Daughters of the Union

Archival Summary & Scope

Nina Silber's *Daughters of the Union* uncovers the overlooked experiences of Northern women during the American Civil War. Though largely removed from direct combat, these women actively shaped the Union cause on the home front, an experience that profoundly redefined their lives and sense of citizenship. Drawing on their own diaries and letters, Silber reveals how women became wage-earners, engaged in partisan politics, and contributed significantly to the war effort. Her account illuminates their expanded civic identities alongside the challenges of navigating male-dominated wartime structures. This vital history traces the emergence of their patriotism, independence, and new public roles, establishing crucial groundwork for the late-nineteenth-century feminist movement.