166 Feeding the Sick and Injured in The Civil War: Apparently You Can't Run a War Without Women

About this episode

This episode explores the crucial role women played in nursing and feeding soldiers during the American Civil War.

In the Last Big War we threw in America we still had "Camp Followers" to do the laundry, the nursing and a good amount of the cooking (not to mention helping with loading guns). And George Washington hated having these women around so much that Army practice - and new war philosophies got rid of most of them. But then, the American Civil War started producing injured guys in the 1000's. Suddenly having women around to do nursing and laundry was important. And they had to call the women back. To be fair - they did it more officially this time. To find out who these women were - and what they fed you - listen in. Also - Spoiler: Still better to be an officer. Books Referenced: A Mother's Work: Mary Ann Bickerdyke by Mary Vangorder The Big Burn by Timothy Egan Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/ Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood at gmail dot com Threads: @THoAFood Instagram: @THoAFood & some other socials... @THoAFood

People in this episode

Host: Margaret Hardin

Topics covered

• Civil War
• women's roles
• nursing
• food history
• military history

Keywords

• Civil War
• women
• nursing
• food
• history
• Mary Ann Bickerdyke
• George Washington

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Doctor Turtle

More episodes of The History of American Food

• 173 Potatoes for Frontier & Factory · June 10, 2026 · 32 min
• 172 The Potato - A History · June 3, 2026 · 35 min
• 171 Iron Has New Jobs in Food · May 27, 2026 · 29 min
• Season 6 Preview - I Wanna Go Fast · May 20, 2026 · 18 min
• 170 Prisoner of War Food for - Wait How Many Guys? The Long Tail of War · May 13, 2026 · 27 min
• 169 Not Enough Railroads Will Make You Salty in the Bad Way · May 6, 2026 · 30 min