said she believed it was important to recognize women such as Carroll, who is credited with developing the strategy that led to the Union's first victories of the war at forts Henry and Donelson, because they prove women had a key role in the outcome of history.
“I wanted to develop this talk after I got into a dispute with different officers at Civil War re-enactments who said women weren't allowed on the field because they didn't go on the field during battle,” Zach said. “Women were in every single battle in some capacity and that is what sparked me to do this.”
Zach even discussed how woman who served as soldiers often posed as men by wearing loose clothing and fake facial hair to disguise their physical features and by walking, talking and acting like a man in order to fit in. Those women also had to live, train, march and fight with the men while wearing the same 85 pounds of equipment and weapons.
And it was usually only another woman that could identify a male imposter as one of her counterparts, Zach said.
“During the battle of Anteitam, a female soldier was injured and another female soldier came to tend to her injuries,” Zach said. “The injured soldier recognized the other one as a woman, and that woman recognized the injured soldier as a woman. The injured soldier asked that she not tell anyone and to bury her after she died.”
After the presentation, Kate Erickson, of Cayuga, said she had gained a new perspective on the war.
“It's a little known and very important aspect of history,” Erickson said. “Someone recognized that and researched it and presented it to the public. It thoroughly enjoyed this.”
Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net
The presentation, which was held at in the Frontenac Museum in Union Springs Sunday afternoon, included Medal of Honor recipient Mary Walker, a Syracuse University graduate, who served as both a surgeon and a spy; Maria Lewis, a black woman who posed as white male officer in a Union cavalry unit; and Anna Ella Carroll, who some historians believed was a member of former President Abraham Lincoln's war cabinet.
Zach said she believed it was important to recognize women such as Carroll, who is credited with developing the strategy that led to the Union's first victories of the war at forts Henry and Donelson, because they prove women had a key role in the outcome of history.
“I wanted to develop this talk after I got into a dispute with different officers at Civil War re-enactments who said women weren't allowed on the field because they didn't go on the field during battle,” Zach said. “Women were in every single battle in some capacity and that is what sparked me to do this.”
Zach even discussed how woman who served as soldiers often posed as men by wearing loose clothing and fake facial hair to disguise their physical features and by walking, talking and acting like a man in order to fit in. Those women also had to live, train, march and fight with the men while wearing the same 85 pounds of equipment and weapons.
And it was usually only another woman that could identify a male imposter as one of her counterparts, Zach said.
“During the battle of Anteitam, a female soldier was injured and another female soldier came to tend to her injuries,” Zach said. “The injured soldier recognized the other one as a woman, and that woman recognized the injured soldier as a woman. The injured soldier asked that she not tell anyone and to bury her after she died.”
After the presentation, Kate Erickson, of Cayuga, said she had gained a new perspective on the war.
“It's a little known and very important aspect of history,” Erickson said. “Someone recognized that and researched it and presented it to the public. It thoroughly enjoyed this.”
Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net
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