Throughout history, American women actively participated in military campaigns, whether as members of the armed forces or civilians. During the Civil War, some women enlisted disguised as men, while others fought alongside their husbands. Several women took their dedication to even more advanced levels.
During the Civil War, Harriet Tubman worked for the Union Army as a scout, nurse and a spy. She also helped prepare food for the 54th Massachusetts Regiment – composed entirely of black soldiers and known as the Glory Brigade – before its heroic but futile attack on Fort Wagner in 1863.
Rose O’Neal Greenhow became one of the most renowned spies of the Civil War. Among her accomplishments was the secret message she sent to Gen. Pierre G.T. Beauregard which ultimately helped him win the battle of Bull Run. She spied so successfully for the Confederacy that Jefferson Davis credited her with winning the battle of Manassas. Upon her death in 1864, Ms. Greenhow received a full military honors burial.
After the death of her husband in 1864, Sarah Thompson worked in Tennessee to aid the Union Army by delivering dispatches and recruiting information to Union officers. When Gen. John Hunt Morgan and his men spent the night in Greeneville, Tenn., Ms. Thompson managed to slip away and alert Union forces to his whereabouts. She also served as an army nurse in Knoxville, Tenn., and in Cleveland. She was buried in the Arlington National Cemetery.
Clara Barton’s Civil War work began in April 1861. After the Battle of Bull Run, she established an agency to obtain and distribute supplies to wounded soldiers. In 1862, she obtained permission to travel behind the battle lines, reaching some of the grimmest battlefields of the war and serving during the sieges of Petersburg and Richmond. Ms. Barton aided soldiers from both the North and South. In 1881, she established the American Red Cross.
Dr. Mary Walker, physician and Civil War field surgeon, was the first woman
to receive the Medal of Honor. Much ahead of her time, Dr. Walker, in 1855, was one of
the first women in the United States to earn a medical degree. When the Civil War broke
out in 1861, Dr. Walker volunteered to work on the Civil War battlefields caring for the
wounded. Denied a commission as a medical officer, she volunteered anyway and eventually was appointed assistant surgeon of the 52nd Ohio Infantry.
These are but a few shining examples of heroic women and the significant contributions they have consistently made to the United States. The efforts of women and their impact on our history will be celebrated this March on Ramstein. For more information, call Master Sgt. Elma Taylor, at 480-5821 or the Military Equal Opportunity Office at 480-2341.
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