Women Soldiers of the Civil War (accidental find in the archives.. very interesting)

http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1993/spring/women-in-the-civil-war-1.html
http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1993/spring/women-in-the-civil-war-2.html
http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1993/spring/women-in-the-civil-war-3.html


a sample:


In 1862, at least four women, including Sarah Edmonds Seelye, converged on Antietam, Maryland. With more than 30,000 casualties, September 17 was the single bloodiest day of the Civil War. (NARA, 165-SB-19)
snip

The existence of soldier-women was no secret during or after the Civil War. The reading public, at least, was well aware that these women rejected Victorian social constraints confining them to the domestic sphere. Their motives were open to speculation, perhaps, but not their actions, as numerous newspaper stories and obituaries of women soldiers testified.

Most of the articles provided few specific details about the individual woman's army career. For example, the obituary of Satronia Smith Hunt merely stated she enlisted in an Iowa regiment with her first husband. He died of battle wounds, but she apparently emerged from the war unscathed.(5) An 1896 story about Mary Stevens Jenkins, who died in 1881, tells an equally brief tale. She enlisted in a Pennsylvania regiment when still a schoolgirl, remained in the army two years, received several wounds, and was discharged without anyone ever realizing she was female.(6) The press seemed unconcerned about the women's actual military exploits. Rather, the fascination lay in the simple fact that they had been in the army.

smip...

check out books and articles by Linda Grant Depauw and the Minerva Center

http://www.minervacenter.com/

She was my mentor at George Washington University when I was working on my MA in Military History, which is her specialty (more specifically, women in the military). Fabulous woman.