All the Daring of the Soldier: Women of the Civil War Armies

by Elizabeth D. Leonard

The author of Yankee Gender Battles in the Civil War utilizes archives, memoirs, and histories to tell the fascinating stories of women who became spies, soldiers, or daughters of regiments to play their heroic part in the Civil War. Reprint.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Civil War, American History, Feminism, Biography

368 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1999

Reviews

[Becky Loader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview.

[Cynthia Coronado · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed, since the subject matter really interests me. For some reason, it didn't hold my attention and I started skimming through it. Maybe I thought the writing style would be more story-like. Instead it kept stating a lot of facts and was not presented in a smooth transition from each.

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative and interesting but a bit boring and repetitive

[ReadingForFun · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting starting point but reads like a surface-level college essay and omits many well-known examples or skims over what could’ve provided a more nuanced analysis.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably a 2 and 1/2. There's a lot of interesting short biographies in this book and it's a fast, well-written read. I run into problems with her interpretation of events, however, and it reads like a much older book than it actually is in terms of what she chooses to reference. A couple of examples: a white woman successfully places her African American servant in Jefferson Davis' house as a spy - and is described as taking major risks. Seems to me the woman posing as the servant is the one taking the risks and not so much her employer who is insulated and protected by her wealthy family, but that doesn't get discussed. There's only passing reference to any African-American women, something which the author excuses by citing the sparse documentation. While that may be true for a lot of women, I'm having a hard time including Harriet Tubman in their number (Tubman gets about 2 pages). There's also no discussion of any scholarship on women and passing or any suggestion that any of these women may have been something other than heterosexual. This verges on the painful to read when she's discussing such examples as a woman who successfully passed as a man, then married another woman, something which is explained as part of her "masquerade." Indeed. Overall, unimpressed.

[Elisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Leonard’s book about women participants in the American Civil War is readable, well researched, and interesting. I had to dock it points because the romantic in me just can’t be completely swayed by her thesis: that more women chose to serve in the army as spies, soldiers, and daughters of the regiment due to economic reasons. The pragmatist in me understands that this was no doubt the dominant reason for a lot of women, and for the true patriots struggling afterwards economics probably factored in, but to deny so many women more patriotic, courageous, and radical rationales doesn’t sit well with me, or my feminist leanings. Leonard addresses these issues but of course they don’t augment her argument so they aren’t repeated or reinforced. I feel that her book is working against her ultimate goal by casting women in the opportunistic, and consequently immoral, light in which many misogynistic and paternalistic critics have tried to place these subversive and brave women.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells the stories of various women serving in the Civil War either as spies or dressing as a man and joined the army. There were a few women who's identity was never discovered until death. As for the spies they were almost always caught at some point and did serve some prison time. Fortunetly neither the south or the north ever put a woman to death for spying.

I am a big Civil War history buff. Plus, I love to read about women who make the decision to do what they want to do and forget society. This was a good read, and a fairly quick one. It does have the tendancy to get lengthy in certain parts. My mind wandered a little. All and all a highly informative book for anyone looking to know more about women in the Civil War.

[Robin Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've recently been cast in a powerful show called "Voiced Underwater" where I play a 20 year old Union Civil War Soldier.
The character, Albert, is an example of one of the thousand women who served during the Civil War disguised as a man.
It's been an amazing subject to research and there are a number of cool books on the subject. What a role!!

[Dick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting book about the roles of women in the armies of both the north and south - on the front lines. Little told stories of course. It was about men, right? More women on the front lines than one would have imagined.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating look at women's roles in the Civil War, as spies, "daughters of the regiment" and soldiers, and the complex motivations behind their involvements.

[Natalya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting but very feminist...

[S.L. Hawke · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a cemetery historian like myself, this is a must read.