Women Were There The War Between the States was also a war
between brothers, cousins, friends and neighbors - and some of
them were women. We know from certain military records, antique
books, and lately some newer books, that women served as nurses,
vivandieres, sutlers, and as Union and Confederate soldiers, and
even spies. A vivandiere, by the way, is a French army term
applied to women who provided food, provisions, and liqueurs to
soldiers. For more about them please visit History of
Vivandieres. Sutlers were peddlers who sold goods to military
units in the field. One woman served without pay as a physician,
acted as a spy, and was a prisoner of war. Dr. Mary Walker Many
stories have been written about unique Civil War women,
including Sarah Emma Edmonds, alias Franklin Thompson. In Nurse
and Spy in the Union Army, 1865, which is subtitled The
Adventures and Experiences of a Woman in Hospitals, Camps, and
Battle-Fields, the author chronicles her adventures and
escapades as she gathers information and nur