DO NOT DUPLICATE of WOMEN the BLUE & GRAY FOR REVIEW ONLY DO NOT DUPLICATE FOR REVIEW ONLY DO NOT DUPLICATE of WOMEN the BLUE & GRAY True Civil War Stories of Mothers, Medics, Soldiers, and Spies MARIANNE MONSON s FOR REVIEW ONLY DO NOT DUPLICATE Photo credits: Background: pashabo/shutterstock.com page 1: Harriet Beecher Stowe/public domain page 6: Lydia Child/public domain page 17: White Mountain rangers, ca. 1861/Library of Congress/public domain page 19: Frances Clayton/Library of Congress/public domain page 33: Susie King Taylor/public domain page 47: Belle Boyd/Library of Congress/public domain page 51: Rose Greenhow and Daughter/Library of Congress/public domain page 57: Pauline Cushman/Library of Congress/public domain page 64: Harriet Tubman/Library of Congress/public domain page 69: Anna Ella Carroll/Maryland Historical Society page 81: Sarah Dawson/public domain page 97: Cornelia Peake McDonald/public domain page 109: Harriet Jacobs, ca. 1894/public domain page 123: Mary Ann Shadd Cary/public domain page 131: Clara Barton/public domain page 141: Mary Ann Bickerdyke/Library of Congress/public domain page 145: Two wounded Federal soldiers are cared for by Anne Bell, a nurse during the American Civil War, ca. 1861–1865/public domain page 149: Mary Walker/Library of Congress/public domain page 167: Chipeta/Library of Congress/public domain page 183: Mary E. Schwandt Schmidt (Mrs. William) and Snana Good Thunder (Maggie Brass)/ Minnesota Historical Society page 187: Sarah and William McEntire/family photo courtesy Shauna Gibby page 190: Kady Brownell/Library of Congress/public domain page 203: Harriet Tubman/Library of Congress/public domain page 214: Clara Barton/public domain page 220: Varina Davis/Portrait by John Wood Dodge, 1849/public domain © 2018 Marianne Monson All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, Shadow M ountain®, at permissions@shadowmountain .com. The views expressed herein are the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily repre- sent the position of Shadow Mountain. Visit us at shadowmountain.com Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Monson, Marianne, 1975– author. Title: Women of the blue and gray : true Civil War stories of mothers, medics, soldiers, and spies / Marianne Monson. Description: Salt Lake City, Utah : Shadow Mountain, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references. Identifiers: LCCN 2018001451 | ISBN 9781629724157 (hardbound : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Women. | United States— History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Social aspects. | United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Participation, Female. |Women—United States—History—19th century. | LCGFT: Biographies. Classification: LCC E628 .M67 2018 | DDC 973.7082—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018001451 Printed in the United States of America Publishers Printing, Salt Lake City, UT 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 FOR REVIEW ONLY DO NOT DUPLICATE CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ..............................vii 1 REBELS, INCITERS, AND ALL-AROUND REVOLUTIONARIES ............................ 1 2 THE BEARDLESS BRIGADE: Civil War Soldiers ...... 17 3 SUSIE BAKER KING TAYLOR: Union Nurse, Teacher, and Author ....................33 4 TALES OF SMUGGLING, ESPIONAGE, AND GENERAL SUBTERFUGE ..................47 5 ANNA ELLA CARROLL: Military Strategist and Political Advisor ............... 69 6 INK OF THE CENTURIES: The Diarists ............81 7 CORNELIA PEAKE Mc DONALD: Mother and Diarist .............................. 97 8 VOICES FROM SLAVERY ......................109 9 MARY ANN SHADD CARY: Recruiter, Newspaper Editor, and Abolitionist. 123 10 ARMS TO SAVE: Nurses, Medics, and Battlefield Relief ................. 131 11 DR. MARY WALKER: Civil War Surgeon and Activist ...149 FOR REVIEW ONLY DO NOT DUPLICATE v i Contents 12 FIRST NATIONS IN A DIVIDED NATION .......167 13 LOVE IN THE TIME OF DYSENTERY ............187 14 PATHWAYS TO PEACE ...................... 203 AUTHOR’S NOTE ........................... 225 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................... 229 FOR REVIEW ONLY DO NOT DUPLICATE CHAPTER 3 SUSIE BAKER KING TAYLOR Union Nurse, Teacher, and Author FOR REVIEW ONLY DO NOT DUPLICATE “There are many people who do not know what some of the colored women did during the war.” —Susie Baker King Taylor Of the thousands of African American women who served the Union armies in countless capacities on both sides of the Mason- Dixon line, we have the firsthand account of one alone: Susie Baker King Taylor. Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33rd U.S. Colored Troops, Late 1st South Carolina Volunteers is a remarkable story told by a woman who escaped a life of slavery in time to serve as a nurse and an educator on behalf of the Union cause. Prior to the Civil War, half the wealth of the thriving Georgia economy resided in the enslaved population, which had reached close to half a million people in the early 1860s. To maintain control over this potentially volatile populace, the white community kept careful guard over their most potent weapon of all—knowledge. As long as slaves remained illiterate, they could be separated from their families and denied further means to communicate. Without last names and the ability to write them, slaves could be sold at will to a new master, their pasts erased in the process. Without literacy, the enslaved could be kept from new political debates fomenting dan- gerously in the newspapers of the North. A slave who was discovered writing often had the tips of his or her thumbs cut off. In Georgia, if a white person was caught teaching an enslaved person to read, they FOR REVIEW ONLY DO NOT DUPLICATE susIe Bak er K InG TaY lor 35 were fined $500. If a black person was caught, they were fined $100 and received up to thirty-two lashes of the whip.1 Though Susie was born in Georgia in 1848 to the desperate world of plantation slavery, she had a powerful weapon on her side: a grandmother who believed in the power of education and desired freedom for her descendants. Dolly Reed lived forty miles from her daughter’s family but visited her grandchildren in the ironically named Liberty County a few times each year. Dolly hired a wagon for these trips so she could haul supplies from town to trade in the country; she returned home laden with farm goods to sell in the city. When Susie turned seven, Dolly invited Susie and her younger brother and sister to join her household in Savannah. Compared with rural Georgia, the city of Savannah seemed like a bastion of op- portunity for enslaved individuals. Savannah housed a thriving black community with churches and a wide variety of enterprises—some legal, and others not. Dolly Reed also enjoyed an unusual amount of latitude. It’s unknown whether Dolly was freed or enslaved, but through her trade enterprise and work in town, Reed saved thou- sands of dollars and managed her own household.2 Shortly after Susie’s arrival in Savannah, Dolly took Susie to meet Mary Woodhouse, a local seamstress who ostensibly appren- ticed children interested in learning her trade. Woodhouse’s twenty- five to thirty pupils entered her kitchen one at a time, but once the doors shut behind them, they got down to their real business: clan- destine learning. A network of these secret schools ran a circuitous route through the city of Savannah. The black population referred to the institutions as “bucket schools” because the children carried their schoolbooks at the bottom of buckets, wrapped in paper or covered with wares to keep the contraband textbooks safe from pry- ing eyes. In 1860, six to seven of these secret schools operated around Savannah. Julien Fromantin pretended to teach his students carpen- try while actually teaching them reading, writing, and arithmetic. Catherine DeVeaux and her daughter Jane also ran a successful FOR REVIEW ONLY DO NOT DUPLICATE 36 W t oMen oF He blue and GraY bucket school for years, but the dangers were very real. James Porter, a talented musician and teacher who taught a more advanced cur- riculum, built a trapdoor in his house to hide the children in case of a raid.3 When Porter’s school was discovered, he was forced into temporary hiding. When James Simms was discovered, authorities made an example of him and sentenced him to a public whipping. Simms resumed teaching after his release, until threatened with fur- ther fines and arrest. He fled to Boston to wait out the war.4 Fully aware of the dangers of seeking out an education, Susie nonetheless became an eager and voracious pupil. After working with Ms. Woodhouse for two years, Susie continued her studies with Mary Beasley. By the time Susie turned eleven, Ms. Beasley told Dolly that she “had better get some one else” who could teach the girl more.5 Many would have said Susie knew far more than a slave would ever need to know, but Dolly wanted to help her eager grand- daughter, so, in spite of the dangers, she sought out new resources. Meanwhile, Susie turned to another potentially risky source to find the knowledge she desired: white children. A wealthy family that lived down the street had a daughter, Katie O’Connor, who was close to Susie’s own age. The girls became friends, and Susie begged Katie to share her books and lessons. Katie’s mother reluc- tantly agreed as long as they kept the meetings strictly secret, par- ticularly from Katie’s father. For four glorious months, the girls met for clandestine lessons, but the meetings came to an abrupt close when Katie entered a convent. Eager for more knowledge, Susie noticed James Blouis, their landlord’s teenaged son. James attended the local high school and drilled with the local Savannah Volunteer Guards; Susie begged him to share his books and lessons.