Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Mentor/Supervising Professor Name
Lisa Diller
Description
This study provides an analysis of how the post-civil war era and Reconstruction affected the financial, social, and political lives of the wives of fallen Confederate soldiers. Because men were the head of families and traditional breadwinners in the South, the widows of the 258,000 fallen Confederate soldiers had to reintegrate themselves into society and support their families without the assistance and comfort of a husband. Although this integration may seem straightforward, these widows struggled to overcome the economic and social difficulties laid before them, including the patriarchal traditions, mourning expectations, severe droughts, and unemployment that plagued these women. This research examines how the wives of fallen Confederate soldiers interacted with these difficulties following the war and what steps they took to rebuild their former lives.
Included in
Cultural History Commons, History of Gender Commons, Social History Commons, United States History Commons, Women's History Commons, Women's Studies Commons
Reconstructing the Confederate Widow: An Analysis of the Wives of Fallen Confederate Soldiers and their Response to Reconstruction and the Post War Era
This study provides an analysis of how the post-civil war era and Reconstruction affected the financial, social, and political lives of the wives of fallen Confederate soldiers. Because men were the head of families and traditional breadwinners in the South, the widows of the 258,000 fallen Confederate soldiers had to reintegrate themselves into society and support their families without the assistance and comfort of a husband. Although this integration may seem straightforward, these widows struggled to overcome the economic and social difficulties laid before them, including the patriarchal traditions, mourning expectations, severe droughts, and unemployment that plagued these women. This research examines how the wives of fallen Confederate soldiers interacted with these difficulties following the war and what steps they took to rebuild their former lives.