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Littlefield History of the Civil War Era
The Women's Fight: The Civil War's Battles for Home, Freedom, and Nation
Historians of the Civil War often speak of "wars within a war--the military fight, wartime struggles on the home front, and the political and moral battle to preserve the Union and end slavery. In this broadly conceived book, Thavolia Glymph provides a comprehensive new history of women's roles and lives in the Civil War--North and South, white and black, slave and free--showing how women were essentially and fully engaged in all three arenas. Glymph focuses on the ideas and ideologies that drove women's actions, allegiances, and politics. We encounter women as they stood their ground, moved into each other's territory, sought and found common ground, and fought for vastly different principles. Some women used all the tools and powers they could muster to prevent the radical transformations the war increasingly imposed, some fought with equal might for the same transformations, and other women fought simply to keep the war at bay as they waited for their husbands and sons to return home.
Glymph shows how the Civil War exposed as never before the nation's fault lines, not just along race and class lines but also along the ragged boundaries of gender. However, Glymph makes clear that women's experiences were not new to the mid-nineteenth century; rather, many of them drew on memories of previous conflicts, like the American Revolution and the War of 1812, to make sense of the Civil War's disorder and death.
Glymph shows how the Civil War exposed as never before the nation's fault lines, not just along race and class lines but also along the ragged boundaries of gender. However, Glymph makes clear that women's experiences were not new to the mid-nineteenth century; rather, many of them drew on memories of previous conflicts, like the American Revolution and the War of 1812, to make sense of the Civil War's disorder and death.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published November 25, 2019
32 people are currently reading
428 people want to read
About the author
Thavolia Glymph
12 books57 followersThavolia Glymph is an associate professor of history and African and African American studies at Duke University where she teaches courses on slavery, the U.S. South, emancipation, Reconstruction, and African American women’s history. She is the author of Out of the House of Bondage: The Transformation of the Plantation Household (2008) and a coeditor of two volumes of Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867 (Ser. 1, Vols. 1 and 3, 1985 and 1990), a part of the Freedmen and Southern Society Project.
(from http://www.oah.org/lectures/lecturers...)
(from http://www.oah.org/lectures/lecturers...)
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 24, 2020
If you are interested in learning about the role of American women — black and white, rich and poor, northern and southern — during the Civil War, then this is a pretty interesting work. There is very little popular historical literature detailing women’s involved in the war most often described as “Brother against brother,” so this work in particular is a great launch point for further illumination.
October 12, 2022
Really good use of sources to tell the different experiences from elite and/or slaveholding women, poor white women, and enslaved women in both the North and the South. It is an exciting intervention in the historiography of women and the civil war, and the examination of different women negotiating space and home on the home front and war front makes for a very thought-provoking read.
I am a history grad student and this book was required for my race and gender seminar class. We had a great discussion on the book, and Glymph’s use of elite women’s sources to tell three different experiences is really interesting and something for all historians to consider in their research.
I am a history grad student and this book was required for my race and gender seminar class. We had a great discussion on the book, and Glymph’s use of elite women’s sources to tell three different experiences is really interesting and something for all historians to consider in their research.
February 27, 2022
This book takes a long time to say not very much and repeat it several times over. It's unfortunate that there's not more first hand accounts about women's roles during the Civil War. It might have been more effective to use more of what there was available for more narrative than for the repeated assertions that had little backing.
September 18, 2023
I mean, Glymph just takes a blow torch to vast swaths of Civil War historiography and centers Black women. Kind of amazing.
February 13, 2020
THAVOLIA GLYMPH IS SO SMART
June 11, 2024
While nothing in this book was earth-shatteringly new to me, it was still a great book. Professor Glymph does a good job of keeping the narrative engaging to the reader. There was one error I'd like to note: Gideon Welles was secretary of the Union Navy, not the War Department. That honor went to Simon Cameron and then his successor, Edwin M. Stanton. Other than that, I found no other major errors in the text.
December 15, 2024
Book review I wrote for my HIST 3730 class:
The Other Side of the Civil War
When discussing the Civil War, narratives typically center on the men who left their homes, prominent military figures, and battlefield strategies. But what about those who remained behind - the women who experienced the war from the home front? In general Civil War knowledge, this aspect of history is often overlooked. However, in Thavolia Glymph’s The Women’s Fight: The Civil War’s Battles for Home, Freedom, and Nation, she looks to confront that very question. In her book, she looks to shift the focus from soldiers on the frontlines, to the women who have been left largely unexplored during this critically tumultuous period in American history. Glymph highlights how women profoundly shaped both the domestic and social spheres, and she makes a rather important note that women made significant contributions and experienced profound changes at home. Through compelling anecdotes and meticulous historical analysis, Glymph brings to light the stories of Northern and Southern women whose experiences offer an equally important perspective on the Civil War.
With the latter, Glymph begins the book with an in depth look at the instantaneous impact the war took on Southern women. Highlighting their initial responses through sewing groups and support committees, she writes how slaveholding women almost immediately began to form these committees, and send packages to the frontlines. Not only were women meant to keep the home safe, but they were fully expected by the Confederate government to support their rebellious cause and have active participant roles in wartime efforts. Women had to hold the weight of protecting the homefront, but also slavery and even the South’s ability to be able to wage war.1 After these initial moments in the book, the author moves the narrative to showcase the complexities of women’s lives during the Civil War, and the vast ideological changes they underwent. Women often fled their homes during the conflict, and in a striking analysis, Glymph explores the irony of their 'fugitive' status. She points out how women’s letters and diaries often omitted a critical detail: these fugitive women strongly resembled enslaved women that secretly smuggled food from the homes of their enslavers.2
From this moment, Glymph captures the absolute societal shifts these women experienced, and emphasizes the complex relationship between race, gender, and class that shaped their new lives. As their facade of privilege began to slip even further at this time, white women realized they would have to confront their own vulnerabilities - revealing the deep psychological and emotional toll that the war imposed on them. For many women, the Civil War was not just a matter of protecting the homestead and worrying about loved ones on the battlefield, but was also seen as a time of personal struggles to redefine their identities and societal roles. As the war further progressed, women had increasingly found themselves at the center of sweeping social changes; aside from managing household and familial life, they also engaged in deep political discourse and social activism. Glymph illustrates how these women built vast networks of support, and organized community efforts that included sewing clothing and raising funds for the war. Yet, even as they contributed thousands of barrels of clothing and cash donations to army camps, women remained divided over the meaning of their contributions and, more broadly, the very concept of patriotism.3
As described above, throughout the book Glymph strives to clear the path that both Northern and Southern women felt between their contributions and struggles, while in pursuit of their own self-autonomy. Through the previously discussed acknowledgements, Glymph looks to have these serve as a critical commentary on the shifting social landscape of the era, but it doesn’t always achieve the intended impact. While the book does provide rich detail, its structure often comes across as fragmented, and lacks a cohesive narrative progression. At times, it presents itself more like a collection of various essays, than as the unified story that was anticipated; leaving the reader to want more. Through this disjointed structure, it may handicap the readers’ ability to fully grasp the significance of this book’s theme. And while the book may present several compelling case studies - such as the aforementioned organization of clothing donations to various hospitals and/or camps - it would have better benefited from a more chronological standpoint to fully illustrate the historical progression and its implications at this time. Despite this structural limitation, The Women’s Fight remains a valuable read, encouraging readers to recognize how female autonomy evolved, and how women went from passive supporters to active participants in the war effort.
Bibliography
Glymph, Thavolia. The Women's Fight: The Civil War's Battles for Home, Freedom, and Nation (Littlefield History of the Civil War Era) (The University of North Carolina Press; 1st edition, 2020), 11.
Glymph, The Women’s Fight, 31.
Ibid., 138.
The Other Side of the Civil War
When discussing the Civil War, narratives typically center on the men who left their homes, prominent military figures, and battlefield strategies. But what about those who remained behind - the women who experienced the war from the home front? In general Civil War knowledge, this aspect of history is often overlooked. However, in Thavolia Glymph’s The Women’s Fight: The Civil War’s Battles for Home, Freedom, and Nation, she looks to confront that very question. In her book, she looks to shift the focus from soldiers on the frontlines, to the women who have been left largely unexplored during this critically tumultuous period in American history. Glymph highlights how women profoundly shaped both the domestic and social spheres, and she makes a rather important note that women made significant contributions and experienced profound changes at home. Through compelling anecdotes and meticulous historical analysis, Glymph brings to light the stories of Northern and Southern women whose experiences offer an equally important perspective on the Civil War.
With the latter, Glymph begins the book with an in depth look at the instantaneous impact the war took on Southern women. Highlighting their initial responses through sewing groups and support committees, she writes how slaveholding women almost immediately began to form these committees, and send packages to the frontlines. Not only were women meant to keep the home safe, but they were fully expected by the Confederate government to support their rebellious cause and have active participant roles in wartime efforts. Women had to hold the weight of protecting the homefront, but also slavery and even the South’s ability to be able to wage war.1 After these initial moments in the book, the author moves the narrative to showcase the complexities of women’s lives during the Civil War, and the vast ideological changes they underwent. Women often fled their homes during the conflict, and in a striking analysis, Glymph explores the irony of their 'fugitive' status. She points out how women’s letters and diaries often omitted a critical detail: these fugitive women strongly resembled enslaved women that secretly smuggled food from the homes of their enslavers.2
From this moment, Glymph captures the absolute societal shifts these women experienced, and emphasizes the complex relationship between race, gender, and class that shaped their new lives. As their facade of privilege began to slip even further at this time, white women realized they would have to confront their own vulnerabilities - revealing the deep psychological and emotional toll that the war imposed on them. For many women, the Civil War was not just a matter of protecting the homestead and worrying about loved ones on the battlefield, but was also seen as a time of personal struggles to redefine their identities and societal roles. As the war further progressed, women had increasingly found themselves at the center of sweeping social changes; aside from managing household and familial life, they also engaged in deep political discourse and social activism. Glymph illustrates how these women built vast networks of support, and organized community efforts that included sewing clothing and raising funds for the war. Yet, even as they contributed thousands of barrels of clothing and cash donations to army camps, women remained divided over the meaning of their contributions and, more broadly, the very concept of patriotism.3
As described above, throughout the book Glymph strives to clear the path that both Northern and Southern women felt between their contributions and struggles, while in pursuit of their own self-autonomy. Through the previously discussed acknowledgements, Glymph looks to have these serve as a critical commentary on the shifting social landscape of the era, but it doesn’t always achieve the intended impact. While the book does provide rich detail, its structure often comes across as fragmented, and lacks a cohesive narrative progression. At times, it presents itself more like a collection of various essays, than as the unified story that was anticipated; leaving the reader to want more. Through this disjointed structure, it may handicap the readers’ ability to fully grasp the significance of this book’s theme. And while the book may present several compelling case studies - such as the aforementioned organization of clothing donations to various hospitals and/or camps - it would have better benefited from a more chronological standpoint to fully illustrate the historical progression and its implications at this time. Despite this structural limitation, The Women’s Fight remains a valuable read, encouraging readers to recognize how female autonomy evolved, and how women went from passive supporters to active participants in the war effort.
Bibliography
Glymph, Thavolia. The Women's Fight: The Civil War's Battles for Home, Freedom, and Nation (Littlefield History of the Civil War Era) (The University of North Carolina Press; 1st edition, 2020), 11.
Glymph, The Women’s Fight, 31.
Ibid., 138.
April 10, 2025
This book is a bottom-up social and gendered history of the Civil War era. Glymph analyzes the wartime struggle of women through a Rubik's Cube prism of race, citizenship, geography, and class. While the book has many problems, it serves a valuable service in shining a light on an aspect of the Civil War that receives scant attention – the war’s impact on civilian life, particularly that of women.
Glymph’s primary sources rely heavily on wartime letters and diaries. She focuses on the lives of several key women whose stories are currently overlooked in the historiography. The anecdotes are compelling, but by her own admission, they are exceptional accounts. Therefore, she is making general claims out of isolated evidence.
Glymph argues that the contributions of black women during the Civil War as victims of refugee camps, laborers on federally managed plantations, and agents of resistance is invisible in the scholarship. Their labor on the federal plantations made significant contributions to the US Treasury in keeping the war machine running. 253-4
Glymph’s primary sources rely heavily on wartime letters and diaries. She focuses on the lives of several key women whose stories are currently overlooked in the historiography. The anecdotes are compelling, but by her own admission, they are exceptional accounts. Therefore, she is making general claims out of isolated evidence.
Glymph argues that the contributions of black women during the Civil War as victims of refugee camps, laborers on federally managed plantations, and agents of resistance is invisible in the scholarship. Their labor on the federal plantations made significant contributions to the US Treasury in keeping the war machine running. 253-4
October 2, 2020
3.5
Really fascinating look at the Civil War from the perspective of women. All women: enslaved women, poor southern women, northern women (poor & rich), & slave-owning women.
I think you don't often see portrayed that many poor Southern whites, while not abolitionist or even pro-Union, were against the war because they saw as a war of the upper class & resented that rich Southerns could get their sons out of serving in the army while poor families desperately needed the labor of their sons but could not afford exemptions. (Somewhat touched on in Cold Mountain.) Flat Rock (not too far from me) had been a summer retreat for wealthy Southerns for awhile & many slave-owning families fled here with their slaves during the war which led to a lot of resentment & anger on the part of the locals & actually some bloody clashes between the classes. And the hardships faced by black women & families escaping slavery into Refugee Camps is something not covered in history class that was shocking.
Really fascinating look at the Civil War from the perspective of women. All women: enslaved women, poor southern women, northern women (poor & rich), & slave-owning women.
I think you don't often see portrayed that many poor Southern whites, while not abolitionist or even pro-Union, were against the war because they saw as a war of the upper class & resented that rich Southerns could get their sons out of serving in the army while poor families desperately needed the labor of their sons but could not afford exemptions. (Somewhat touched on in Cold Mountain.) Flat Rock (not too far from me) had been a summer retreat for wealthy Southerns for awhile & many slave-owning families fled here with their slaves during the war which led to a lot of resentment & anger on the part of the locals & actually some bloody clashes between the classes. And the hardships faced by black women & families escaping slavery into Refugee Camps is something not covered in history class that was shocking.
April 22, 2023
Overall vote is 3.5. I learned a lot. There aren’t as many books specifically covering women’s roles during the Civil War out there. I do wish it would have been easier to read though. It was hard to follow and times and I struggled with the lack of fluidity in sections. I also had to make sure I was ready to really sit down and read whenever I picked up this book. But I read it as part of a group and got enough out of it to contribute to a really great discussion.
November 18, 2023
2.75 stars. Another skim but I read it lol so on here it goes.
I enjoyed this more than the book I read this semester on West Virginia, but not my favorite book of the three I’ve read for my civil war class. It does put some new (by “new” I mean “things I haven’t heard or read before”) and interesting evidence and perspectives. I especially found the chapters on “refugeeing” and the north white women migrating to the south really fascinating.
I enjoyed this more than the book I read this semester on West Virginia, but not my favorite book of the three I’ve read for my civil war class. It does put some new (by “new” I mean “things I haven’t heard or read before”) and interesting evidence and perspectives. I especially found the chapters on “refugeeing” and the north white women migrating to the south really fascinating.
January 29, 2023
Some really interesting chapters, like those about southern refugee camps and women who worked on plantations owned by the Union to help financially support the war. A book with immense goals that didn’t always hold together working towards one thesis but did clearly demonstrate the diverse roles played by women in the Civil War.
September 30, 2025
I hate to say it genuinely but I did not enjoy this as much as I wanted to...
I was hoping for a more specific look into a couple of women's lives, so I think that this was just far too broad for me unfortunately.
This was the second book for my history class on the Civil War, and I have high hopes for the next one...
I was hoping for a more specific look into a couple of women's lives, so I think that this was just far too broad for me unfortunately.
This was the second book for my history class on the Civil War, and I have high hopes for the next one...
September 22, 2023
This ambitious book requires some more background knowledge than other’s read for Issues and Interpretations in American History so far. Really benefited from in-class discussion during which I came to better appreciate Glymph’s approach, especially in the area of class analysis.
January 17, 2025
Read for comps
November 20, 2023
One of the questions that lingered after our Reading the Civil War project was, "What were the women doing?" Well, if I were to make a short list of books to answer that question, this would be at the top of it. There are other books to tell the stories of individual women, but this book continues the work of Out of the House of Bondage: The Transformation of the Plantation Household by extending the depiction of women beyond the plantation.
This book is broken into three sections. Southern Women contains chapters on slaveholding white women who've had to flee their homes; on poor white women (often encroached upon by those refugees); and enslaved women. Northern women discusses both those who spent the war in the north, and also those who went south -- supposedly to help the enslaved and recently freed, but depicting the traps of white supremacy they continued to fall into. Finally, in the Hard Hand of War, we see the refugees who fell under the protection of the Union Army -- both the slaveholding women insisting on retaining whatever scraps of their former status they could, and Black women trying to expand freedom for themselves, their families, and their people.
This answered so many questions that I had, and opened my eyes to so much that had never occurred to me. I am so grateful to have access to Glymph's scholarship.
This book is broken into three sections. Southern Women contains chapters on slaveholding white women who've had to flee their homes; on poor white women (often encroached upon by those refugees); and enslaved women. Northern women discusses both those who spent the war in the north, and also those who went south -- supposedly to help the enslaved and recently freed, but depicting the traps of white supremacy they continued to fall into. Finally, in the Hard Hand of War, we see the refugees who fell under the protection of the Union Army -- both the slaveholding women insisting on retaining whatever scraps of their former status they could, and Black women trying to expand freedom for themselves, their families, and their people.
This answered so many questions that I had, and opened my eyes to so much that had never occurred to me. I am so grateful to have access to Glymph's scholarship.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews