Carried Into War
A Soldier's Life
Realities of War
The Home Front
Facing the Grim Reaper
Breaking the Blockade
The Last Campaigns
An Uncertain Future
Acknowledgments
|
Hardships of War
Supporting the War Effort
Divided Loyalties
North Carolinians left at home mobilized to provide supplies for the soldiers in the field. Women took on new roles that placed them in public, or paid, work. Across North Carolina, new enterprises manufactured war-related goods and accoutrements such as ammunition, cartridge boxes, swords, and firearms.
Women's Work
Succeeded yesterday in getting my tenth woolen shirt for our soldiers, tho the cover of my sofa pillow went to make out the sleeves!
—Catherine Ann Devereux Edmondston, November 13, 1862
|
|
|
Women responded with their own offers of patriotic services when North Carolina left the Union. Initially, they presented gifts to loved ones going into military service. However, they soon expanded their individual roles to organized groups. Across North Carolina and the South, women organized Ladies Aid Societies to furnish soldiers with goods such as socks, blankets, bandages, and even food. The traditional role of women in caring for the sick at home soon expanded to nursing sick and wounded soldiers in hospitals. War industries also created new work opportunities for women.
Catherine Ann Devereux Edmondston
Catherine Edmondston noted on January 23, 1863, that she felt "truly blessed" because shortages brought on by the war had affected life at Looking Glass plantation very little, except for the necessity of adding blackberry leaves to the stock of tea, and "the cessation of all desserts but baked Apples." But by the end of the year, her situation had worsened, although the self-sufficiency of the plantation alleviated conditions somewhat. On December 3, 1863, she wrote: "Very busy dying warp for Mr E's & my own clothes. So we have come to it & are to wear our own homespun! In fact I find that most articles of prime neccessity except salt, iron, & paper can be produced at home by us. This ink, for instance, is of my own manufacture & I do not see why it is not as good as the 'boughten' article." Edmondston acknowledged the rapidly deteriorating economic situation in an entry ten days later. She wrote that an acquaintance had paid $750 for a barrel of sugar in Virginia and that her own husband had spent $60 to buy her a pair of French boots, adding, "I consoled myself for the seeming extravagance by resolving to send 12 or 14 lbs of butter to Petersburg where it is from 4 to 5 [dollars] per lb."
|
|
|
|
Stitched by Hand
Patriotic women welcomed the opportunity to thank men for their military service through gifts and goods provided by local Ladies Aid Societies. Women made or collected socks, shirts, pants, and blankets for soldiers. Some groups sent goods to local military units, while others forwarded packages to the front with instructions to distribute them as needed. Aid societies also sent food, Bibles, and religious pamphlets.
Transcript of a letter from the Soldier's Relief Society of White Oak Precinct, Bladen County.
November 20, 1861
Hon. T. D. McDowell
Dear Sir,
As secretary of the Soldier's Relief Society of White Oak Precinct, it becomes my duty to thank you in the name of the members of the said Society for your kindness, in offering to convey our little box to its destination; which offer we gladly accept. The Society has been organized only a short time, and consequently we have but few contributions to forward now.
Within the box are two or three bundles directed to private individuals, who are not in Capt. Syke's Company, but are in the same Regiment. You will please have them delivered according to direction.
We will have to trouble you to direct the box, as we do not know where the Reg. is stationed now. The following is a list of articles contained in the box.
4 comforts
2 Blankets
3 pillows
7 pillow cases
9 towels
1 woolen vest
11 shirts
10 Pr drawers
50 " Socks
1 lot of Pepper
1 Jar of Honey
1 Pin Cushion
1 Package for J. L Cain, Co. H, 3rd Reg. N.C.T. from Harriet M. Cashwell.
Also one Package for Geo. W. Cashwell, Co. H. from Rebecca Faircloth
Also one for Haye Everett, Co. H. from Mrs. Everett.
One for Charles Avery, Co. D. from Mrs. Avery.
Yours Respectfully, M. J. Richardson, Lee.
Spring Hill, Bladen Co. N.C., November 26, 1861
Bettie Archer Wrenn
When North Carolina left the Union in 1861, Bettie Archer Wrenn of Salisbury took her silver coins to a silversmith in Salem so that they could be made into a presentation cup. Bettie gave the cup to her brother, John Lawson Wrenn, when he left home to join the army.
Sophia Partridge
Sophia Partridge continued to conduct her school for girls in Raleigh during the war. She directed her students as they gathered items such as jelly, pillows, glass, china, and socks to send to local military hospitals, and she spent time herself sewing and making supplies for sick and wounded soldiers. In a letter written to a friend in late 1861, she described a box of items recently sent by her church to Virginia and continued: "Don't you feel sorry for the sick ones. . . . Does not this war seem a strange thing yet, so unnatural, so barbarous, and uncalled for, and useless, on the part of the Federals. Sometimes I almost forget where I am, thinking upon the future, when the war will close. I begin to think there will be no peace, as long as the Dictator at Washington can get any money to carry it on." As the war progressed, Partridge tried to keep high spirits and a positive attitude, writing in January 1864, "When I begin to feel a little doleful about the state of affairs generally, I go right to the History of the first revolution, and find that we are not in half so bad a condition as our forefathers were, and it brightens everything. You know I am one of the hopeful ones. Hope is strong, and though all is dark around I keep my eye on a bright light in the distance."
|
"We have been very busy making things for the soldiers, knitting, and doing whatever we could for the sick at home & in Virginia. We sent off a large box of clothing and hospital stores to the 6th Reg (Volunteers) lst week. Our church I mean did it, and we are going to make another box for the N.C. Hospital at Petersburg."
—Sophia Partridge, October 17, 1861
Hospital Work
Overcrowded camps and unsanitary conditions killed thousands of North Carolina soldiers. In addition, surgeons treated soldiers under conditions that commonly led to deadly infections. More Civil War soldiers died from illness than from battle wounds. North Carolina established hospitals for its soldiers both within the state and in Virginia. Because of a shortage of male nurses, women stepped in to care for the sick and wounded. At first, women mainly brought food to patients and wrote and read their letters. Gradually, however, women began to take a more active role by assisting surgeons and changing dressings.
Uniform Contracts
Few white women in antebellum North Carolina worked for pay outside their homes. Most stayed at home cooking, doing laundry, tending gardens, and caring for their families. The war provided new job opportunities for women as teachers, clerks, and seamstresses. Many worked during the war making uniforms. The state quartermaster office employed male tailors to cut uniforms from patterns. The cut uniforms, thread, buttons, and other accessories were then sent to women for sewing. The seamstresses were paid according to the number of uniforms completed. Whenever possible, the government gave uniform contracts to the wives or widows of soldiers to help them support their families.
Providing Arms, Equipment, and Supplies
Altogether, we think it [the Fayetteville rifle] the handsomest specimen of small arms, rifle, or musket, we have ever seen.
—Fayetteville Observer, February 3, 1862
North Carolina had few prewar industries, and none produced military goods. But state textile mills became an immediate source of cloth for North Carolina soldiers. During the war, new industries produced a variety of military materials, including firearms, gunpowder, ammunition, buttons, and swords. The Confederate government converted the former United States Arsenal at Fayetteville into the second-largest small-arms factory in the South.
Textile Mills
North Carolina had thirty-nine cotton mills and nine woolen mills in 1860. All wartime textile manufacturing centered on the production of cloth for military purposes. Mill owners received lucrative government contracts, and textile mills provided work settings for women and children. During the war, North Carolina enjoyed a reputation for clothing its soldiers better than any other Confederate state.
Military Contractors
An unlimited need for military supplies gave rise to private and government enterprises across North Carolina. Military goods manufactured within the state included flags, gunpowder, ammunition, buttons, and leather goods. A contractor in Kenansville made a variety of edged weapons, and several Guilford County gunmakers made firearms for both the North Carolina and Confederate governments.
The Fayetteville Arsenal and Armory
Local militia seized the United States Arsenal in Fayetteville in April 1861. North Carolina governor John W. Ellis offered use of the arsenal to the Confederate government, and workers constructed new buildings and installed rifle-making machinery taken from the national armory at Harpers Ferry. During the war, the Fayetteville Arsenal and Armory manufactured rifles, bayonets, small-arms ammunition, artillery shells, and other ordnance goods.
North Carolina Potters
Well-established family-operated pottery businesses had flourished in parts of North Carolina for generations before the war. Clay storage crocks made excellent vessels for transporting liquids and both pickled and salt-preserved foods. Consequently, pottery became a critical wartime industry, and potters sold thousands of storage crocks for military usage.
Continue to the next section: Divided Loyalties >>
|
|
|
Print this
