Women’s War: Fighting and Surviving the American Civil War

321 Pages·2019·1.732 MB·English

by  Stephanie McCurry

Women’s War

Women’s War
Fighting and Surviving the
American Civil War
Stephanie McCurry
The Belknap Press of
Harvard University Press
Cambridge, Mas sa chu setts
London, England
2019
Copyright © 2019 by Stephanie McCurry
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of Amer i ca
First printing
Jacket artwork: Detail of
Confederates Advancing to the Capture of Disabled Guns, Gaines
by Alfred R. Waud, 1862. Courtesy of Library of Congress Prints &
Mills,
Photographs Division.
Jacket design: Tim Jones
9780674239937 (EPUB)
9780674239944 (MOBI)
9780674239920 (PDF)
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Names: McCurry, Stephanie, author.
Title: W omen’s war : fighting and surviving the American Civil War /
Stephanie McCurry.
Description: Cambridge, Mas sa chu setts : The Belknap Press of Harvard
University Press, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018045331 | ISBN 9780674987975 (alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: United States— History— Civil War, 1861–1865— Women. |
Spies— Confederate States of Amer i ca. | Women spies— Confederate States
of Amer i ca. | Women slaves— United States— History—19th  century. |
Fugitive slaves— United States— History—19th  century. | Civil- military
relations— United States— History—19th  century. | Reconstruction
(U.S. history, 1865–1877)— Georgia. | United States— History—
Civil War, 1861–1865— Influence.
Classification: LCC E628 .M35 2019 | DDC 973.7082– dc23
LC rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2018045331
For Saoirse

Contents
Preface ix
Prologue 1
1. Enemy W omen and the Laws of War 15
2. The Story of the Black Soldier’s Wife 63
3. Reconstructing a Life amid the Ruins 124
Epilogue 203
Notes 215
Acknowledgments 281
Index 287