Women of the South

"Life in Confederate Arkansas: The Diary of Virginia Davis Gray, 1863-1865" by Virginia Davis Gray

"The Call to Arms: Secession from a Feminine Point of View" by Mrs. Samuel Proctor

A Woman Rice Planter by Elizabeth W. Allston Pringle

"A Patriotic Confederate Woman's War Diary, 1862-1863" by Martha Jane Crossley

When thinking of the Civil War, many conjure images of men fighting on the battlefield or politicians navigating this contentious time in American history. While those experiences are important, women also played a vital role in defining this era. Not only as wives, mothers, and sisters but also as political actors, laborers, nurses, caretakers, spies, and various other roles.   

These are four examples of the hundreds of primary source materials we have concerning the female experience during the Civil War. Within our collection, you will find their memoirs, diaries, letters, and much more about their experiences in hospitals, under occupation, as refugees, at the war front, homelife, during Reconstruction, and other struggles they faced during this era.