Civil War Women

Since the beginning of the summer I've been working on this project off and on and really need to buckle down and get something on paper. I figure by informing my public of this (all 23 of my followers... haha) it will hold me accountable in some way, shape, or form.

SO. In early June I was hanging out at the library (like I do) and doing some research on Sally Bush Johnston (Abraham Lincoln's HOT stepmother, who I'm playing this summer) and I stumbled upon (like literally stumbled upon, not using the newfangled internet time waster which has kept me entertained many-a-day here in southern Indiana: stumbleupon.com) this book called They Fought Like Demons.

They Fought Like Demons presents the stories of women who fought in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. I WAS BAFFLED. I had never even thought of women in the military before the second half of the 20th century (Although women could legally be employed by the armed services in 1948 after President Truman passed the Women's Armed Services Integration Act, it wasn't until 1992 that it became legal in the US military for women to be pilots for on navy and air force planes, 1993 is when women were legally able to serve on combatant ships, and 1994 is when women were able to join ground-combat forces)

These women risked everything by dressing like men and running into combat. Each of the 500+ women had their reasons for joining the war; reasons which were rarely documented and mostly hear-say from friends and relatives, which is what interests me. What were these women thinking? Was it the only way for them to escape the social constraints put on their sex in the Victorian era? Was it a monetary? (You could make a lot more $$$ enlisting in the military than being a domestic servant, which is what most single women of the time worked as) Was the military heroine a romanticized idea from stories read to them as children?

The stories are phenomenal and have rarely been told, so I'm working on writing a play-type-thing that somehow tells their story. The details are few and far between right now but I'm excited about it. Yup.

In other news, we only have 18 performances left of Lincoln: Upon the Altar of Freedom.

Byez!
SC