History of America...

Occasionally I get these urges to think about our history, to want to go back in time, to when our nation was young, and to really think about everything that people have sacrificed for our nation. This week I’ve been thinking about the civil war, no thanks to school, and especially the sacrifices made, not just in war, but in peace. During the civil war we discover people like Clara Barton and Harriet Tubman, all these people, especially women, who made a way for others. I think that as a nation we get too caught up in where we are now, the wars we are fighting now, that we forget about the lessons learned in past wars, the things we wish we knew before we got ourselves into a war we wish we weren’t in. So I put together a little something to hopefully give hope to those who are feeling a little ‘lost at sea’ right now to remember that even in war there are people helping to further peace.

Civil Heroes
Five women heroes of the Civil War you should know about
By Kelsey Conner

People who gave of themselves, not for themselves

1. Clara Barton
Clara Barton is known as one of the most influential people in the Civil War. As a woman she set a standard that women are capable of helping wounded soldiers. She founded an agency to transport supplies to the front of the battle.

2. Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman was a runaway slave from Maryland who helped lead many slaves to freedom at her own risk. She was called the ‘Moses’ of her people. She was even a federal spy during the civil war in South Carolina, and a even a nurse. She arranged for other runaway slaves to assist her in the Underground Railroad and to be scouts for confederate camps to report to the Union.

3. Harriet Beecher Stowe
Known almost exclusively for her publication of the book Uncle Tom’s Cabin—It raised a lot of support from the North as it spoke out against slavery. After its publication in 1851 she traveled all around the Union speaking against slavery.

4. Mary Edwards Walker
Out of the 1.8 million women veterans, Mary Walker was the only one to earn the Congressional Medal of Honor for her work during the Civil War. She joined a joined the tiny number of women doctors in the nation when she graduated from the eclectic Syracuse Medical College, the nation's first medical school and one which accepted women and men on an equal basis. She served as an army doctor in the Civil war.

5. Lucretia Coffin Mott
Mott was known as an inaugurator of the women’s civil rights. She fought mightily for women’s equality and was often offended by the obvious injustices between men and women. As an ardent abolitionist she held a position in the Underground Railroad and traveled around the country speaking against slavery.