Daily Lives of Civilians in Wartime Early America: From the Colonial Era to the Civil War

While soldiers were off fighting on the fields of war, civilians on the home front fought their own daily struggles, sometimes removed from the violence but often enough from deep within the maelstrom of conflict. This volume describes how women, children, slaves, and Native Americans coped with privation and looming threat, and how they often used, or tried to use, periods of turmoil to their own advantage. While it is the soldiers who are often remembered for their strength, honor, and courage, it is the civilians who keep life going during wartime. This volume presents the lives of these citizens during the early colonial era, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Civil War.