THE CIVIL WAR: THE TRUE STORY BOOK 1

Women of the Southern Confederacy

Women of the Southern Confederacy

By Albert Taylor Bledsoe on May 8, 2016

Editor's Note: A Mother's Day special dedicated to all Southern wives and mothers, this piece was originally published in 1877 in Bledsoe's The Southern Review.

It is strange how we undervalue the historical interest of contemporaneous events, and how careless most persons are of preserving any record of the most stirring incidents that mark their own pathway through life. While in one sense, no period excites our sympathies as does the present, in another, we seem, totally indifferent to its issues, and undervalue as small and insignificant what we are accustomed to admire and extol in the records of a remote generation. 'True, an impartial verdict as to political action must always be waited for until time shall have modified the asperities of party feeling; but how shall this verdict ever be rendered without material furnished by contemporaneous evidence, be it partisan, or coldly neutral in tone? Partial testimony cannot be rejected; but the judgment as to its value must be held in abeyance until a careful comparison has been made with that given on the other side. It is astonishing, too, how plainly truth is often discovered under color of most violent exaggeration; and when a writer is trying most laboriously to produce a certain impression, some unguarded word, some naive statement of facts, may produce upon the reader's mind exactly the opposite conviction to that which the writer meant to convey. The only hope that a true verdict shall be rendered in future time, rests upon the honest and fearless testimony of contemporary writers.

One cannot read the record of the American Revolution and the recent civil war, without being impressed with the close resemblance between the rebel women of 1776 and those of 1861. The story of the one seems but a repetition of that of the other, except that the women of '61 passed through the more fiery ordeal, and the more terrible in its character, inasmuch as no triumph rewarded their sacrifices, no glad conclusion wiped out the memory of their griefs.

A candid comparison will show that a century of republican institutions with the anomalous accompaniment of domestic slavery, has not produced a degenerate race in the southern portion of our country, as compared with the heroic men and women of Revolutionary fame. So far as the men are concerned, the glorious record of the armies of the Confederacy, with such leaders as Lee, Jackson, Polk, and their compeers, furnishes a sufficient answer. But, to spend a little while in reviewing the character of the women who acted a true, if subordinate, part on that trying arena, and so many of whom, alas! are already beyond the reach of praise or blame, cannot surely be found amiss. In speaking of the living, the greatest delicacy and reserve shall be used; for it is the poorest compliment that can be paid a woman, to drag her from modest retirement into the glare of public notice. Thither some of their sex must be thrust, by the force of circumstances, or the necessities of the case; but it is not the highest type of woman who willingly sees herself brought before the public, or becomes a candidate for their favor. No invidious discriminations, then, are meant if we extol the actions of the dead, and are silent, or only mention in general terms, those yet living who have performed equally meritorious services. It is only done out of deference to their own womanly feeling.

In history of all kinds, the natural course is, first to consider the conduct and character of those lifted by station above their fellows, so as to become leaders of the people. The first question, then, to ask concerning the women of the Southern Confederacy, relates to the character of those who composed the home-circles of our great men. Who does not desire a more intimate acquaintance with the women who reigned in the hearts and shared the fortunes of the men who filled the places of responsibility and power in the Confederacy, which had yet to fight its way to an acknowledged existence? Of course, in the brief review article, only specimens can be chosen of a class, and such information given as scanty materials supply. In the case of Southern women, the difficulties are peculiarly great that beset the path of one who would chronicle their deaths or lay bare the story of their inner lives; for, in that section of country, with the conservatism for which it is noted, women still shrink painfully from being in anywise dragged before the public.