Women & the American Civil War

A small manuscript collection that relates to Clara Barton's work after the war in establishing Civil War nurse's pensions.

Six letters from 1858 and 1861, all datelined "Hispaniola," postmarked at Chesapeake City or Elkton, Maryland, addressed to Miss Maggie R. Thompson, Oxford, Pennsylvania, by "Prof. M. T. (Marion Theresa) Biddle." The correspondence is between two women and they talk of beaux , visiting relatives, education, weddings, and brief mentions of the Civil War.

The Brooke family lived in Sandy Spring, Maryland. Their papers consist of numerous letters and diaries as well as financial and legal records. In particular, the diary of Mary Brooke Briggs Brooke describes how the Civil War affected the daily lives of this Quaker family.

This collection consists of the journals of Leonidas Dodson (1822-1889), banker, teacher, and prominent citizen of Easton, Maryland. The journals are a rich source of information about local and national events, including the women relatives, friends, and acquaintances who interacted with Dodson during his lifetime.

This collection consists of the correspondence and business records of Isaiah S. and Martha Lang, New Hampshire farmers. It includes significant groupings of letters from Lang's uncle, David M. Sanborn, a Baltimore physician, and from relatives farming on the Minnesota frontier. The letters from Sanborn are especially interesting in light of their particular references to economic and social conditions in a "border state" immediately before and during the Civil War.

Mainly contains photographs of women from the Civil War time period and a few other odds and ends relating to the war.

Collection of individual manuscripts related to Maryland history and culture. Many manuscripts relate to Maryland and the Civil War, some of which relate directly or indirectly to women.

The Osburn family papers consist of thirteen letters primarily written to Ginnie Osburn by her brothers Lewis and James who served in Maryland regiments of the Union Army during the Civil War. Major topics within the correspondence include life as a soldier, family concerns, illness, financial worries, travel on the frontier, business prospects, and local news.

A rich source of women's letters and diaries from the Civil War time period. Madge and May Preston, a mother and daughter, sympathized with the Confederate cause.

James F. Stepter served as a private in the Union army during the Civil War. On August 14, 1862, he enlisted in Company B of the 6th Maryland Regiment Infantry, a company recruited from Cecil County. In the months before his death in 1864, he wrote numerous letters home to his wife Amanda from Harper's Ferry and various Union encampments. This collection consists of twenty-one of Stepter's letters which outline his personal observations on the war and military life, politics, and family concerns

This collection consists of correspondence between Will and Tillie Sterling, and between Tillie and her mother, A. V. Farquhar, in Philadelphia. During the Civil War, from February 1863 to February 1864, Tillie accompanied Will to Annapolis, where he was stationed as a Union officer. The letters discuss personal and military affairs, occurrences of note, prisoners of war, slavery, and military officers and duties. Also covered in the letters are lodging, dinner parties and entertainment, travel,