What was different between the North and South? We all know that the South was different in many ways, but are we really aware of those ways?
In the North farms were family affairs; though there were some of these small farms in the South most farming was done on large plantations. and even the family farms had additional man power from slavery. Of course, the plantations were the biggest slave owners. And how did this effect the lives of their women?
There was no equally of the sexes in the South. Women were “taken” care of, and told what their men-folk thought and therefore, what they should think. Many of the journals, letters, and diaries that were left behind say as much. A woman would express their own thoughts in writing and quickly disavow what they’d written saying that their husband, father, brother, etc. says differently and is of course, correct.
Many of the citizens in the South were “professionals” as well as plantation owners, working in political, law, or medical offices. They hired the “little” people to take care of their needs; the blacksmiths, grocers, haberdasheries, and millinery shops were the working folk, and even they owned slaves to lessen their burden. Their women only had to call, ask, or order to have things done for them. To get a better view of the life lived by a political wife, read Mary B. Chestnut’s journal (its available at any of the on-line book stores) and the book written that covers the background surrounding her and that era.
This easy way of life didn’t prepare the Souther Belle for the coming war and the loss of provisions that came with it. Some weeped and wailed in the streets as their men marched to war, while other (no better off, but better fortified) scorned them openly. These women would soon find out what it meant to run a store, or a plantation, to provide for a family and a stable of slaves. The troubling letters to their soldiers were one of causes of desertion, another was seeing what it meant to be in real danger, but more on that later.
Women often followed the armies (both North and South) and did for their men as they could; cleaning, mending, washing clothes, cooking and tending to their illnesses and wounds. But some went even further.
In my mind the women in both the North, and South were the real soldiers of that war. They were brave, maybe especially those who stayed at home and tried to find food, clothing and shelter for those they were suddenly responsible for, but they all fought with brave hearts.
Tags: farms, North, plantations, slavery, South, Women of the Civil War
