All the Daring of the Soldier: Women of the Civil War Armies - Hardcover

Leonard, Elizabeth D.; Leonard, Elizabeth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393047121 ISBN 13: 9780393047127

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 1999

Synopsis

The fascinating stories of the women who worked as spies, as daughters of the regiments, or who disguised themselves as male soldiers to play their heroic part in the Civil War.

Historian Elizabeth Leonard has combed archives, memoirs, and histories to unearth the stories of the hidden and forgotten women who risked their lives for the blue or the gray. These women spied for their cause, remained on the front lines as daughters of the regiments, and even dressed as men and enlisted under aliases to take up arms and fight as soldiers. Here are the stories of Belle Boyd, a proud Confederate loyalist and key player in Stonewall Jackson's struggle to hold the Shenandoah Valley; army woman Annie Etheridge, whose four long years of courageous work on the field earned her a Kearney Cross for bravery; Sarah Emma Edmonds, who enlisted as "Franklin Thompson," remained with her regiment as a much-respected soldier for two years, fighting at Fredricksburg and elsewhere; and many other courageous women.

Leonard investigates why these women chose unconventional ways to help their cause. In doing so, she gives us a striking portrait of the lives women led in the nineteenth century and of their ability to break through the traditional barriers of Victorian womanhood.

About this title

Review

As the American Civil War raged on, Louisiana's Sarah Morgan complained to her diary, "Oh! if I were only a man. Then I could don the breeches, and slay them with a will!" Though Morgan never did "don the breeches," in All the Daring of the Soldier, historian Elizabeth D. Leonard reveals that many women did. Leonard recounts the stories of dozens of women who joined the war effort, such as Richard Anderson, a.k.a. Amy Clarke, who fought with her Confederate cavalry regiment at the battle of Shiloh. Other women served as "Daughters of the Regiment," doing everything from serving as mascots and nurses to bearing regimental colors in battle and even fighting in combat. Still others engaged in espionage, such as Elizabeth Van Lew, who hid behind a cultivated persona and the nickname Crazy Bet so that she could spy for the Union.

Interesting capsule biographies aside, the strength of this book lies in Leonard's historical analysis. While many historians (and most Civil War novelists) have assumed that women went to war because they were motivated by love--either of men or their country--Leonard is quick to point out that whereas many women did follow the men they loved, and that others were sincere patriots, many others were motivated by economic need or even the desire for adventure and a wider range of opportunity than 19th-century society allowed them. Leonard's thorough research in archives and memoirs adds great detail to these women's stories and makes All the Daring of the Soldier an excellent addition to both the scholarly and general literature on the Civil War. --C.B. Delaney

About the Author

Elizabeth D. Leonard is the John J. and Cornelia V. Gibson Professor of History at Colby College. The author of several books, including Yankee Women, All the Daring of a Soldier, Lincoln’s Avengers, and Men of Color to Arms!, she lives in Waterville, Maine.

Edition details

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0393047121
• ISBN 13: 9780393047127
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368