Civil War
Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy
Nursing wasn’t the only role that women played in the American Civil War. Women on both sides of the conflict organized soldier’s aid societies, effectively transforming homes, schools and churches into small-scale factories and shipping warehouses in which they made and collected food, clothing and medical supplies. Eighty years before Rosie the Riveter, they worked…
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Amy Morris Bradley: Civil War Shin-kicker
I must admit to a sneaking fondness for the Civil War nurses who found a way to work outside Dorothea Dix’s nursing corps. Some of them, like Cornelia Hancock, were too young and/or too pretty to meet “Dragon Dix”‘s specifications. Others, like Clara Barton, were too independent. Amy Morris Bradley was simply too ornery. When…
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Frank Stringfellow–Confederate Spy
In the PBS series Mercy Street, Frank Stringfellow is a spy and assassin. A cold-blooded killer with a hint of the psychopath, he seems to enjoy the violence that the war has unleashed. (Or at least that’s how I read the character thus far. That may not be the intention of the show’s creators.) It’s…
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