From freedom fighters and spies to volunteer nurses and patriots on the homefront, women of the North and South served critical and largely unexamined roles in the Civil War. Through a collection of original source documents and the words of the women engaged on both sides of the conflict, Women in the Civil War depicts women's key roles and illuminates what life was like during the historic struggle for the future of the United States. This volume includes excerpts from journals, letters, and other writings of women such as Harriet Beecher Stowe, Confederate spy Belle Boyd, Louisa May Alcott, nurse "Mother" Bickerdyke, and Mary Boykin Chestnut.