Alice Fahs’ “The Feminized Civil War: Gender, Northern Popular Literature, and the Memory of the War., 1861-1900” begins by illuminating how literature and popular culture were more inclusive towards women during the Civil War period. She analyzes this “feminization of the Civil War,” focusing mainly on northern women and their portrayal through literature. Yet, later in the paper, she also follows up postwar when popular views and understandings of the Civil War shifted towards a focus on white men and their place within the Civil War, leaving northern white women almost completely shutout. As I was reading “The Feminized War,” there were some slight issues that I came across.

Fahs begins the paper with a focus on northern women and how popular culture during the time of the Civil War allows for analysis and reflection for how women were viewed during this period. Although she begins to differentiate between the type of woman she is focusing on— by stating that this woman is “white” or that she is “northern,” she does not seem to differentiate between the type of women that are spoken of in terms of their economic place in society. For example, when she writes of the women who must find work after the death of their husbands, would we say the same for women of the lower classes who had no choice but to work outside the home from the very beginning? The use of the term “women” brings to mind inclusivity, but referring to women, when one appears to be speaking of only a certain category of women, can be better understood through added clarity. As I read Fahs’ paper, I felt that more clarity would have strengthened this section.

Within the paper, Fahs makes use of literature during the time of the Civil War in order to better explain how women were portrayed in popular culture. One specific ballad mentioned in the paper is that of John Greenleaf Whittier’s “Barbara Frietchie” (1467). The ballad focuses on the story of a woman who “defied Stonewall Jackson” (1467). But as I looked over the footnote, Fahs explains how Whittier “initially steadfastly asserted the veracity of the story upon which his ballad was based, but after the war he backpedaled” (1467). I feel that more explanation of this example would have strengthened the paper, especially when Fahs writes about the changes in women’s representation in various forms of literature after the war had ended.

Alice Fahs’ “The Feminized Civil War” provides the reader with a better understanding of how Civil War literature and popular culture in particular both helped to “feminize the Civil War” and to—postwar—brush over the memory of women and their place within society during the war. While my view that clarity in certain areas could help to strengthen the paper and to also answer possible questions left unanswered, Fahs’ paper continues to shed light on an important topic that many scholars have chosen to ignore.

– Pamela Ann Kelly