Women's Contributions to the American Term Paper

Sarah's first filed duty occurred in February 1864, when the 153d marched 700 miles to join the Red River campaign in Louisiana (Sarah pp). As the campaign was nearing the end, Sarah was stricken with dysentery and died in the Marine Hospital of New Orleans on May 22, 1864 (Sarah pp). Her identity remained undiscovered for more than a hundred years, until the letters she had written home during the war surfaced (Sarah pp). She had left behind a ring, on which was engraved her regiment and name (Sarah pp). She is buried in Louisiana in a grave marked Lyons (Sarah pp).

Cathay Williams was born into slavery in 1842 near Independence, Missouri (Women pp). She grew up and worked as a house-girl for William Johnson, a wealthy planter in Jefferson City, Missouri (Women pp). During the Civil War, Union soldiers liberated Cathay and she spent the remainder of the war working as a paid servant for the Union Army (Women pp). Shortly after her job with the Army ended, Cathay disguised her gender and joined the 38th Infantry, Company a, in St. Louis on November 15, 1866 under the name of William Cathay (Women pp). On October 14, 1868 Cathay was discharged from the Army at Ft. Bayard, New Mexico (Women pp). Susie Baker was born a slave in 1848 in Georgia, and learned to read and write while living with her grandmother (Women pp). In 1862 she gained her freedom as contraband of war and was appointed laundress of the 33rd U.S.Colored Troops (Women pp). In 1862, at the age of fourteen, she married one of the members of this regiment, Sergeant Edward King (Women pp). Susie taught the soldiers in her husband's regiment to read and write and in January 1863, she began to nurse the wounded men who returned to camp from a raid on the St. Mary's River and continued to nurse the wounded for four years until she and her husband were mustered out of the regiment in 1866 (Women pp). However, she never lost her interest in nursing and helped to organize a branch of the Women's Relief Corps (Women pp). In 1902 Susie Baker published her autobiography, 'Reminiscences of my life in camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops late 1sr S.C. Volunteers' (Women pp).

Works Cited

Women Were There." http://userpages.aug.com/captbarb/femvets2.html

Sarah Emma Edmonds: 1842-1898." http://www.civilwarhome.com/edmondsbio.htm

Clara Barton:1821-1912." http://www.americancivilwar.com/women/cb.html

American Civil War Women." http://intellit.muskingum.edu/civwar_folder/civwarunwomen.html

Sarah R. Wakeman." http://www.ehistory.com/world/PeopleView.Cfm?PID=87.....