Confederate camp Essay Example for Free

Confederate camp Essay In the Confederate camp, among the most noted female was Amy Clarke. As in the case of Malinda Blalock, Amy volunteered for military service in order to be with her husband. They fought together in the â€Å"battles of Shiloh, where Mr. Clarke was killed. † After burying her husband personally, Amy continued fighting with the Confederate army under General Bragg in Kentucky. She was wounded in action twice. The first time she suffered only a minor ankle injury. However, her second injury was a breast wound and she was consequently captured by the enemy who promptly discovered that she was a woman. She was later released as a war prisoner on parole on the condition that she would wear woman’s clothes. It did not take long for Amy to rejoin a Confederate unit in Tennessee, however, this time as a lieutenant. (Hall, n. d. ) The case of Rosetta Wakeman was rather different. She did not join the army out of patriotism nor because of any husband or sweetheart. She did it essentially for money. Rosetta belonged to a big family in upstate New York who toiled under almost inhuman conditions on a farm owned by the family. At the age of 19, she decided to leave her family and look for work elsewhere. Since the usual jobs available for women like those of a domestic helper or a laundress were such low-paying occupations, she decided to disguise herself as a man and took on a man’s job as a coal handler in a canal boat. When she heard that a soldier received a much better salary of $13 a month, she joined the â€Å"153rd New York State Volunteers† as a private. As a soldier, she was able to save her salary which enabled her to send large amounts of money to her folks back home and would ask them for â€Å"tobacco, apples, pies, and cakes† in return. According to her family, she used to write and tell them how she enjoyed her life as a soldier, â€Å"having the time of her life† and enjoying freedoms which were not available to her, being a woman. She told them that â€Å"I enjoy myself first rate†¦I have had plenty of money to spend and a good time asoldiering. I find just as good friends among strangers as I do at home. † Rosetta became so good at posing as a man and hiding her real identity that not even her acquaintances from home recognized her whenever she went to see her newly acquired male friends in other units. She continued to deceive everybody even when she was admitted in a hospital for treatment of dysentery. Until the very end, Loreta died and was â€Å"buried as a soldier† at the Chalmette National Cemetery in New Orleans. (CivilWarStudies. org, n. d. ) Regardless of the reasons and the extent of women participation in the civil war, the fact remains that the war had not been an all male show. The history of the American Civil War would not have been as colorful if women chose to simply stay home and do nothing. References Blanton, D. (1993). Women Soldiers of the Civil War, Part 2. National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 27, 2007, from http://www. archives. gov/publications/prologue/1993/spring/women-in-the-civil-war-1. html CivilWarStudies. org. (n. d. ). Why Did Women Fight in the Civil War? About. com. Retrieved July 27, 2007, from http://womenshistory.about.com/od/civilwar/a/women_spies_un.htm