Occupied Women: Gender, Military Occupation, and the American Civil War

In the spring of 1861, tens of thousands of young men formed military companies and offered to fight for their country. Near the end of the Civil War, nearly half of the adult male population of the North and a staggering 90 percent of eligible white males in the South had joined the military. With their husbands, sons, and fathers away, legions of women took on additional duties formerly handled by males, and many also faced the ordeal of having their homes occupied by enemy troops. With occupation, the home front and the battlefield merged to create an unanticipated second front where civilians—mainly women—resisted what they perceived as unjust domination. In Occupied Women, twelve distinguished historians consider how women’s reactions to occupation affected both the strategies of military leaders and ultimately even the outcome of the Civil War.