Women during the Civil War – Encyclopedia Virginia
War quickly permeated and transformed every aspect of life in the South in the spring of 1861. The Confederacy’s leaders realized that they could only win the war with the full moral and material support of its women. As husbands and fathers departed for the battlefield and politicians and journalists urged civilians to do their patriotic duty, white women were confronted with the strange new expectation of demonstrating authority and civic involvement. The exigencies of war encouraged white women to develop a political outlook and prove their patriotism, in contrast to the antebellum perio...
Source: encyclopediavirginia.org