Herstory: Women of the Civil War

Mary Bowser

As a freed slave, Mary Bowser was utilized by the Union as a spy during the Civil War.  She was sent to work in the Confederate White House and as a servant there, she discovered and overheard many secret plans and military strategies that she passed on to Union spies.  Jefferson Davis knew that there was a spy in the household, but could never discover who was leaking his military plans to the Union.  Since Mary was merely a servant in the household, one whom the Confederates thought of as less than a person because of the color of her skin, they severely underestimated her skills and intelligence.  Her devotion to the Union cause and bravery serving in the belly of the beast won the Union untold amounts of vital information.  She was one of the highest-placed and most successful, productive spies of the Civil War.

Mary Edwards Walker

Mary earned a medical degree during the Victorian Era when it was positively scathing for a woman to have a career outside the home.  When the Civil War broke out, she volunteered as a surgeon for the Union Army.  At first, she was only allowed to practice as a nurse because she was a woman, but later acted as an unpaid surgeon on the front lines in battles such as Fredericksburg and Chattanooga.  In 1863, she was finally employed as a surgeon, making her the first female surgeon to to be employed by the U.S. Army.  She frequently crossed into enemy territory to treat soldiers and civilians alike.  In 1864, she crossed into Confederate territory to assist a Confederate surgeon in performing an amputation and was captured and arrested as a spy.  She was later released in a prisoner exchange and then continued her work until the end of the war.  After the Civil War, she devoted her life to the women's rights movement.  She is the only woman to ever receive the Medal of Honor.

SOLDIERS

Women were allowed to be nurses and spies, but were forbidden from enlisting as soldiers.  However, many women fought for what they believed during the Civil War as well.  Historians estimate that anywhere between 400-1,000 women disguised themselves as men and enlisted in the army for both the Union and the Confederacy.  It's impossible to know the true number for sure because, out of necessity, these women had to fiercely guard their true identities.  Here are the stories of several of those courageous women.

Frances Clalin Clayton (Jack Williams)

    

Frances enlisted in the Union Army alongside her husband, Elmer, in 1861 because she couldn't bear to be separated from him.  In order not the be discovered, she perfected soldierly habits like drinking, swearing, smoking, and walking like a man.  She was deadly with a sword and her superiors revered her as a model soldier.  During the Battle of Stones River, she saw her husband shot and killed just a few feet in front of her.  Even through her agony, she stepped over his body and continued the charge when she was given the order.  By the end of her military career, she had fought in 18 battles, was wounded 3 times, and was even taken prisoner once.

Sarah Emma Edmonds (Franklin Thompson)

  

Sarah enlisted in the Second Michigan infantry and, disguised as a male, served as a nurse and dispatch carrier.  She also spent some time serving as a spy, occasionally "disguising" herself as a woman.  At one point, she contracted malaria and knew that she would be discovered if she went to a military hospital, so she checked into a private hospital to receive treatment.  Once she was better, she went to return to the army under her male persona, but found out that Frank Thompson had been listed as a deserter.  So, she served as a nurse in Washington D.C. under her true identity.  She is one of the very few women who were given a government pension for her service in the war.  She later wrote, "I could only thank God that I was free and could go forward and work, and I was not obliged to stay at home and weep."

Jennie Hodgers (Albert Cashier)

Jennie, an Irish-born immigrant, enlisted in the Union Army, specifically the 95th Illinois Infantry, when she was 19 years old.  Her regiment fought in approximately 40 battles under the command of Ulysses S. Grant over a four year period. Her fellow soldiers just thought that "he" was a small soldier who liked to keep to himself.  Regardless of her size, she was incredibly strong.  She was once captured by the Confederates but was able to escape by overpowering a prison guard.  After her military career was over, she returned to Illinois and spent the rest of her life living as her male persona.  Because she lived as a man, she was allowed to vote, own land, and receive a veteran's pension.  After her death, she was buried in her Union uniform and her tombstone lists her under both of her names.  

The Unnamed New Jersey Soldier

A "young and good-looking" corporal from New Jersey fought fiercely and bravely during the battle of Fredericksburg and was promoted to the rank of sergeant for it.  Honored by fellow soldiers as a "real soldierly, thoroughly military fellow," the soldier had fought in other battles like Antietam and the Seven Days Battle.  The newly promoted sergeant shocked the entire regiment when, a month later, she gave birth to a baby boy in the middle of camp.  This brave soldier's name has been lost to history, but what an inspiration to know that this incredible woman, great with child, fought for what she believed, against unthinkable odds, and survived.

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Herstory: Russian Rulers

Russian Ruling Women

Catherine II (a.k.a Catherine the Great)

Catherine was the most renowned and longest ruling Russian female ruler (Empress Regnant).  She came to power when her husband, Peter III was assassinated.  During her reign, Russia was revitalized after the Seven Years' War, growing larger and stronger and eventually becoming of the world's most powerful nations.  She created the role of peacekeeper for Russia as the international mediator of disputes that may eventually lead to war, a role that was later taken over by Great Britain.  She developed a reputation as a patron of the arts, literature, and education.  She wrote a manual on how to educate children as well as writing comedies, other fiction, and her own memoirs.  She fervently believed that a good education could change the hearts and minds of the Russian people and foster in them a sense of civic responsibility.  She inherited rule during serfdom, but created a system for serfs to file complaints against the nobles they worked for, giving them a legitimate bureaucratic status.

The Romanovs: Alexandra, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, & Anastasia

Alexandra Feodorovna

Alexandra was the wife of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, making her the Tsarina.  She was married relatively late for her position because she had refused an earlier proposal from a man she did not love, which was unheard of at the time.  Her grandmother, Queen Victoria, often said how proud she was that Alexandra stood up for something when many others would not have the courage to do so.  She struggled to attain the approval of the Russian people, partly because she was German-born and there was a strong anti-foreign sentiment during that time.  Additionally, she came across as haughty and cold to her subjects, but those close to her reported that it was only because she was so shy and nervous in front of the Russian people.  She gave birth to 4 daughters and then a son.  When it was discovered that her son, Alexei, had hemophilia (a blood clotting disease that made even a simple fall potentially fatal), she devoted all her time and energy to his care.  She became a nurse during World War I, treating sick and wounded soldiers.

Olga Nikolaevna Romanova

Olga was the eldest child of Alexandra and Nicholas.  She was known for having a compassionate heart and a strong desire to help others.  As a nurse during World War I, she helped treat wounded soldiers for the Red Cross.  She loved to read and truly enjoyed her schoolwork.  According to one of her tutors, she had a "quick brain," sound reasoning abilities, lots of initiative, independence, and a quick wit.  In a letter she wrote during her captivity in Tobolsk she wrote, "...remember that the evil which is now in the world will become yet more powerful, and that it is not evil which conquers evil, but only love..."  When she was twenty, she took a sizable portion of her enormous wealth and began to respond independently to requests for charity.  While out driving one day, she came across a child on crutches.  After learning that the child was sick and the parents couldn't afford his treatment, she set aside an allowance to pay for the child's medical bills.

Tatiana Nikolaevna Romanova

Tatiana was the second child born to Alexandra and Nicholas.  During her lifetime, she was better known by the people than her sisters due to her service heading Red Cross Committees during World War I.  Like her sister, she served as a nurse for 3 years during the War until her family were arrested during the Russian Revolution.  Tatiana was known for her natural leadership ability and her practicality.  Whenever the children wanted a favor from their parents, she was sent to seek it.  She was more reserved and well-balanced than her older sister, Olga.  Her tutors said that she was generally less talented than Olga, but worked hard and showed great dedication to finishing projects.  She was a favorite of her mother because of the kind attentions Tatiana paid to the often sickly Tsarina.

Maria Nikolaevna Romanova

Maria was the third child of Alexandra and Nicholas.  Since she was too young to become a nurse like her mother and two older sisters during World War I, she spent her time visiting with sick and wounded soldiers.    She went out of her way to learn about the lives of the soldiers she visited with.  She had an ardent desire to marry and have children one day, a wish that she would never have a chance to see fulfilled.  Maria was the sweetest-natured of her sisters and was often teased for being the "stepsister" because she hardly ever got in trouble like the rest of them did.  She was incredibly close to her "Papa" and would often try to escape her nurses to seek him out.  Once, when she got into trouble and her mother wanted to punish her, Tsar Nicholas said of his angelic daughter, "I was always afraid of the wings growing.  I am glad to see she is only a human child."  Maria had a talent for drawing and was surprisingly strong, often demonstrating how she could lift her tutors off the floor.  Even during the family's captivity, she befriended guards and talked to them about their families and wives.

Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova

Anastasia was the fourth and final daughter of Alexandra and Nicholas.  She is, by far, the most famous of the Romanovs due to her alleged escape from the execution of the rest of her family.  She was to believed to have escaped because her remains and the remains of her little brother, Alexei, were not discovered with the remains of the rest of the family.  Several women claimed to be the escaped princess and several movies have been made based on the mythology of Anastasia (including a Disney movie of the same name).  However, in 2008, Russian scientists and archaeologists discovered the remains of Anastasia and Alexei and matched them with the rest of the family.  During her life, she was known as a "shvibzik" which means "imp" in Russian "for in naughtiness she was a true genius."  She was the most mischievous, vivacious, and energetic of the children.  However, her nurses and tutors also reported that she was one of the most charming children they had ever met.  She was also too young to be a nurse during the War, so she visited the soldiers with her sister, Maria, playing checkers with them and telling jokes.  Even during their captivity, she found ways to have fun and lift the spirits of her family members by performing plays and comic mimes for them. ADSENSE HERE

Herstory: The Greek Intellectuals

Aspasia

"Aspasia Surrounded by Greek Philosophers"

Aspasia was a highly educated woman in ancient Greece who was far more independent than most women of her time.  She paid taxes and participated in symposium where her opinions were listened to and highly respected by men.  At the time, most women were traditionally confined to their homes, but Aspasia participated in the public life in the city because of her status.  Instead of being revered for her physical beauty alone, as most women were in those days, she was respected as a great conversationalist and adviser.  The home of Aspasia and Pericles, her companion/husband, became a center for intellectual discourse, attracting some of the greatest minds of the time, including Socrates.  Some scholars believe that she was the only woman in ancient Greece who was able to distinguish herself as a public figure, that she inspired and helped write many of Pericles' speeches, and that she may have even opened an academy for young women.

Hypatia

Hypatia was a Greek philosopher and mathematician, she headed the Platonist school at Alexandria, and she taught philosophy and astronomy.  People traveled great differences to receive instruction from her.  She often appeared in public before the magistrates and didn't hesitate to go into discourse with men.  At the end of her life, a Christian sect claimed that she was a pagan Satan-worshiper that created strife between two political figures of the time and she was subsequently murdered for it, whether it was true or not.  A scholar remarked that her murder "effectively marked the downfall of Alexandrian intellectual life."

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Herstory: Queens of Egypt

Hatshepsut

 

Hatshepsut was the fifth Pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty in Egypt and arguably the one of the most successful Pharaohs.  In the history of ancient Egypt, it was incredibly rare for a woman to become Pharaoh; only 3 or 4 other women were thought to serve in the position.  Hatshepsut served as Pharaoh for 22 years, longer than any other female ruler of Egypt.  According to Egyptologist James Breasted, she is "the first great woman in history of whom we are informed."  She re-established the trade networks that had been disrupted during the Hyksos occupation of Egypt, which brought great wealth to Egypt.  She lead successful military campaigns in the early part of her reign, but also brought much peace and prosperity to her people during the majority of her reign.
 

The Temple of Hatshepsut

She also ordered the construction of hundreds of projects throughout Upper and Lower Egypt, including the Temple of Pakhet and structures at the Temple of Karnak.  After her death, it is thought that her nephew Thutmose III destroyed many of her images, cartouches, and statues.  Some historians believe this was done not because he disliked her, but simply because she was a woman.  Joyce Tyldesley suggests Thutmose III feared that the example of a successful female Pharaoh could demonstrate that a woman was as capable of ruling Egypt as a traditional male Pharaoh, which could persuade "future generations of potentially strong female kings" to not "remain content with their traditional lot as wife, sister, and eventual mother of a king.".   

Nefertari

Queen Nefertari was one of the Great Royal Wives of Ramesses the Great.  She is depicted as participating in many important religious ceremonies next to her husband.  She was a prominent figure in court and is documented as being in correspondence with other kings and queens of the time.  She is also depicted in another scene leading the royal children.  Nefertari herself had 6 children (possibly an additional 3 that have not been substantiated).  She has a statue at the great temple and the small temple in Abu Simbel is dedicated entirely to her and the goddess Hathor, who is the goddess of joy, feminine love, and motherhood.  Her deliberate linking to the goddess Hathor is possibly an indication that she was celebrated as a wife and a mother as well as a queen.

Nefertiti

Queen Nefertiti was the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten.  Nefertiti and her husband are credited for a religious revolution in Ancient Egypt where they began worshiping only one god, Aten, instead of the many gods previously worshiped.  She is depicted in many scenes throughout Ancient Egypt as fulfilling the roles of both queen (standing behind her husband supporting him during worship) and king (smiting her enemies in battle).  There is evidence that she may have served as co-regent with her husband, allowing them equal ruling status.  Some historians believe that she ruled briefly between the death of her husband and the reign of Tutankhamun, although this is the subject of much debate.  

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