African American Women's Role In The Civil War

The Civil War

African American men and women roles in the civil war

Name

Affiliation

Date

Introduction

In 1861, most African American men welcomed the beginning of the civil war when Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina after the inauguration of the U.S president Abraham Lincoln. Most of the African American men served as guards for railways and bridges, scouts and spies in addition to their participation in the war fighting troops (Smith, 2002). Because of the suffering at home, thousands of the enslaved African American women began the transition to freedom and began new lives regardless of the horrors of the civil war (Blanton and Wike, 2002). Most of the African American women also disguised themselves as men and

They played a greater role at the crater battle during the Petersburg and Virginia. Besides, the south did not arm the black Americans but used them to perform camp duties and build fortifications. In some cases, northern officers did not believe that black troops had a capacity to fight but assigned them non-combat duties or else placed them in positions of guarding bridges and railroads. In addition, some African men acted as scouts and spies to the union army by providing the valuable information regarding the plans and familiar terrain about the confederate forces (Smith, 2002).

Like many African American men, some of the women leaped at the opportunity for adventure by voluntarily participating to fight the civil war. Historians have demented nearly 250 female soldiers who participated in the civil war. Majority of these African American women joined the fight with their male relatives or husbands and their intake was motivated by numerous factors such as thirsty for adventure, the desire to accompany their fiancées, dedication to earn money for their families among others (Blanton and Wike,

After the war, there were reunions of families separated by the war across the nation. In the war, African men and women contributed a lot by participating in freedmen 's aid organizations and post-war relief support.

References

Blanton, D., & Wike, L. C. (2002). They fought like demons: Women soldiers in the American Civil War. LSU Press.

Fain, E. R. A. (2004). Sanctified Trial: The Diary of Eliza Rhea Anderson Fain, a Confederate Woman in East Tennessee. Univ. of Tennessee Press.

Schultz, J. E. (2004). Women at the front: hospital workers in Civil War America. Univ of North Carolina Press.

Smith, J. D. (Ed.). (2002). Black soldiers in blue: African American troops in the Civil War era. Univ of North Carolina