Through Her Eyes: 20 Women's Narratives of the Civil War

This edition is devoted to honoring the bravery and dedication of women during the Civil War, whose involvement and achievements were frequently overlooked in history books. The Hospital Sketches of Louisa May Alcott present a vivid account that offers rich insights into women's wartime roles, the shocking conditions in field hospitals, the lives and thoughts of the soldiers themselves, as well as the racial prejudice of the time. In the 'Life of Clara Barton', we learn about one of the most honored women in American history. She risked her life many times to bring supplies and support to soldiers at the front lines during the Civil War, as well as while tending the patients in the battlefield. After the war she worked on rising awareness about the horrible conditions of the field hospitals after the war, eventually founding the American Red Cross as an organization which would respond to crises in a coordinated way. Emma E. Edmonds' narrative recounts the daring exploits of a woman who disguised herself as a man to serve as a soldier and spy during the American Civil War. Susie King Taylor, a renowned civil rights activist and educator, was the only Black woman to publish a memoir of her Civil War experiences. A Diary From Dixie is a classic of American literature. It gives a unique perspective on how southern women experienced the war and difficulties they had to endure. Among other poignant memoirs and diaries which give the ever so powerful testimony of the war, there are 'The Wartime Journal of a Georgia Girl', 'My Cave Life in Vicksburg' by Mary Ann Loughborough, 'A Confederate Girl's Diary' by Sarah Morgan Dawson, 'Reminiscences of Peace and War' by Sara Agnes Rice Pryor, 'A Blockaded Family: Life in Southern Alabama during the Civil War', 'Life of Anna Ella Carroll', 'Recollections of the Civil War' by Maud E. Morrow...