Under Construction @ Keele 2019 summer 2019, vol 5 issue 1 | Page 16

stigma around avoiding military service that they had previously reinforced. Furthermore,
Rable argues that even when the stigma of desertion still prevailed “women usually
considered absconding relatives more sinned against than sinning”. 20
This begs the question of why, if a sense of nationalism had flattered between 1862-
3, were women only now actively encouraging desertion. It must be acknowledged that even
lower class women had been socialised to place the needs of others before their own, and
subsequently, it was only following the fallout of the food riots and the shift in Union military
policy to “commanders … who were aware of the need to weaken the morale of Southerners
by making them feel that their government could not guarantee their safety” that women
truly lost the final iotas of their trust in the government. 21 It was at this point that the women
lost all willingness to be selfless and to continue living in destitution and embracing the needs
of the nation before their own. 22 Whereas previously women of all classes had contented
themselves with asking their men to extend any furloughs that they were able to procure,
they no longer saw this as sufficient. Furthermore, as the war progressed the Union was
encroaching ever more on Confederate territories, pillaging towns and raping women as they
went, this would unsurprisingly be a strong motivator for encouraging the return of one's
menfolk.
To conclude, it is clear that women did have a part to play in the downfall of the
Confederacy and to exclude them from the historical narrative prevents a nuanced
understanding. Although the initial letter writing campaigns of elite women seeking
exemptions were motivated by genuine concern and not a loss of patriotism, this does not
20
Rable, Civil Wars, p.87
Berlin, ‘Did Confederate Women Lose the War?', p.174
22
Faust, ‘Patriotism, Sacrifice and Self Interest’, p.259
21
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