Women Do Dangerous Jobs in the Civil War
When it became apparent that the
Civil War was going to be more than a 90 day war women quickly left their
traditional roles of caring for home and hearth and volunteered for the most
dangerous jobs in the war.
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| Frances Clayton aka Jack Williams |
Frances Clayton was not about to
watch her husband Elmer go off to war without her so she disguised herself as a
man and changed her name to Jack Williams and together with her husband
initially joined Company I of the 4th Missouri Heavy Artillery.
The pair fought together through
1862. Jack Williams, or rather Frances Clayton was wounded during the battle at
Fort Donelson and again at Shiloh but was able to keep her secret.
At the Battle of Stones River
tragedy uncovered her secret. Her husband Elmer was killed in front of her
during a charge of an enemy position. She stepped over him to continue the
charge only to be wounded in the hip. Her secret uncovered she was sent home,
but she didn't stay there.
Clayton, again as Jack Williams,
reenlisted, according to Library of Congress records, in Company A of the 13th
Missouri Cavalry where she served for 22 months and was noted to be an
excellent horseman.
Clayton was one of an estimated
400 women who disguised themselves to get into the army. While these women
faced danger and hardship on the battlefield women on the home front
volunteered for equally dangerous work and paid the ultimate price.
The Confederate States
Laboratories on Brown's Island in the James River at Richmond, Virginia, made
ammunition for the Confederate Army. With the men gone to war and the increased
need for ammunition the plant hired women, some as young as nine, to take their
place on the line.
The women were expected to turn
out approximately 1,000 cartridges or more per day but on Friday, March 13,
1863, something went horribly wrong.
The Abingdon Virginian reported;
"On yesterday forenoon, between eleven and twelve o'clock, an explosion
occurred in Department No. 6 of the Confederate States Laboratory, involving a
frightful loss of life and limb to some forty or fifty persons, almost all of
whom were females. The department is located on Brown's Island, opposite the
foot of 7th street, and in it all breech loading and pistol ammunition is
prepared."
"The greatest care has
hitherto been observed in keeping the stock of ammunition safely confined, but,
through some so far inexplicable circumstances, the powder used by some of
"There were in the building
some eighty or a hundred hands, chiefly females of different ages from twelve
to sixty years. The scene, so terrible, so sickening, we essay to depict to our
readers."
"The operatives of the
entire Laboratory were at once thrown into commotion and, together with the
people of the neighborhood, streamed out towards the scene of the disaster. The
alarm of fire was given and the report spread through the city with rapidity,
and within-in an hour the banks of the river opposite the island were densely
thronged with citizens."
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| Brown's Island Munitons Plant |
"The pressure about the
bridge leading to the island became so great that an extra guard was stationed
there to prevent the passage of all who were not engaged in rendering
assistance to the wounded or caring for the dead. Very soon, under the
direction of officers of the Laboratory, spring wagons and carriages were brought
to the spot and the work of removing the wounded to their homes and elsewhere
was commenced. In the meantime, the medical department was alive with
promptitude and energy, and none of the wounded were removed until their
condition had received the best temporary attention."
"Some of the unfortunate
girls were burnt from head to foot; others were burned in the face and eyes;
some had an arm or a leg divested of flesh-and skin, others were bleeding with
wounds received from the falling timbers or in the violent concussions against
floor and ceiling, which ensued."
The Richmond Examiner reported
that "Some ten or twelve were taken from the ruins dead, and from twenty
to thirty still alive, but suffering the most horrible agonies, blind from
burns, with the hair burned from their heads, and the clothing hanging in
burning shreds about their persons. Others less injured ran wailing
frantically, and rushing into the nearest arms for succor and relief."
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| Munitions Plant after Explosion |
"The immediate treatment of
the burned consisted in removing their clothing and covering the body thickly
with flour and cotton, saturated with oil; chloroform was all administered-the
sufferings of the wounded were alleviated by these means in the interval
between their rescue and removal to their homes, or General Hospital No. 2,
where many were taken."
On September 15, 2001, the
Virginia Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy dedicated a
monument to those who died in the Brown's Island explosion. Among the 46 killed
in the explosion the youngest was Eliza Willis, age 10, and at least 21 other
girls killed were between the ages of 13 and 16. The oldest of the workers
killed appears to have been Sarah Marshall, age 67.
All these women were killed in
the line of duty without ever setting foot on a battlefield.
