Yankee Women: Gender Battles in the Civil War

Professor Elisabeth Leonard has done our nation proud by bringing to light in an interesting and maximally informative way, the transforming role of Northern women in the Civil War. As she tracks the challenges facing women both back home and "at the front," she also chronicles the unfolding of a nation as seen through the lives of three women in particular -- a frontline nurse (Sophronia Bucklin), community organizer (Annie Wittenmeyer), and the only lady surgeon in the Union army (Dr. Mary Walker). Through their stories and the vast panoramic landscape that she paints through their lives, she confirms in relief what we already knew about our country: that the Civil war was the transformative event in this nation's history. What we learn here from the letters and testimonials of these three women is that women were not only able to cope with the severe hardship of the war: such as having their men away at the front, from their homes, farms and businesses, but also that women made it their patriotic duty to "get their feet wet" in any way they could in the "war efforts proper." They were not just whiney prostrate hand-wringing pampered nymphs, but took up without missing a beat the duties of the homes, farms and businesses, literally altering the concept of what it meant to be "male" or "female" challenging the conventional stereotypes as they proceeded to earn the respect and dignity due them. They did this all the while through their letters and correspondence and "care packages," continuing to comfort and commiserate with their brothers, sons and husbands about proper eating habits and keeping on warm and dry socks. Sensitively told with a flair for the sociological as well as for the heroic and epic, Professor Leonard not only gives us a window into an important part of the development of the history of the women's movement and the giant steps it made towards fuller equality during the Civil War period, but she also confirms in dramatic relief that the Civil War was the real "Birth of a Nation," marking the end of legal slavery, ending its fragmentation into disparate ex-British colonies, and marking the beginning of America as a bureaucratically centralized industrial capitalist country with a dominant economic vision and purpose. But most importantly, it shows how women earned a space for themselves in the American social reality that was much larger than the traditionally sexist "pigeonhole" reserved for them. It is not just coincidental that this all was accomplished under northern leadership, immensely aided by brave middle-class northern women both at the front and back home. Too bad the same did not happen for Black men, who also because of their efforts in saving the war for Lincoln, should have earned a dignified space in American reality. Yet, well over a century after that war, Black men are still struggling for the elemental respect that they have earned over and over in helping to build this nation. Why did I ever imagine t

This book is excellent. I usually read campaigns & battles orbiographies in the Civil War, so I approached this as a real change of pace. It's hard to overstate how pleased I was with this book! My favorite part is the section on Dr. Mary Walker,the person described by a Confederate officer at the head of this review. Dr. Walker was not only a woman doctor at that time, but a strong, forward-looking advocate of women's rights, and the ONLY FEMALE Medal of Honor winner in the history of the United States. Buy and read this excellent book!

I have referred to Yankee Women numerous times in the past year, not only for my formal research on women in the Civil War, but each time I pick it up, I find more intriguing information! Historian Elizabeth Leonard has done extensive detailed research on the subject of women and the Civil War. Though their names may not be readily familiar,"Yankees" Sophronia Bucklin, Annie Wittenmyer, and Mary Walker,M.D., are all heroines of the Civil War era. Ms. Leonard skillfully prefaces these women's stories by describing the "gender-appropriate behavior" that was expected of women in the restrictive Victorian age and how these women came to break those barriers through nursing, Soldiers' Aid societies, and, (Heaven forbid!)by practicing medicine! The 1860's were turbulent times, indeed, especially for women, who longed to change their image as "angel of the household." According to popular belief (men's stereotyping of women), the battlefield was "no place for a woman," and these Yankee women were determined to defy the standards that men had set for them. In keeping with the topic at hand, her most recent publication, "All the Daring of the Soldier," describes women who participated in both armies of the Civil War. Both of these books are a must for those readers with a special interest in the Civil War, women's history, or nursing and medicine.