What new responsibilities did women take on during the Civil War?

They joined their loved ones and helped fight with the men and helped by making weapons fixing clothes and caring for the men when they got wounded. Women facilitated the work of the soldiers by helping the various units to prepare and transport food or to carry out spy missions. A majority of the women were civilians and that is why it was difficult to tell if they were spies.

In the Civil War, women in the south took care of farms when the men were away fighting. Overall, women had to contribute to society outside of their house much more during the Civil War.

Generally, women contributed by:

• encouraging enlistment
• raising funds
• provisioning soldiers
• caring for the wounded
• establishing schools in liberated south
• assuming tasks of husbands and brothers back home
• some women posed as male soldiers and saw combat
• working in government jobs and retail trades.