Women have always been known to be made up of sugar, spice and everything nice. But what if those same ingredients are added with a bit of war? During the Civil War, more than 600,000 men were killed. But along those men, there were about 250 documented cases of women who cross dressed to join the bloody battle also. Some women fighting for vengeance for their loved ones. Some fighting to earn more money. Some women are just swept with the romance that can be in war. The author seems to love the idea of women risking their lives in war despite not being able to legally do so. Even going one step forward and saying that this could symbolize the first step or milestone in women's rights.
The author makes constant positive references to women who risked their lives and cross dressed in the war. For instance, Sarah Edmonds was a woman who took place in the war. She escaped from an arranged marriage and lived a someone who sold bibles before joining the war. In her 1864 memoir, shes quoted saying, "I can only thank God that I was free and could go forward and work.'' and also said, "and I was not obliged to stay at home and weep." I think the author mentioned her since she seems to be ideal strong woman. Since she's strong, independent, will fight for what's right, and will not comply with gender norms. She possibly referenced this specific person was to further hammer in the point that the women who disguised themselves to join the war were a first step towards women. The author also mentions another women named Mary A. Brown who said, "Slavery was an awful thing, and we were determined to fight it down.'' Coming from women around that time period, who were still unable to speak their minds, this is a very bold statement and one that's powerful. These quotes weren't simply just placed in the article for no reason. There was a reason why they were placed here to just further prove that women were fighting o do the same things as men since the Civil War.
But aside from referencing strong women, they also added visuals. They added a small time line about women in war. It started at 1861 when the Civil War was in progress, all the way to today. In which it mentions the lifting of the ban on women serving in combat. Throughout this entire time line, it keeps mentioning the lifting of bans towards women in war. The author most likely added this timeline to paint a better picture about the history of women and war and it's previous history. It helps gives a quick, simple, and easy to understand summary on key milestones about the history of women in war. Which could also help understand why women cross dressing to fight in the Civil War can be considered as a milestone. Also there's a picture of a women named Frances Clayton shown side to side as a comparison to her dressed as a man in the war to her dressed in a regular dress. It also has a caption in which it mentions that she fought side by side with her husband. These visuals give a more better look at how the women who did join the war were able to actually go through there plan in joining the war. It just shows how determined they were to fight despite what anyone else says.
Looking back at this entire article, I've realized that we've come along way when it comes to women's rights. It just amazes me at how these women will risk their lives just get into the national commotion of the Civil War. While some joined because they wanted to fight with their husbands, fight against slavery, or just didn't want to stay how, one thing stays the same; their courage. All of these women had the courage to risk everything to join the war and fight for change. That's probably the main reason why this can be considered a milestone in women's rights.
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