Women who fought in the Civil War

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.

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

the operatives in the department ignited about the time above indicated, and exploded with a terrific report, tearing down half the building and killing, wounding and throwing in the air or upon the floor the operatives who were engaged in their labors."

"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."

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."

 

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.