Civil War: The Wisconsin Homefront
Jim Temmer

The Civil War has been described in domestic terms—"Brother against brother," "A house divided against itself cannot stand" yet we often overlook the tremendous impact the Civil War had on domestic life. In Wisconsin, as in other parts of the country, women played vital roles in the success of the troops in the field.

Women were expected to support the soldiers medically, spiritually, and economically. In Wisconsin, as elsewhere, small communities had serious religious, class, and political differences. However, women set these social barriers aside and banded together as never before to form the Woman's Soldiers Aid Society. This organization sent medical inspectors to report on and improve sanitary conditions among the troops and in medical treatment centers. They invented hospital cars for human transportation of the wounded and they distributed thousands of dollars worth of what they called "sanitary supplies." The Soldiers Aid Society also hired nurses for Army hospitals and organized soup distribution for soldiers. Many women pointed to the recent example of Florence Nightingale's tending British troops in the Crimean War as a goal. Nationally, the United States Sanitary Commission was the largest volunteer organization in the history of the nation up to that time.

The Soldiers Aid Society tried to lift soldier's spirits by gathering and sending care packages to the front. Boxes of tasty cookies, pastries, jellies, and meats were packed along with the latest news from home to keep up morale. This was done while many women on the home front could have used a boost as well. Women with husbands, brothers, or sons at war would make daily treks to the post office to see if their loved ones' names were on the latest postings of killed and wounded. Loneliness and fear were their constant companions. With most of the traditional income-earners off to war, many women were hard-pressed to make ends meet. Each private in the Union army was to receive $13 per month. The State of Wisconsin promised an additional $5 to wives of volunteers and $2 per month for each child. This money was very slow to arrive, if it was delivered at all. Priority was placed on the troops in the field, and the people back home came in a distant second.

Women did more than wait for a monthly state check that might not come. They picked up the harnesses, hammers, and tools that men had laid aside on their way to war. Women filled traditionally male roles and kept the Wisconsin economy afloat. Women were in the fields everywhere, driving the reapers, bindin, and shocking, and loading grain. Wisconsin agricultural production would have ceased without women's labor. Some of the changes in women's economic roles continued after the Civil War. In 1860, just before the start of the war, 773 women were involved in "commercial and industrial pursuits." By 1870 that number had increased by over 500 percent.

The Wisconsin home front during the Civil War was a place of hardship and fear for many women, yet these same people put the well-being of their loved-ones and that of the Union ahead of their own needs. The American Civil War profoundly changed our nation and our families.

Historian James Temmer serves as site director for SHSW's H. H. Bennett Studio & History Center.