Daughters of the New Revolutionary War: Representations of Confederate Women and Gun Culture in the Confederate Press, 1861–1864

Abstract

This research examines how Southern editors at twenty newspapers across the length of the Confederacy represented news stories of women soldiers and militia members. Although some editors cast a wary eye at women who cross-dressed and went off to battle, this article argues that the promotion of these women soldiers provided a unique opportunity for editors who sought to use their publications to promote Confederate nationalist beliefs. Women soldiers were held up as exemplars of those beliefs. Stories of women soldiers also served two other important purposes: Editors used such stories to boost morale, showing that even women would fight to help their husbands, brothers, and fathers build a new nation. Such stories also were used to shame men not in service to don uniforms and undertake their civic duty for the good of the South.