Daughters of the Regiment

Daughters of the Regiment, Vivandiàres, Families of Soldiers, and Spies

Women who chose to follow the Union or Confederate armies into the field provided needed services for the soldiers. Some held positions recognized by the army and were called daughters of the regiment or vivandiàres. The women in the camps worked as cooks, laundresses, seamstresses, sutlers, and nurses. Often, but not always, they were wives or daughters of soldiers. Female spies, in both the North and South, rendered covert service for their cause.

Official Union daughters of the regiment wore adapted military uniforms. They ranged from young Eliza Wilson of Wisconsin who performed ceremonial duties that boosted the morale of soldiers, to Kady Brownwell who followed her husband and the 1st and 5th Rhode Island Infantry Regiments and served as flag bearer in battle. She also nursed soldiers and learned to use a rifle and sword.

Some units hired cooks and laundresses. Women or freed slaves would fill those roles. In other cases, wives and even children of soldiers would follow a unit, cooking, doing laundry, and keeping their soldier company. The presence of family members was not entirely welcome, however. Some viewed them as taking medical care, food, and quarters that could be used for soldiers. In addition, camp life had its own risks—disease was rampant and being close to the front brought the risk of enemy attack.

Certain women took advantage of acting skills, intelligence, charm, social acquaintances, and political connections in order to serve in a more clandestine fashion—as spies. They extracted information at balls, during tours of local forts, or while socializing with invading soldiers. Women were able to smuggle maps and documents in their hoop skirts, hems, and hair in order to safely deliver information. The South had its share of famous female spies—Maria Isabella "Belle" Boyd and Rose O'Neal Greenhow—while women like Elizabeth Van Lew, from Virginia, aided the North.

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When possible, families of soldiers would join them in camp, bringing a little bit of home with them. If families could not stay for an extended time, some would at least visit when possible. In 1864, while in Nashville, Rawlins sent for his wife and children. They spent about three weeks together that February and March.

Wives of soldiers who followed them to the camps often worked as cooks and laundresses. Living in the camp helped to support the family.

Husband was the granddaughter of Robert Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the mother of two Union soldiers. She began her Civil War work with the Philadelphia Ladies Aid Society as a nurse and cook. Husband then served on hospital transport ships and in field hospitals near Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Fredericksburg. She also took up the cause of defending soldiers who had received unfair court martial sentences and worked with President Abraham Lincoln on relieving some of the punishments.

This Quaker mother-daughter team visited soldiers in Washington, D.C., hospitals. Brief visits turned into extended stays at particular hospitals to improve sanitary conditions. Later, Abigail was in charge of nursing at the Point Lookout Hospital in Maryland. Abigail also participated in abolitionist efforts to aid escaping slaves. As a result of the family's abolitionist activities, the Gibbons family home was severely damaged in a riot. Daughter Sarah married during the war and was quickly widowed, but her mother convinced her to continue in their work.