Women Camp Followers of the American Revolution

Introduction: Women and the Camp Follower Tradition

Women have played a crucial role in history and in its most important developments over time. The status of women in America, however, has been one of the most controversial issues in building American democracy. This is largely due to the fact that women in the 18th and 19th centuries did not have the same rights as men and were therefore forced into a position of legal inferiority. The struggle for equal rights and the abolition of discriminatory practices is an important segment of American history, and one of its defining episodes unfolded during the American Revolution and the Civil War. Women, despite common expectations, played an essential role in supporting the war effort and the military. In their struggle to make a difference and to contribute to the changes taking place in society, they faced different sorts of obstacles — from gender inequality to social disregard and racial discrimination. In the end, however, history acknowledged their part in the overall development of the events that made up the crucial moments of the American Revolution and the Civil War. Women were, in this sense, part of the camp followers.

This paper presents the role of camp followers — and in particular that of women as part of this group — during the American Revolution as well as the Civil War. The two historical events are not treated separately in terms of the definition and description of camp followers, largely because the role played by these groups was similar in nature and technique. The paper therefore focuses on the general idea of camp followers during the troubled times of the American past, encompassing both the American Revolution and the Civil War.

Defining Camp Followers: Women and Children in Military Service

A proper definition of the term "camp followers," provided by Holly A. Mayer, points out that "soldiers alone do not make an army. They are the most fundamental part of that military force, but as hard as they work, and as much as they do, an army seldom marches out on their efforts alone. A great number of other people join the soldiers and their officers to build and maintain these martial organizations. (…) Such women, wagoners, and others are camp followers: those people who live and work with the military and accept, willingly or not, its governance of their affairs."¹ It can therefore be said that camp followers included women and children who, at one point or another, became useful to the war effort.

Another definition of camp followers also addresses the preconceptions surrounding them. More precisely, "while the word 'camp follower' has come to be synonymous with whore, the camp followers of the American Revolution were generally married women (with their children) who followed their husbands. They were recognized as part of the military, receiving rations — half rations for wives and quarter rations for children — and were subject to military discipline. (One woman, for instance, was jailed for using abusive language to an officer.) Camp followers earned pay as cooks, nurses, and laundresses."² Women as camp followers ultimately bore the same responsibilities in camp as they did at home, but under far harsher circumstances.

The role of children as camp followers was also important, and the army most often relied on their presence to ensure the completion of several chores around the camp. More precisely, "the children in the army had to work too. They were expected to be as busy as the adults. They hauled water and gathered firewood. Boys served as runners carrying messages from one person to another. Some boys became military musicians who played fifes and drums. Girls helped their mothers with cooking, cleaning, mending, and washing clothes. The children had time to work because there was no school in the army."³

The most important role among the camp followers was played by the women who accompanied the army, because of the multiple tasks they performed — from housekeeping to wound relief. The choice to become a camp follower was most often self-imposed. Women tended to follow their husbands because life without them would have been far more difficult financially and in terms of personal security. Furthermore, the society of that time was relatively reluctant to accept non-traditional family arrangements without a male head of household.

Social and Economic Context for Women in 18th- and 19th-Century America

In order to fully understand the relevance of the role women played in this period of American history, it is important to consider the general conditions under which they acted. This context also represents evidence of the contribution women made to the shaping of political, economic, and social life — an achievement that had long been denied to them.

The historical background of the time was shaped especially by the political, economic, and social situation of the North in relation to the South. Politically, the two regions differed greatly. While the North was seen as liberal and a proponent of a confederate system of rule, the South was determined to maintain a unionist solution. From this perspective, the war broke out between two different visions of a successful political system.

Economically, the differences were equally noticeable. The South was a region that had flourished through cotton and tobacco plantations occupying most of its territory, but this prosperity could not have been achieved without the systematic use of slave labor. Georgia was considered one of the most representative states in terms of the use of Black forced labor. The North, by contrast, was a region focused more on industrial economic development, relying on technological advancement rather than human labor. This differentiation in economic practices eventually created two distinct economic blueprints that came into direct conflict.

Socially, the overall picture was also divided. While Southern society was dominated by property owners and slaveholders, the North, as a consequence of more liberal crafts and industrial production, enjoyed a more modern and open social environment based on ideas such as free trade and competition. This distinction further deepened the divide between the two sides and contributed to open conflict.

Within this wider context, women occupied a particular place. On the one hand, "the customary images of women as primarily wives and mothers not only persisted, but were enhanced by a highly developed doctrine of women's sphere."⁴ Women were sincerely convinced that their most important duty was childcare, and they worked to create a moral and uplifting environment for their children. The myth of woman as responsible for everyday chores and the education of children thus remained the axis of every judgment on women's place in society. Even more, "professional and entrepreneurial men preferred to have their wives and daughters remain at home as symbols of their own ability to support their family."⁵

The promotion of this exclusivist image — sometimes articulated alongside other idealized female types such as the innocent interiority of the Cult of White Womanhood or the Puritan ideal — further limited perspectives on the role women could actually play in the development of society.

On the other hand, evolving economic conditions and the increasing need for additional household income drove women to expand their range of activities. Thus, "the actual activities and the employment of women were challenging the traditional concept of separate spheres." Among other things, industrialization transformed household production, created distinct social classes of women, and drew large numbers of women from their homes into paid employment.⁶

Accordingly, women were present in factories for carding and spinning yarn, in shoe factories, in the needle trades, and in newly emerging mill towns. Even so, discriminatory behavior quickly surfaced: women were obviously paid less than men, despite performing at a comparable level.

The role of women in the camp followers group was therefore crucial to the armies, regardless of their affiliation. At the same time, the group attracted considerable criticism. One example was the persistent reluctance toward women joining the camp followers. More precisely, "many equated 'camp follower' with 'whore,' or even if they were not quite so derogatory, they saw such a being as part of the lower orders that did not quite seem representative of or equal to the ideal of the American citizen."⁷ The distinction between women and the rest of society persisted even at this level, despite the constant aid women provided as members of the camp followers group.

This perspective offers the general framework for understanding the evolution of women's status and the obstacles they were forced to overcome. Generally speaking, women had to endure negative treatment grounded in a historical assumption of female fragility. This argument was frequently invoked to justify the limits imposed on women, preventing them from engaging in male-dominated activities such as mining or heavy labor. Over time, the same logic was used to deny women participation in social and political life. Because of this mentality, women were confined to household activities, which in turn reduced their opportunities to develop other skills and ultimately left most women ill-positioned to engage in politics or broader social affairs.

Women's Wartime Activities: Relief, Nursing, and Fundraising

It must first be noted that, regardless of which soldiers they supported, women possessed an intrinsic respect for human life and therefore oriented their actions not so much toward one army or the other, but toward meeting the needs of those affected by the war. L. P. Brockett, Mary C. Vaughan, and Zeigler, in their introductory analysis of Woman's Work in the Civil War: A Record of Heroism, Patriotism and Patience, captured this idea clearly. They referred to the women documented in the book as having "inevitably lost the benefits of privacy, by the largeness and length of their public services, and their names and history are to a certain extent the property of the country."⁹

There is therefore a broad consensus that women managed to play an essential role in the evolution of the war through varied means and with whatever resources were available to them.

The actions women took can be viewed from multiple perspectives. L. P. Brockett understood their initiatives as expressions of patriotism, while others saw them as both a duty to society and to their communities. Taking these dimensions into account, women pursued several different courses of action.

From the onset of the war, women organized committees and associations to support the war efforts. In doing so, they built on organizing experience that had developed throughout the preceding decades. Given that "from the 1790s on, both Black and white women had been organizing voluntary associations — at first religious and charitable, but some with more overtly political intent by the antebellum period" — the organizational capacity they brought to the war was already well developed and relatively efficient.¹⁰

Such initiatives materialized in the form of war committees such as the New York Central Association of Relief and organizations in Weldon, Pennsylvania. The latter, for instance, registered a significant contribution: "these women's groups sent tremendous quantities of supplies to the front. Organized in 1862, the society contributed $17,000 in goods in one year,"¹¹ in addition to large quantities of clothing, shoes, and other material necessary for those at the front.

This practical approach embodied a general trend responding to the basic needs of a nation at war. As the conflict intensified, both Northern and Southern women "began to congregate in homes, hotels, and churches to preserve fruits (…) and organize charity fairs and other fund-raising events to collect money with which to buy supplies."¹² This was an additional example of their involvement in generating financial resources for the soldiers.

Every armed conflict eventually faces a crisis in the care of its casualties. In some cases, the situation surpasses all expectations in terms of the scale of suffering. This was true of the Civil War, whose prolonged course — plagued by controversial decisions from commanding generals — far exceeded the time limits initially anticipated. The resulting demand for medical support was immense. "From the very beginning of the Civil War, women were drawn into the war effort by requests for huge amounts of foodstuffs, bandages, and other sanitary supplies."¹³ Moreover, refreshment saloons in the North and wayside homes in the South were established to aid passing military personnel.

The harsh conditions on the front prompted some women to focus on improving nutrition in the camps. Annie Turner Wittenmyer launched a campaign to promote the serving of proper, healthier food to soldiers. She also became deeply concerned with the human cost of the war, particularly the plight of children orphaned by the fighting. Her efforts proved successful: by 1865, she had "persuaded the federal government to give several new buildings and many hospital supplies to the newly organized Iowa Orphans Home Association in Davenport, Iowa."¹⁴

The philanthropic spirit of wives and sisters also manifested in their efforts to nurse and heal the wounded. This was not an easy undertaking: few nursing schools existed at the time, and many applicants for front-line positions were rejected due to lack of experience or youth. Because of the great need for medical assistance, however, many women acquired their training on the front lines. In 1861, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell had already established a training program for nurses in response to the wartime crisis.¹⁵

Clara Barton, one of the leading figures in war relief, "began to crusade for the establishment of the American Red Cross in the 1870s because the Civil War had taught her about corruption, lack of supplies, and carnage."¹⁶ Her wartime experience thus gave birth to one of the most enduring humanitarian organizations in American history.

Conclusion: Legacy of Women's Wartime Contributions

Overall, it is fair to say that women — Black and white — played an important role in both the American Revolution and the Civil War. They were essential actors in relief aid and in the process of caring for the sick, the wounded, and the dying. Despite the criticism directed at the camp followers group, women worked to maintain a fragile equilibrium between their traditional roles and those responsibilities that had previously belonged to men. The broader struggle for women's rights was thus foreshadowed by their wartime service.

Despite all of this, there was little political will to formally acknowledge the role women played in the war — a reality that only underscored the efforts they would have to continue making in future decades in pursuit of political and social recognition.

Works Cited

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Boritt, Gabor S. Why the Civil War Came. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Brockett, L. P., and Mary C. Vaughan. Woman's Work in the Civil War: A Record of Heroism, Patriotism, and Patience. Philadelphia: Zeigler, McCurdy, 1867.

Conway, Jill K., Linda Kealey, and Janet E. Schulte. The Female Experience in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century America: A Guide to the History of American Women. New York: Garland Publishing, 1982.

Fellman, Michael. "Women and Guerrilla Warfare." In Divided Houses: Gender and the Civil War, edited by Catherine Clinton and Nina Silber, 147–165. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Jenkins, Philip. A History of the United States. New York: Palgrave, 1997.

Mayer, Holly A. Belonging to the Army: Camp Followers and Community during the American Revolution. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1996.

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Schultz, Jane. Women at the Front: Hospital Workers in Civil War America. New York: UNC Press, 2004.

Women's International Center. "Women's History in America." Accessed December 4, 2011.

"Women and Children in the Revolutionary War." Accessed December 4, 2011. http://www.vancortlandthouse.org/Campfollowers.htm.

"Women in the Revolutionary Era." The Contemplator's Short History of Women in the Revolutionary Era. Accessed December 7, 2011.