Civilians
After being mere spectators at the war's early battles, civilians in the war zone later would become unwilling participants and victims of the war's expanding scope and horror.
In response to the hardships imposed upon their fellow citizens by the war, governments and civilians on both sides mobilized to provide comfort, encouragement, and material goods. Unfortunately, due to scarcity of resources and devastation caused by the Union armies, the Confederate government failed almost completely to care for the families of its soldiers
Showing results 26-30 of 31
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Edward Alfred Pollard
Edward Pollard was vocal secessionist who became wartime editor of the Richmond Examiner newspaper. In 1864, he was captured on a blockade runner, and was eventually exchanged for a New York Tribune reporter. Read more
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Edmund Ruffin
One of America's foremost agriculturalists in the early 19th century, Edmund Ruffin was also an ardent secessionist whose whose despair over the defeat of the Confederacy drove him to suicide in 1865. Read more
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Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman has long been associated with her extraordinary work with abolitionist causes and as the Underground Railroad's most famous conductor. Her heroic efforts in personally leading more than 300 persons out of slavery to freedom in the North defined her as the "Moses of her People." Read more
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Gettysburg National Military Park
Jennie Wade
While kneading bread in her sister's kitchen on the morning of July 1, 1863, Jennie Wade was struck by an errant bullet and killed instantly, one of more than 150 bullets to strike her sister's house during the three-day Battle of Gettysburg. Read more
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Gulf Islands National Seashore
Jonathan Walker
Jonathan Walker was an abolitionist, shipwright and sea captain who undertook a number of hazardous voyages in the 1840s to assist escaped slaves. He was captured in Florida in 1844 and branded with the double-"S" of a slave stealer, a mark he considered "...the seal, the coat of arms of the United States." Read more