Women+Roles

Women: Unseen Heros

Women had many roles in the civil war, they worked as nurses at hospitals near the battlefields, nurses on the battlefield, and some even dressed up as men and went of to fight. Elizabeth Blackwell helped by becoming the first woman doctor and then helping the wounded that flooded into the hospital where she worked, she was also head of sanitary commition there

Clara Barton was a battlefield nurse for the Union, she traveled out onto the battlefield in the middle of gunfire and helped the wounded she found there, or she comforted them and then got someone to carry them to a makeshift hospital nearby. Clara Barton revolutionized medical treatment by providing fluids that helped clean wounds that were presented on soldiers of the Union army. Clara Barton also started the Red Cross after the Civil War ended, she created it to help people who were sick or injured and needed help.

Sally Louisa Tompkins was also a battlefield nurse but she was on the Confederate battlefields helping the Confederate soldiers. There are also stories of women/girls who dressed up as men and enlisted then went of to war with the men.