Lesson Plan: Ellen’s Experiences

With only a few exceptions, women in the Civil War were not permitted into uniform. They did serve close to the battlefront in various supporting capacities. Wives of officers might accompany their husbands at headquarters. Women served as nurses in military hospitals. They were in leadership positions at organizations that sent supplies to soldiers. And a woman who was a soldier’s mother, sister, wife, or child confronted the unique issues that were inherent when their son, brother, husband, or father went off to war.

The experience of women who remained at home has not been studied as much as other aspects of the war. The heaviest examination has been conducted of the Southern home front; much less have been the attempts at understanding what it was like to be a woman who stayed loyal to the Union. Of those, most studies look at women in the Eastern portion of the nation. Very few have involved studying the lives and experiences of women in the Midwest, and even less in the rural part of that section.

In preparation for this class, students are expected to have read the letters between Ellen and Sam Woodworth and be prepared to analyze and answer the following questions:

• What were the challenges faced by Ellen that were not experienced by someone in a more populated setting?
• What specific ways did Ellen cope with having to manage the family’s finances while her husband was away during his enlistment for three years?
• Do you think Ellen considered herself to be in charge of the family’s welfare while Sam was away? What are the reasons for your answer?

Imagine yourself in a similar situation today? How would Ellen’s experience and behavior serve to give you information on how you might cope with the same issues?