Civilians, Soldiers, and Spies

National History Standards

Materials compiled in this document can be used by educators to fulfill the following National History Standards for Grades 5-12:

Era 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)

STANDARD 2: The course and character of the Civil War and its effects on the American people.

Standard 2B: The student understands the social experience of the war on the battlefield and homefront.

5-12: Compare women's homefront and battlefront roles in the Union and the Confederacy. [Compare and contrast differing sets of ideas]
7-12: Compare the motives for fighting and the daily life experiences of Confederate with those of white and African American Union soldiers. [Evidence historical perspectives]

Primary Resources

CIVILIANS

TITLE: Hospital Sketches: An Army Nurse's True Account of her Experience During the Civil War
AUTHOR: Louisa May Alcott
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: Boston: James Redpath, 1863.
SOURCE: Celebration of Women Writers
TITLE: Woman's work in the civil war: a record of heroism, patriotism and patience.
AUTHOR: L.P. Brockett and Mrs. Mary C. Vaughan
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: Philadelphia, Zeigler, McCurdy & co.; Boston [etc.] R. H. Curran, 1867
COPYRIGHT: Copyright and Other Restrictions
SOURCE: The Nineteenth Century in Print: Books
REPOSITORY: University of Michigan
TITLE: Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison
AUTHOR: Belle Boyd
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: London: Saunders, Otley, and Co., 1865
REPRODUCTIONS: Ordering information
SOURCE: Southern Voices: Texts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
REPOSITORY: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
TITLE: Nurse and spy in the Union army : comprising the adventures and experiences of a woman in hospitals, camps and battle-fields / by S. Emma E. Edmonds
AUTHOR: Sarah Emma Evelyn Edmonds
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: Hartford : W. S. Williams & co.: Philadephia, Jones bros. & co. 1865
COPYRIGHT: Copyright and Other Restrictions
SOURCE: The Nineteenth Century in Print: Books
REPOSITORY: University of Michigan
TITLE: Diary of Belle Edmondson, January - November, 1864
AUTHOR: Belle Edmondson
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1864
REPRODUCTIONS: Ordering information
COPYRIGHT: Copyright and Other Restrictions
SOURCE: Transcript of the manuscript, UNC-CH, Southern Historical Collection. Southern Voices: Texts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
REPOSITORY: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

See also:

Civil War Homefront: Nursing

SOLDIERS

DESCRIPTION: The Sixth Massachusetts Regiment formed part of the guard stationed at Relay House in 1861. The troops attempted to stop Baltimore's generous supply of recruits and materials to the Confederate army at Harpers Ferry, and they stood ready to squelch any attempt by the Confederates to move toward Relay.
PHOTOGRAPHER: Unknown
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1862
SOURCE: Robert G. Merrick Archives of Maryland Historical Photographs, MSA SC 1477-6679
REPOSITORY: Maryland State Archives
Description: Elkton, the seat of Cecil County, was the hometown of Company I of the Fifth Maryland Volunteers, pictured in this tintype taken in 1862.
Photographer: Unknown
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1862
SOURCE: Robert G. Merrick Archives of Maryland Historical Photographs, MSA SC 1477-5811
REPOSITORY: Maryland State Archives
Description: Photograph, The cook house of Company A of the Eighth Massachusetts Infantry posed at Elkridge Heights
Photographer: Unknown
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: June 13, 1861
SOURCE: Robert G. Merrick Archives of Maryland Historical Photographs, MSA SC 1477-6681
REPOSITORY: Maryland State Archives
Description: Photograph, Relay House on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad with Civil War troops
Location: Relay, Baltimore County
Photographer: Unknown
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1862
SOURCE: Robert G. Merrick Archives of Maryland Historical Photographs, MSA SC 1477-1-6679
REPOSITORY: Maryland State Archives
Description: Photographs, Maryland Civil War veterans
Location: Salisbury, Wicomico County
Photographer: Unknown
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1905 c.
SOURCE: Robert G. Merrick Archives of Maryland Historical Photographs, MSA SC 1477-1-6474
REPOSITORY: Maryland State Archives

See also:

Guide to Civil War Research in Maryland for additional primary source materials at the Maryland State Archives.

SPIES

TITLE: My Imprisonment and the First Year of Abolition Rule at Washington.
AUTHOR: Rose O'Neal Greenhow
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: London: Richard Bentley, 1863
REPRODUCTIONS: Ordering information
COPYRIGHT: Copyright and Other Restrictions
SOURCE: Southern Voices: Texts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
REPOSITORY: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
TITLE: Nurse and spy in the Union army : comprising the adventures and experiences of a woman in hospitals, camps and battle-fields / by S. Emma E. Edmonds
AUTHOR: Sarah Emma Evelyn Edmonds
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: Hartford : W. S. Williams & co.: Philadephia, Jones bros. & co. 1865
COPYRIGHT: Copyright and Other Restrictions
SOURCE: The Nineteenth Century in Print: Books
REPOSITORY: University of Michigan
TITLE: The Southern Husband Outwitted by His Union Wife
AUTHOR: Kate Plake
DATE CREATED/PUBLISHED: Philadelphia: Printed for the Authoress by Moore & Brother, c1868
REPRODUCTIONS: Ordering information
SOURCE: Southern Voices: Texts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
REPOSITORY: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Additional Media Resources

Brockett, L. P. Woman's work in the civil war: a record of heroism, patriotism and patience. By L. P. Brockett and Mrs. Mary C. Vaughan. With an introduction, by Henry W. Bellows. Philadelphia, Zeigler, McCurdy & co.; Boston [etc.] R. H. Curran, 1867. From: The Nineteenth Century in Print: Books
Clay-Clopton, Virginia. A Belle of the Fifties: Memoirs of Mrs. Clay, of Alabama, Covering Social and Political Life in Washington and the South, 1853-66. New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1905, c1904. From: Southern Voices: Texts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Fearn, Frances Hewitt Fearn. Diary of a Refugee. New York: Moffat, Yard and Company, 1910. From: Southern Voices: Texts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Harrison, Mrs. Burton. Recollections Grave and Gay. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1911. From: Southern Voices: Texts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Merrick, Caroline Elizabeth Thomas Merrick, Old Times in Dixie Land: a Southern Matron's Memories. New York: Grafton Press, 1901. From: Southern Voices: Texts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Mitchel, Cora. Reminiscences of the Civil War. Providence: Snow & Farnham Co., [1916?]. From: Southern Voices: Texts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Moore, Frank. Women of the war; their heroism and self-sacrifice. By Frank Moore. Hartford, Conn.,
S. S. Scranton & co.; Chicago, R. C. Treat [etc., etc.] 1866. From: The Nineteenth Century in Print: Books
Ripley, Eliza Moore Chinn McHatten. From Flag to Flag: A Woman's Adventures and Experiences
in the South During the War, in Mexico, and in Cuba. New York: D. Appleton, c1888, 1889. From: Southern Voices: Texts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Saxon, Elizabeth Lyle. A Southern Woman's War Time Reminiscences. Memphis, Tenn: Press of the Pilcher Printing Co., 1905. From: Southern Voices: Texts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Wright, Louise Wigfall Wright. A Southern Girl in '61: The War-Time Memories of a Confederate Senator's Daughter. New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1905. From: Southern Voices: Texts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Velazquez, Loreta Janeta. The Woman in Battle: A Narrative of the Exploits, Adventures,
and Travels of Madame Loreta Janeta Velazquez, Otherwise Known as Lieutenant Harry T. Buford, Confederate States Army. Richmond, Va.: Dustin, Gilman & Co., 1876. From: Southern Voices: Texts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Mr. Lincoln's Virtual Library From the Library of Congress American Memory Project
"We'll Sing to Abe Our Song": Sheet Music about Lincoln, Emancipation, and the Civil War, from the Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana From the Library of Congress American Memory Project
Remember the Ladies
Resources on Women in the Civil War
The Valley of the Shadow
National Museum of Civil War Medicine
See also: United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Women for additional materials from the American Memory Project

Additional Instructional Resources

Ladies, Contraband and Spies: Women in the Civil War. From the Library of Congress

Clara Barton's House: Home of the American Red Cross
Follow Barton's remarkable career as a leader of charitable causes, from caring for the wounded on Civil War battlefields to founding the American Red Cross. (National Park/National Historic Landmark)

The Battle of Prairie Grove: Civilian Recollections of the Civil War
Understand the violence of the Civil War through the eyes of young women whose homes were in the midst of an important battle and continuing conflict.

The Fight for Equal Rights: Black Soldiers in the Civil War. Teaching activities, historical documents, and photographs explore the issues of emancipation and military service.

Secondary Resources

Blanton, DeAnne. "Women Soldiers of the Civil War" Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives (Spring 1993, vol. 25, no. 1).

Coryell, Janet L. Neither Heroine nor Fool: Anna Ella Carroll of Maryland. Kent, Ohio : Kent State University Press, c1990.

Culpepper, Marilyn Mayer. Trials and Triumphs: Women of the American Civil War. East Lansing : Michigan State University Press, 1991.

Forbes, Ella. African American Women During the Civil War. New York: Garland, 1998.

Jaquette, Henrietta Stratton, ed. Letters of a Civil War Nurse. Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, 1998.

Leonard, Elizabeth D. All the Daring of the Soldier: Women of the Civil War Armies. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1999.

Maher, Mary Denis. To Bind Up the Wounds: Catholic Sister Nurses in the U.S. Civil War. New York : Greenwood Press, 1989

McKaig, Priscilla Ellen Beall. The McKaig Journal: A Confederate Family of Cumberland. Cumberland, Md. (218 Washington St., Cumberland 21502) : Allegany County Historical Society, 1984. Note: "The entries alternate between those of Mr. McKaig and those of Mrs. McKaig [from 1851] until 1862, when the journal was taken over entirely by the latter."

Mills, Eric. Chesapeake Bay in the Civil War. Centreville, Md.: Tidewater Publishers, c. 1996.

Schwartz, Gerald, ed. A Woman Doctor's Civil War: Esther Hill Hawk's Diary. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1986.

Sullivan, Walter, ed. The War the Women Lived: Female Voices from the Confederate South. Nashville : J.S. Sanders, c1995.

Venet, Wendy Hamand. Neither Ballots nor Bullets: Women Abolitionists and the Civil War. Charlottesville : University Press of Virginia, 1991.

Woolsey, Jane Stuart. Hospital Days: Reminiscences of a Civil War Nurse. Edinborough Press, 1999.

Associated Heritage and Preservation Organizations

National Museum of Civil War Medicine
48 East Patrick Street
Frederick, MD 21701 Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine
End of East Fort Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21230-5393 Baltimore Civil War Museum
President Street Station
601 President Street
Baltimore, MD 21202

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Credits

Teaching American History in Maryland is a collaborative partnership of the Maryland State Archives and the Center for History Education (CHE), University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), and the following sponsoring school systems: Anne Arundel County Public Schools, Baltimore City Public School System, Baltimore County Public Schools, and Howard County Public Schools.

Other program partners include the Martha Ross Center for Oral History, Maryland Historical Society, State Library Resource Center/Enoch Pratt Free Library, with assistance from the National Archives and Records Administration and the Library of Congress. The program is funded through grants from the U.S. Department of Education.

This document packet was researched and developed by Nancy Bramucci.

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