If you'd rather place an order by talking to one of our cheerful order desk clerks, please call 1-888-232-4444 (USA and Canada only) or 250-383-6864. From Europe, ring our UK order desk clerk at local rate number 0845 230 9601 (UK only) or 44 (0)1865 722 113.

The Distaff Civil War

by Robert E. Denney

374 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #01-0284; ISBN 1-55212-882-2; US$30.50, C$39.95, EUR26.00, £18.00

This book tells the story of women's activities during the American Civil War, both North and South, and how they coped with their lives and helped the men during the war.

Read more!

About the book      About the author      Sample excerpts      Catalogue info

About the Book "THE DISTAFF CIVIL WAR" is an accounting of but a few of the women who lived during the period of the American Civil War and contended with the many problems, North and South. Some of these problems would seem trivial in our day, but in the mid-19th Century, they were almost unsurmountable. The book covers the lives of a diverse number of women who coped with major problems, both physical and emotional, and survived with dignity and bravery. The book provides a chronological narrative of letters and other documents created by these heroic women during the four years of the Civil War. Many of these women were unsung in their time and are little known today. With their accounts, a background is provided of the overall aspect of the war at that period of time which shows the influences of outside forces which affect their actions, be it battle, blockade, or material shortages. The protagonists include a South Carolinian desperate to serve the Confederacy as a nurse; a young Georgian woman who spends the war as a tutor on a southern plantation coping with shortages caused by the blockade; a Maine woman with extensive experience in teaching who becomes a hospital matron in Virginia; a woman from Illinois who devotes nearly four years of her life to serve as nurse, surrogate Mother, and organizer in a grand style for the Union army; women who are driven from their homes in Missouri; former slaves who recall their experiences during slavery; prostitutes who are exiled from Nashville; women who take on the farm work after their men are gone to war; and a myriad of other characters. The common thread throughout their stories is DUTY. Their common goal is to SERVE. The rewards for their service and dedication is the grateful THANKS of thousands of veterans who survived because of their efforts.

About the Author Robert E. Denney is both a Korean and Vietnam veteran, as well as having served a short time in China before the Communists took over in 1948. His interest in the Civil War goes back more than 50 years and he has been an ardent student of that conflict for all that time. He is the author of three books on the Civil War including books covering the prisons and medicine of the war. He is currently researching the aspect of the "galvanized" soldiers, North and South, and is planning a major genealogical document and book concerning this subject. Denney's service in Korea, as an infantry Sergeant, was working with the guerrillas in North Korea to disrupt the supply lines and create diversions. For service in that war he was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star w/V device, and the Purple Heart. Following hospitalization upon return to the States, Denney was assigned as a 1st Sgt. and later Sgt. Major of units before attending helicopter flight school in 1955. While on duty in Germany, Denney became involved in the test and development of a low-level navigation system for helicopters. For his performance during the test, he was awarded the Army Commendation Medal. Sent to Arizona to continue the tests, he headed a major test on an American-built navigation system. During this period he was promoted from Chief Warrant Officer to Captain. For his work on the project he was awarded an Oak Leaf Cluster (OLC) for the Commendation Medal. Sent to Vietnam in 1965 and 1966, he was assigned as the Project Officer to acquire and install a similar navigation system for that theater of operations. During this period Denney was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, a Bronze Star (OLC), and a Purple Heart (OLC). Denney retired in 1967 as a Major after more than twenty years active service. Denney has been married nearly 50 years, has 4 children, and three grandsons. He is the Past President of the Civil War Round Table of Washington, D.C. He is also a member of the Lincoln Group of D.C. Denney has resided in Northern Virginia since 1967. If autographed copies are desired, please contact the author at RDenney542@aol.com for further information. The cost of the book is the same to the customer, although some additional shipping charges may be incurred.

Sample Excerpts

Mitchell, Mary B., Civilian, Shepherdstown, Va.:

..... Tuesday brought fresh wagon-loads of wounded, and would have brought despair, except that they were accompanied by an apology for a commissariat. Soon more reliable sources of supply were organized among our country friends. Some doctors arrived, who - with a few honorable exceptions - might as well have stayed away. The remembrance of that worthless body of officials stirs me to wrath. Two or three worked conscientiously and hard, and they did all the medical work, except what was done by our own town physicians. In strong contrast was the conduct of the common men detailed as nurses. They were as gentle as they knew how to be, and very obliging and untiring. Of course they were uncouth and often rough, but with the wounded dying about us every day, and with the necessity that we were under for the first few days, of removing those who had died at once that others not yet quite dead might take their places, there was no time to be fastidious; it required all our efforts to be simply decent, and we sometimes failed in that.

We fed our men as well as we could from every available source, and often had some difficulty in feeding ourselves. The townspeople were very hospitable, and we were invited here and there, but could not always go, or hesitated, knowing every house was full. I remember once, that having breakfasted upon a single roll and having worked hard among sickening details, about 4 o'clock I turned wolfishly ravenous and ran to a friend's house down the street. When I got there I was almost too faint to speak, but my friend looked at me and disappeared in silence, coming back in a moment with a plate of hot soup. What luxury ! I sat down then and there on the front doorstep and devoured the soup as if I had been without food for a week.

It was known on Tuesday that Harpers Ferry had been taken, but it was growing evident that South Mountain had not been a victory..... As night drew nearer, whispers of a great battle to be fought the next day grew louder, and we shuddered at the prospect, for battle had come to mean to us, as it never had before, blood, wounds, and death....

March 7 (Saturday)

Hill, Sarah Jane Full, Trenton, Tenn.:

The third day rumors were reaching us that a brigade of the Federal army from Jackson was marching to relieve the town and would be here the next day to attack Forrest. The next morning much excitement was manifest on the streets and there was a general running to and fro. We soon learned that Forrest and his troopers had left early in the morning and the Federals would be here by noon. The rear guard of the raiders were then filing past the hotel. The women of the house had gathered in the hall and at the front door to see them pass. They were a motley crowd for they had confiscated most of the family carriages and buggies, also the horses of the citizens, and they were occupied by the wounded Rebels, the prisoners with ropes around their necks like halters, their hands tied behind them were hitched to the back of the vehicles, just like cattle but received less consideration. One poor fellow, who had managed to slip away unperceived, took refuge with the women in the hallway. A trooper on horseback rode up to the steps and called out asking if there were any "Yanks" in there. A woman shrilled back there was one hiding, to come and get him. The poor fellow cowered down, but his time had come, for the bully rode his horse up the steps and right into the hall among, the women and ordered him out. The soldier refused, when he was struck over the head with the butt of the other's revolver, and dazed and beaten, he was driven out to the street. I expected to see him shot and do not know why he was not. There was little compassion shown to sickness or suffering among the captured men. My heart burned within me, but what could one woman do, and she in a way a prisoner too, so the poor boy had to meet his fate.

The cavalcade stopped in front of the hotel and a sick soldier haltered and tied to the back of a buggy driven by a slouching Rebel, looked up at we women exclaimed, "For God's sake, give me a drink of water." No one responded, but I could not refuse that cry for help and rushed to the back of the hall and got a cup of water from the bucket that stood there and carried it out to the fainting man hand held it to his lips. The man in the buggy said, "Here, give me that." "No," I replied, "the blue before the butternut with me." He reached over to take the cup when I grasped his wrist and held it fast. "Not this time you don't," I said. I was so furious and keyed up there was the strength of ten men in me and I could have dragged him out of that buggy easily. Just then an officer rode up and ordered him to move on and started the horse, but my sick soldier had drank his cup of cold water.

The last of the raiders left hurriedly and in a very different manner from what they had entered the place. They left destruction and ruin behind them and the town had been looted and devastated more in the three or four days of Forrest's occupation than in the months that the Union forces had been stationed there. For a few hours a great stillness and quiet seemed to pervade the place, then in the distance we heard the shrill notes of the fife and the roll of the drums, playing "When Johnny Comes Marchin Home," and soon the boys in blue with the stars and stripes waving came marching down the street. I never was so glad to see anything in my life as that flag, and felt our troubles were over for that time.

June 30 (Tuesday)

Today, Bragg evacuated Tullahoma, Tenn., and withdrew toward Chattanooga, a move that gave up the South's major pork supplier.

In Pennsylvania, Lee had wasted no time in reassembling his army. Early's men left York for Gettysburg. Union cavalry were in Gettysburg yesterday, and today Gen. Meade ordered Maj. Gen. Reynolds' corps to occupy Gettysburg. Brig. Gen. Buford's Federal cavalry, having arrived in Gettysburg yesterday, was scouting the area looking for the Confederate main force.

Hague, Parthenia A., Hurtville, Ala.:

Sewing societies were formed in every hamlet, as well as in our cities, to keep the soldiers of the Confederacy clothed as best we could. They met once every week, at some lady's house, if it was in the country. To such societies all the cloth that could be spared from each household was given and made into soldiers' garments. Socks, gloves, blankets, woolen coverlets, and even home-made bedquilts were donated; wool scarfs, knitted on long oak or hickory-wood needles, were sent for our soldiers in the bitter cold of Virginia, to wrap around their necks and cover their ears.

In many settlements there were spinning "bees." Many women whose husbands were in the army found it uphill work to card and spin all that was necessary to cloth a numerous family. In such cases, .... there would be a gathering of ladies of the settlement, both married and single, for the "spinning bee." Wheels, cards, and cotton were all hauled in a wagon to the place appointed. On the way, .... a long flexible twig would be cut from the woods, and attached to one of the spinning-wheels; from the top of such flagstaff would play loosely to the wind, .... a large bunch of lint cotton, as our ensign. Sometimes as many as six or eight wheels would be whirring at the same time in one house, and assistance was also given in weaving, cutting out, and making up clothing for such families.

May 15 (Sunday)

At Resaca, Ga., Sherman deciding Johnston's positions were too strong for a frontal assault, ordered another flanking movement. Heavy fighting occurred along the Oostenaula River south of Resaca when Sherman sent both cavalry and infantry to force a decision. Johnston evacuated his positions during the night, burning the bridge over the Oostenaula and withdrawing toward Calhoun and Adairsville.

At the Resaca hospital, both Mrs. Bickerdyke and Mrs. Porter worked day and night feeding and dressing the wounded from the previous day's battle. Mrs. Porter, from Wisconsin, often wiped the face of a wounded man and found a friend or acquaintance from the Wisconsin regiments, always fearful of finding her own son among the wounded for he was with a Chicago artillery battery serving in Sherman's army.

December 15 (Thursday)

The first day of the Battle of Nashville began when George H. Thomas' blue lines slowly edged their way through heavy fog and struck Hood's left with about 35,000 men, the right being held by more Union forces. The Federal onslaught was almost irresistible, driving the gray clad veterans more than a mile to the rear where they held on the Franklin Pike, but barely. The weather was foul, being cold, wet, and sloppy with melting ice. The lines were adjusted somewhat during the night.

May 24 (Wednesday)

The day of the parade, and Bickerdyke arrived at the assembly point early. Here she found that "her boys" had a lady's sidesaddle for her that had been "borrowed" from some southern plantation months ago. Eager to try the saddle since she didn't think it did much for a lady's dignity to ride astraddle a horse, she hopped into this soft, red-leather creation to try it out. While riding up and down the street atop her new-found throne, the bugle called for the troops to line up and Mary Ann went off to the parade in her everyday calico dress, bonnet hanging down her back by the drawstrings, leaving the new finery still on her bed.

The parade was one to be remembered forever. Unlike the Easterners, these Western soldiers had a long, swinging stride that had eaten the miles from Donelson to Savannah and had an air of cocky, devil-be-damned, efficiency that seemed to flow with them down the Avenue.

At the head of the Fifteenth Corps came Maj. Gen. "Black Jack" Logan and Mary Ann Bickerdyke to the wild acclaim of the crowds. Sherman described his feelings for the parade

When I reached the Treasury building and looked back, the sight was simply magnificent. The column was compact, and the glittering muskets, looked like a solid mass of steel, moving with the regularity of a pendulum..... The steadiness and firmness of the tread, the careful dress of the guiders, the uniform intervals between companies, all eyes directed to the front, and the tattered and bullet-riddled flags, all attracted universal notice. Many good people, up to that time, had looked upon our Western army as a sort of a mob. But the world then saw and recognized the fact that it was an army in the proper sense;.... It was, in my judgment, the most magnificent army in existence.

Bickerdyke declined an offer, almost an order, to join the reviewing party in their box, preferring to go to two tents she had ordered be set up in a vacant lot at Pennsylvania Avenue and I Street. One tent contained iced lemonade for the thirsty marchers and balm for their blistered feet. The other covered a newly dug latrine vault. Customers arrived shortly.

Hill, Sarah Jane Full, St. Louis, Mo.:

The grand review of Sherman's army took place at Washington City May 24, 1865, and was a proud and culminating event to the men who had marched and fought over a thousand miles through the heart of the enemy's country, who had so crippled the enemy's resources there was nothing left for them but surrender. Sherman's men were well aware of what their march had accomplished, and as they swung up Pennsylvania Avenue, with their free and easy stride, learned in their long marches, it was with a satisfied air of proud accomplishment. They were ragged, unkept and travel worn, and certainly looked the name that had been given them in derision, Sherman's "Bummers" and "Do-boys." They were reviewed just as they had marched through Georgia and the Carolinas, a sturdy set of seasoned and war-worn veterans, who felt invincible, for they were a never defeated army, yet they had accomplished so much. The Missouri Engineers were an infinitesimal part of this Grand Army, yet they contributed their share toward the success of the colossal undertaking, and as they marched up the Avenue past the reviewing stand, they were loudly cheered. E.M. rode at the head of his men on his great gray horse, Snorter, that had borne him so many hundred miles, was a very proud and happy man. Mrs. Stanton called him to the reviewing stand and presented him with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, which he carefully preserved and brought home to me and which we kept for many years till only the dust remained. Many marks of appreciation were shown the men, for they were all heroes, and much jealously evinced by the Potomac soldiers over "the fuss made," as they expressed it, "of Sherman's bummers."

Catalogue Information