Alabama Women

During The Civil War

Mary Alice, Louise, Campbell, and Taylor
 INTRODUCTION

Many women have impacted Alabama and the Civil War.

These women represent how women gained more rights
during the civil war. They were given greater duties and bigger
roles to take on. These women influenced others through their
works and way of life.
Clara Barton
Clara Barton is a very well known hero from
the Civil War. She began her career as an
educator in Mobile, Alabama. She felt a calling to
help tend to wounded soldiers.

After the Civil War ended, she continued to

work by helping to identify missing and dead
soldiers. She eventually founded the American
Red Cross after learning about the Red Cross of
Switzerland. She brought back the desire to
serve people in need with her to Alabama. Clara
Barton was a long lasting caregiver, and she
dedicated her life to helping others.
Juliet Hopkins
Juliet Hopkins was born on a plantation in West Virginia,
and she later moved to Mobile, Alabama. Her husband was
appointed to work in overseas hospitals. Juliet Hopkins
worked to convert old tobacco factories into hospitals. She
spent lots of time caring for soldiers and went to visit them
many times.

Many people in Alabama began sending Juliet Hopkins

supplies to help with her work with these new hospitals. Juliet
did more than just build hospitals. She also helped soldiers on
the battlefield. While she was doing her duties on the
battlefield, she was wounded. Juliet Hopkins cared greatly for
her patients and gave them the best personal care.
Louisa Frances Garland
Louisa Frances Garland was the first lady of the
University of Alabama from 1855 to 1865. She played a huge
role in the burning of the University of Alabama campus
during 1865. The Union soldiers came to Tuscaloosa with the
sole purpose of burning down the University of Alabama, Landon Garland; University of
Alabama’s President
which was temporarily converted to a military school during 1855-1865
the civil war. When she saw that her home was in trouble, she
offered to let the Union troops camp out at the President’s
Mansion even though her and her family were for the
Confederacy. Because of her bravery, the original President’s
Mansion of the University of Alabama is still standing strong
today.
The Quad in 1860
Emma Sansom
Emma Sansom was a major contributor for aiding of the
civil war for the confederacy. After Union General Streight
burned down the bridge across Black Creek, Confederate
General Forrest began asking locals for directions on how to Black Creek

get around the Creek. They went to a house with 16-year-old

Emma Sansom who lived in Sand Mountain, Alabama (near
Black Creek). She led Confederate troops across Black Creek
during the Streight’s Raid(April 19-May 3, 1863). Sansom's
actions directly helped Forrest capture Streight and his
raiders near Cedar Bluff the following day.They ran into
Streight’s troops and Sansom was being shot at until they
realized that she was just a young woman. She earned a gold
medal for her efforts. Emma Sansom
 Augusta Evans Wilson
Augusta Jane Evans was an author that wrote many books. Writing
books was how she was able to afford a house and supply for family.

In many ways, the Civil War challenged the ideology of Victorian

domesticity. The War forced women into public life. While she was a major
influence of the advancement of women in the Antebellum era, she still was
an advocate for the Victorian ideology.

Then she devoted herself to the confederacy to help as a nurse.She

actually voted against women's rights to vote. The civil war left her bankrupt
and depressed. Her immediate family survived but her brother was left
forever crippled. She lived the rest of the remainder of her life in Mobile,
Alabama where she wrote more books and married again. She ended up
living with brother and writing 2 other books (one called “Devota” and another
called “St. Elmo”) before she died of a heart attack.
Kate Cumming
Kate Cumming’s family was from England but they all moved to
Mobile, Alabama. With the turn of the war, her mother and sisters went
back to England, Kate stayed in Alabama with her father and brother to
help. Kate blamed Abraham Lincoln for the war and she condemned the
Yankees.

Kate and some other women wanted to volunteer as nurses and be a

matron, later in the month they were accepted to work.

It was not until after the Civil War, did Kate become known for her
literary talents. Kate would write down everything that was happening in
the hospitals in her diary. Eventually most of the nurses left which she
believed was wrong so she stayed behind. She later went to Tennessee to
become a paid professional nurse. Later returned to mobile then moved,
only to move Birmingham to live with her father for the rest of her life. She
died on June 5, 1909.
Amelia Gayle Gorgas
Amelia Gorgas was a librarian, nurse, teacher, and a
counselor of students at the University of Alabama. She was
married to Josiah Gorgas, and they traveled to many places
as his military career as a confederate soldier took off. He
eventually became the eighth president of the University of
Alabama. He resigned when his health started to fail, and
the position of librarian for the University was created for
him. At the same time, Amelia Gorgas was appointed as a
hospital matron, and she helped sick students in her home.
Today it is known as the Gorgas House. After her husband
died, she took over his role as librarian and was appointed
as post-mistress. She became the first female librarian on
campus.
Gorgas House
Amelia Gayle Gorgas
Amelia Gorgas was very influential in her work, and
eventually the Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library was built and named
after her. This was the first academic building at the University of
Alabama to be named after a woman. Amelia Gorgas showed
how women’s roles changed. Women used to work in their
homes and run their households, but now they have different
jobs outside their homes. She represented the working woman.
The Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library was built in the same location
as the University's original library, the Rotunda. The Rotunda was
destroyed during the Civil War when Union soldiers raided
campus and burned many buildings. Ruins from the Rotunda can Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library
be found in front of the semicircular plaza in front of the Gorgas
Library.
Augusta Evans Wilson
Augusta Wilson was an author and a civil war
nurse. Some of her books became America’s best
sellers. She was one of Alabama’s first professional
writers. This is a great accomplishment for her because
pre civil war victorian ideology kept women at home.
Augusta Evans Wilson
She was able to become an accomplished writer despite the many challenges she
faced. She received very little education as a young girl. The only education she
received was being tutored at home by her mother. The first book she wrote was Inez -
A Tale Of The Alamo. It was a failure and very few copies were sold. Her family was
poor and had to work hard to make a living. She later became a nurse at Fort Morgan in
Mobile Bay where she tended to wounded soldiers. She was a propagandist, and she
wrote several newspaper articles supporting the confederacy. She represented how
women gained more rights during the Civil War through her literary works, role outside
the home, and her job as a nurse.

Fort Morgan
Augusta Evans Wilson
The Civil War left Augusta Evans Wilson depressed and with
very little money. Her immediate family survived, but her
brother, Howard, was permanently disabled due to the War. To
get through these hard times, she devoted herself to writing,
and she wrote one of her most successful books, St. Elmo. This
book describes the struggle between good and evil. St. Elmo
represented Augusta’s beliefs that women should devote
themselves to their families. She indirectly impacted Women’s
rights. Although she believed women should devote
themselves to their families, she did more than this by
becoming an accomplished writer and a Civil War nurse.
Sources
“Inductees.” Alabama Women's Hall of Fame - Fran McKee, www.awhf.org/inductee.html.

Alabama Women's Hall of Fame - Fran McKee, www.awhf.org/gorgas.html.

Alabama Women's Hall of Fame - Fran McKee, www.awhf.org/wilson.html.

Editors, History.com. “Clara Barton.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 Nov. 2009, www.history.com/topics/womens-history/clara-barton.

MacLean, Maggie. “Juliet Hopkins.” Civil War Women, Civil War Women Blog, 3 Mar. 2014, www.civilwarwomenblog.com/juliet-hopkins/.

“Augusta Jane Evans Wilson.” Encyclopedia of Alabama, www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1072.

MacLean, Maggie. “Civil War Nurses in the South.” Civil War Women, Civil War Women Blog, 6 June 2018, www.civilwarwomenblog.com/civil-war-nurses-in-the-south/.

Brown, Melissa, and Melissa Brown. “On This Day in 1865, Union Troops Burned the University of Alabama.” AL.com, AL.com, 5 Apr. 2015,
www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2015/04/on_this_day_in_1865_union_troo.html

“Emma Sansom (Johnson).” Encyclopedia of Alabama, 27 Sept. 2007, www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1360

“History of Gorgas.” Go to The University of Alabama Libraries., www.lib.ua.edu/libraries/gorgas/history-of-gorgas/#/History_of_the_Library.

MacLean, Maggie. “Matrons in Civil War Hospitals.” Civil War Women, Civil War Women Blog, 29 Jan. 2019,
www.civilwarwomenblog.com/matrons-in-civil-war-hospitals/.

MacLean, Maggie. “Nursing in the Civil War South.” Civil War Women, Civil War Women Blog, 3 Mar. 2014, www.civilwarwomenblog.com/nursing-in-the-civil-war-south/.