OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Ohio in the Civil War Pt 8 *********************************************************************** OHGENWEB NOTICE: All distribution rights to this electronic data are reserved by the submitter. Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted material will require the permission of the copyright owner. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. *********************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 October 30, 1999 *********************************************************************** Historical Collections of Ohio Diaries of S. J. Kelly Plains Dealer Know Your Ohio by Darlene E. Kelley *********************************************************************** Ohio in the Civil War-- Part 8 In his diary of the Civil War, Mr. Kelley writes-- The Civil War has always fasinated me-- the stories handed down to me by friends and relatives, who not only lived them and wrote about them, but brought them to life, to be recorded, so that we will always remember the brave and loved ones who each day faced the unknown---- Stress -- Jitters -- Women-- Of the Civil War Suppose you have just left camp in a hurry with your regiment. Marching down a dusty road with your fellow soldiers, you know where you are going-- the telltale thud of artillery and the crackling of musketry sound nearer and nearer. Your colonel orders quick time, and your heart, already pounding out an alarm, shifts into an even wilder rhythm. Your column leaves the road and heads toward a clearing. The gunfire is loud, sulfurous smoke drifts by, and bloodied men limp past, heading for the rear. Shouting above the clatter, the officers order you and your comrades to shift positions and form a line of battle. Here and there, men take care of urgent, last minute business. Some whisper prayers. Some nerviously discard tools of sin: playing cards and risque pictures. One fellow with a foreboding of doom writes his name in pencil on a scrap of paper and pins it to his blouse. Some men can't stop talking; others are silent as tombstones. And then it's over. The enemy has retreated before you could join the fight. You march back to camp -- elated to be alive, but exhausted from the agony of preparing to die. This scene barely hints at the stress Civil War soldiers faced before every engagement. Most men experienced the instinctive response to perceived danger known at the " fight or flight reaction." This reaction made jobs like this so stressful. First your heart starts pounding, your blood pressure rockets, you breathe heavily. and you get a rush of adrenaline to make you hyper-alert. The whole incident ends peacefully, and you are still shaking from the stress. Perhaps you will soon go through the same drama again. After a while, your nerves begin to get frazzled, unless you find a wholesome way to relieve the stress. Of course, stressful conditions do not always end well, especially on battlefields. Civil War soldiers were wounded or killed in huge numbers, and it was this plain fact that brought on pre-battle jitters. Meanwhile, far from the shooting, soldier's wives had their own jitters and stress. A wife knew her husband ran a high risk of dying or being permanently disabled or disfigured. She knew he could be changed by the war. She knew that if he died in the war, she would be left without enough income to support herself and the children. She knew that unless her husband returned soon, she might not be able to keep the farm or business running. Granted, the stress women experienced on the homefront was not the same as what soldiers felt, but if the soldiers had the choice, would they have traded places with their wives? Would they have elected to sit and wait, knowing full well that the women they loved, or at least depended upon, might be erased from the face of the earth, and their was nothing they could do about it? I do not think so---. This was the stress felt by the wives and love ones at home. Many a wife or mother must of wished she could take the place of her soldier husband or son, prefering to risk her own life than to endure the torture of waiting and worrying while a loved one faced death. But she couldn't. So she took steps to busy herself --to lessen the pain for both of them. Women were more involved in the Civil War than any other war, since they were able to see the war first hand. There were more written about Southern women as they had more journels published and written, as they were expected to learn to read and write at an early age. Northern women were permitted to be active in other ways. The U.S. Sanitary Commission was created by women who helped stop diseases that were killing thousands of men before the they went into battle. They created battlefield hospitals and ambulance corps, They fed the troops, both North and South. They held fairs to raise money for the war effort, which resulted into millions of dollars. They formed Ladies aid societies who sewed , quilted, rolled bandages, packed suppies, perserved food, collected medicines, raised crops of food and animals,and etc. All for the cause of their loved ones. Women were permited as civilians to volunteer as nurses in some field hospitals, under the superision of the Sanitary Commission. For this they had special training, usually under supervision of Military doctors. There were reports of some women disquising themselves as men, and enlisting themselves to fight along side of the men. Many were later found out and let go, however, some wives under hardship, were able to follow their husbands and work as washer women. For this work they were paid. Other reports show women used as spies for the cause, and entertainers. Charitable Balls were planned to cheer many of the soldiers when they returned home for furlough. These things were done with love and understanding of the hardships of the soldiers efforts. Not forgeting, that life went on, and the homefront and farms, and businesses must continuely be maintained. Children had to be cared for and educated. They had to be both, mother and father. Fields had to be maintained, to pay the bills. Food had to be grown to fill the hungry. The Civil War changed the outlook of women. Finally they were being recognized and realization began, that the war could not have been won, without the help of the woman. ********************************************** Continued in part 9.