Intro

When coming up through middle school, high school, and college, the historical education that is often given on the Civil War is very basic: Lincoln freed the slaves, Union soldiers were pro-abolitionist saints, Confederates were the bad guys, etc. These general topics on the Civil War era continues as one rises throughout their educational career, learning a little bit more about the bloodiest war in United States history a year at a time. For instance, sadly it was not until I was in college that I learned President Lincoln did not enter into the Civil War solely for the purpose of freeing the slaves, not all slaves were freed when the Emancipation Declaration was declared, and the fact many Union soldiers were just as racist, if not more in some cases, towards black people. This was definitely an expansion into knowledge of previously well-known topics for myself. Despite these new revelations over the years, the main narrative of the Civil War has always been defined by four major viewpoints: President Lincoln’s, the Union’s, the Confederates’, and the Slaves’. The intention of this project is to show a more magnified narrative, one that is often mentioned briefly and pushed aside: Confederate women. Since this class’ focus is on North Carolina and its part in the Civil War, this project will delve into a more specific narrative of the wives of Confederate soldiers and the threats they faced, from at home and abroad, and how they dealt with them. Based on my own experience, when coming up and learning about the Civil War and the role women played in it was, at the very least, vague and construed. The only real insight I had of this viewpoint at the time was the 2003 film Cold Mountain, starring Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, and Renée Zellweger. This does not go to say that I believe the film’s depiction of Confederate women’s role in the war to be accurate. On the contrary, I find the film’s portrayal of women to be at best a glimpse at something that really was. These threats include starvation, poverty, finances, lack of resources, disease, lack of defense, and the institution of slavery. I intend to look at these threats from the point of view of two Confederate soldier’s wives: Martha Poteet of McDowell County and Ann Bowen of Washington County. Through the eyes of these two women, my goal is to grasp just how hard the struggle was for these wives of soldiers who fought under a Confederate flag. Being as Confederate wives were on the losing side, it is safe to say that whether from the lower or upper class, these women struggled to survive in their husbands’ absence. By looking at Martha Poteet and Ann Bowen’s stories, my goal for this exhibit is to provide clearer insight into what it was like being the wife of a Confederate soldier, and how they handled not only being responsible for keeping their families and homes in tact while their husbands were gone, but also in keeping up their husbands’ morale as they continued to fight a losing battle as the Civil War progressed.