Civil War :: essays research papers

The civil state of contend drastically altered American history. It would be difficult to findanyone who would disagree with the above statement. But, did the civil war affect thelives of southern women as drastically? In my opinion, it did. Many people fail to body forththat the outbreak of the civil war changed the lives of all Southern women - not justslaves. The women of the Confederacy, black and white, rich and poor, would see theirlives changed forever as a result of the war that ensued between the North and the Southduring the years of 1861 to 1865. The fact is, that even though men were doing thefighting, the women were confront with the more intimidating aspects of the war - newchallenges, depravations, unforeseen dangers, and or so importantly the uncertainty oftheir futures. The war required complete mobilization of resources and with three out offour men away at war1, there were many gaps for Southern women to fill. (Our Needles.)The affects of war were widespread and varied by age, location, and marital status,but the clearest and most significant delineations were by class and race. As is the casewith most national crisiss, the war seemed to have an almost leveling affect on socialstatus - everyone shared a common hardship and suffering. The truth is though thatwomen who owned slaves faced much harsher realities of war than those who did not. Forslaveholding women, the civil war represented an evil that was slowly diminishing theirprivileges and affluence, and one that would eventually reshape their entire socialidentities. eon the war disrupted the economy, as is normal, the bigger issue at hand wasits attack on slavery. This was most crucial, because the deterioration of a slave labor arranging was synonymous with the deterioration of wealth for many southern families.