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Curator’s Office

World War I

WWII

Civil War

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Jodi Schoenbachler Jodi Schoenbachler is a 5th grade

teacher at Westergard Elementary School in Reno, Nevada.

Jodi loves teaching American History. She is currently involved in projects to enhance her students interest in the subject as well.

Women in the Civil WarWomen in the Civil War

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SARAH ROSETTA WAKEMAN

SARAH EDMONDS

SEELYE

ALBERTCASHIER

LORETTA JANETA

VELASQUEZ

World War I WomenWorld War I Women

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Dorothy Lawrence

Loretta Perfectus Walsh

Opha Mae JohnsonOleda Christedes

World War Two WondersWorld War Two Wonders

Artifact 4.2

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Nancy Love

Jacqueline Cochran

Dorothy Stratton

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http://www.boston.com/yourlife/articles/2006/08/22/stealth_fighter/

Loretta Janeta Velasquez

• Loreta Janeta Velazquez sounded like a mythical figure: a Cuban-born woman raised in New Orleans, where she masqueraded as a male soldier and fought in the Civil War. With a fake mustache, beard, and a soldier's uniform, the Latina enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861 as Lieutenant Harry T. Buford , without her husband's knowledge.

• Wearing a disguise, Velazquez fought at the battles of Bull Run and Ball's Bluff , and at the siege of Fort Donelson . She continued fighting after her husband was killed and after she was arrested as a Union spy. Velazquez also fought at the Battle of Shiloh-- alongside her new fiance, who did not recognize her in disguise.

• She managed to fool other officers and soldiers because she was fair-skinned, walked with a masculine gait, smoked cigars, and padded her coat to pass as more muscular, according to the National Archives and Records Administration.

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http://www.geocities.com/civilwarlady1861/al.html

Albert CashierJennie (Irene) Hodgers, aged 19 and Irish, enlisted on the 3rd of August 1862, into the 95th Illinois Infantry regiment under the name of Albert Cashier.

She fought in about 40 battles and skirmishes. None of her comrades ever suspected that she was infact a "he". There are some accounts by Cashier's fellow comrades indicating that the other soldiers just thought that Cashier was small and shy, the smallest man in the company, but very brave and fearless. "He kept up on the hardest marches, skillfully handled a rifle and never shirked duty.

She spent her entire adult life as a man and in later years she claimed a veteran's pension, which she was more than entitled to for her service in the war.

It wasn't until struck in an automobile accident in 1911, breaking her leg, that her sex was revealed when treated by a physician at a veteran's hospital. She was admitted to the "Soldiers' and Sailors'" Home in Quincy, Illinois. The authorities there kept her true sex a secret.

Jennie lived there until her mind weakened , and she was then moved to an insane asylum at Watertown in March 1913.

She died on October 14th 1915.

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With the speed and strength of any man in battle, hundreds of women answered the call to bear arms for the Union or the Confederacy during the period known as the Civil War. Many of those women were found out, and sent to the hospitals to become nurses, sent home, or sent to insane asylums as patients. But dozens of other women were able to evade detection, fight in battle, die as heroes, or survive the war to live rich lives as either men or women until their death. One such woman to fight in the Civil War as a man undetected was Sarah Rosetta Wakeman. What she gave her family was economic stability, first-hand knowledge of the war, and a hidden pride to share with the generations to come.

While looking for another job, Rosetta ‘Lyons’ came across recruiters in Binghamton for a brigade about to join in the War. She signed up, where her word, oath and signature was enough to enlist. For two years Private Lyons Wakeman fought with her comrades in the 153rd New York State Volunteers. She sent most of her earnings home with letters, which the family kept. On occasion Rosetta signed letters with simply Rosetta, but other times with the name of Edwin R. or Lyons, showing that she was internally struggling with her identity. By mid-1864, after her survival through many obstacles, Sarah Rosetta Wakeman died of a camp-contracted dysentery in Marine General Hospital, where she was undetected as a woman, and buried as Lyons Wakeman with full military honors at Chalmette National Cemetery in New Orleans, Louisiana. One year later, in 1865, her home state of New York counted her as Lyons Wakeman, a causality for the Union Forces.

Sarah Rosetta Wakeman

http://us-civil-war.suite101.com/article.cfm/sarah_rosetta_wakeman_private_lyons_wakema

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Emma

Edmonds

• SARAH EMMA EDMONDS SEELYE• Sarah Emma Edmonds was one of about 400

women who enlisted in the army during the civil war. What makes Sarah Edmonds special is that she not only remained in the army as “Frank Thompson” for many years, she was a very successful spy, as well.

• Emma lived in Flint Michigan. When the call came for Union enlistments she cut her hair, got man’s clothing and changed her name to Frank Thompson. It took several tries, but she was finally enlisted as a male nurse in the Second Volunteers of the United States Army.

• When news came that General McClellan was looking for a person to act as a spy, Frank Thompson volunteered.

• After many successful missions Emma worked long, hard hours in a military hospital. She became sick with malaria and could not admit herself into the hospital because her true identity would be discovered. She left camp and went to a private hospital where she could be treated as a woman. She planned to rejoin her unit when she was better, but a nasty surprised awaited her. When she read an army bulletin she discovered her name on a list of deserters!!

• Emma bought a train ticket to Washington where she worked as a nurse until the end of the war.

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ttp://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/images/sarah-edmonds-seelye-disguised.gif

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http://www.marines.com/main/index/winning_battles/history/leaders/pvt_opha_mae_johnson

Opha Mae Johnson• On August 13, 1918, Opha Mae Johnson

became the first female Marine when she enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve.

• Although women weren't allowed in war zones during World War I, Johnson and more than 300 other women served proudly in the United States, helping their male counterparts win in France.

• Less than 100 years after Johnson's service and courage, women fill many key roles in the Marine Corps, in both the officer and enlisted ranks.

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http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWlawrenceD.htm

Dorothy Lawrence• Dorothy Lawrence was born in Hendon in 1896.

Abandoned by her mother, she was adopted by a guardian of the Church of England.

• Lawrence had a strong desire to become a journalist and she achieved some success with a few articles published in The Times. She was living in Paris when war was declared in 1914. Lawrence contacted several British newspapers offering to work as a war correspondent in France. All the editors refused to employ a woman to do what they considered to be very dangerous work.

Lawrence returned to England and in 1915 disguised herself as a man and joined the British Army. Using the name Denis Smith, she served for ten days in the British Expedition Force Tunneling Company on the Western Front before her true identity was discovered. The authorities detained her in a French convent until she agreed to swear an affidavit promising not to tell the public how she had fooled the army authorities.

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http://www.buzzle.com/articles/women-in-world-war-one.html

Loretta Perfectus Walsh Loretta Perfectus Walsh was born in

Philadelphia in Pennsylvania (April 22 1896-August 6 1925). Due to the events that began with World War I, Loretta Perfectus Walsh preferred to enlist in the United States Navy. She also secured the title of the first active duty Navy woman when she joined a 4 year enlistment with the U.S. Naval Reserve. This happened in 1917. Loretta Perfectus Walsh was sworn as the Chief Yeoman on 21 March, 1917.

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http://www.jungsoul.com/Hello-Girls.html

Oleda ChristedesOleda had played piano for dance-bands throughout the Thumb District of Michigan, for six years, since the age of thirteen, and she knew all the World War One popular music. While sailing "Over There" on the S.S. Olympic, which had been placed in quarantine at Southampton, England for two weeks because of the Spanish Influenza pandemic, she entertained the troops. When she was asked by the Red Cross official to accept a position touring camps and hospitals to entertain, she replied that she was in the Army under orders for the duration of the War.

She was assigned to General Pershing's American Expeditionary Force Headquarters in Chaumont, France. Her service extended a year after the Armistice in order to operate the telephones for the arrangements to return the troops home; there was no question but that she was there under orders for the duration. Oleda, and all the U.S. Army Signal Corps operators, stood inspection in the soldiers' ranks, for General Pershing's visiting dignitaries. She remembered President Wilson, Marechal Foch and the Prince of Wales. During one leave, which was given on pass exactly the same way as to any soldier, Oleda traveled to Bordeaux to meet her brother Wallace who was a member of the Army's Barber Shop quartet which traveled through France entertaining the troops.

When she returned to civilian life, Oleda Joure continued her dual-career as a training supervisor for Bell Telephone in Michigan and professional piano-player with dance bands, until 1933, when she married Athanasius A. Christides. Her tie to France was renewed when Chris was sent to Paris, in the 1950s for 8 years as U. S. Treasury Representative to the new Common Market and Interpol. When the couple visited the cafes in St. Germain des Pres, French neighbors often requested that Oleda play the old WWI songs, that had united the Allies in spirit for the long, hard battles of 1918.

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http://www.noaa.gov/blackhistory/2007/images/womens-army-corps-wwii.jpg

Women in Army Corp African American women have long

been a visible and important part of the American defense team. Here, Maj. Charity E. Adams and Capt. Abbie N. Campbell inspect the first contingent of black members of the Women's Army Corps assigned to overseas service in WWII

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Hear Us Roar! Shortly after the US declaration of war, the

Council of National Defense created an Advisory Committee on Women's Defense Work, known as the Woman's Committee. The purpose of the committee wasto coordinate the activities and the resources of the organized and unorganized women of the country, that their power may be immediately utilized in time of need, and to supply a new and direct channel of cooperation between women and governmental department.

Chairman of the Woman's Committee, working energetically and full time, was the former president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, and another leading member was the suffrage group's current chairman and an equally prominent suffragette, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt.

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http://surferjerry.com/history/wwii-wasp/

Pistol Packin’ Mamas

WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) were civilian female pilots employed to fly military aircraft under the direction of the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. The purpose of WASP was to

free up more male pilots for combat roles by having female pilots fly missions such as ferrying aircraft

from factories to military bases, and towing drones/aerial targets. Eventually the WASP

members would number in the thousands before the wars end.

Note: The words on the plane say “Pistol Packin’ Mamas”

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http://www.noaa.gov/blackhistory/2007/images/women%20in%20workforce%20wwii.jpg

The Original Assembly Line!

Women in the American work force: Bertha Stallworth, age 21, inspects 40mm artillery cartridges at Frankford Arsenal during WWII

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Image acquired at:Place URL here

Working for the War• In 1944, women comprised 35.4 percent of the civilian labor force. • In 1945, women comprised 36.1 percent of the civilian labor force. • The female labor force grew by 6.5 million. • At the height of the war, there were 19,170,000 women in the labor force. • Between 1940 and 1945, the female labor force grew by 50 percent. • One in ten married women entered the labor force. • The percentage of married women working outside the home increased from

13.9 to 22.5. • The percentage of working women with children under 10 years of age

increased from 7.8 to 12.1 from 1940 to 1944. • In 1944, 37 percent of all adult women were employed. • At the height of the war, women comprised 4 percent of skilled workers. • In 1944, skilled female workers made an average weekly wage of $31.21 while

skilled male workers earned $54.65 weekly. • From 1940 to 1944, the percentage of women workers employed in factories

increased from 20 to 30 percent. • From 1940 to 1944, the percentage of women workers employed as domestic

servants declined from 17.7 to 9.5 percent. • Female employment in defense industries grew by 462 percent from 1940 to

1944. • Between 1943 and 1945, polls indicated that 61 to 85 percent of women

workers wanted to keep their jobs after the war. • Between 1943 and 1945, polls indicated that 47 to 68 percent of married

women workers wanted to keep their jobs after the war.

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Image acquired at:Place URL here

Artifact 3.4 Title

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Ihttp://www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/cochran1.htm

Jacqueline Cochran• Her most distinguished aviation career began in 1932

when she obtained her pilot's license with only three weeks of instruction. From this time onward, her life was one of total dedication to aviation. After her first air race in 1934, she was respected by all for her competitive spirit and high skill. Her performance in the aviation events of the 1930's is legendary. Among her last flight activities was the establishment in 1964 of a record of 1,429 MPH in the F-104 Starfighter.

• At the beginning of World War II, she became a Wing Commander in the British Auxiliary Transport Service ferrying U.S. built Hudson bombers to England. With the U.S. entry into the War, she offered her services to the Army Air Corps and formed the famed Women's Air Force Service Pilots. This group, more than 1000 strong played a major role in the delivery of aircraft to the combat areas throughout the world. For this service, she was awarded the U.S. Distinguished Service Medal.

• Some of the honors she has been accorded include the Harmon Trophy, the General William E. Mitchell Award, Gold Medal of the Federation.

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http://www.wingsacrossamerica.us/wasp/bio_love.htmc

Nancy Love

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Nancy Harkness Love was born on February 14, 1914 in Houghton, Michigan, the daughter of a wealthy physician. She developed an intense interest in aviation at an early age. At 16 she took her first flight and earned her pilot's license within a month. Although she went to all the right schools, including Milton Academy in Massachusetts and Vassar in New York, she was restless and adventurous. At Vassar she earned extra money taking students for rides in an airplane she rented from a nearby airport. In May, 1940, soon after the Second World War broke out in Europe, Nancy Love wrote to Lt. Col. Robert Olds. who was in charge of establishing a Ferrying Command within the Army Air Corps, that she had found 49 excellent women pilots, who each had more than a thousand flying hours and could help transport planes from factories to bases. Lt. Col. Olds took the suggestion to Gen. Hap Arnold, Chief of Staff, who turned it down. Nancy Love convinced Col. Tunner that the idea of using experienced women pilots to supplement the existing pilot force was a good one. He then asked the 28 year old Love to write up a proposal for a women's ferrying division. Within a few months, she had recruited 29 experienced female pilots to join the newly created Women's Auxiliary Ferry Squadron (WAFS). Nancy Love became their Commander. In September, 1942, the women pilots began flying at New Castle Army Air Field, Wilmington, Delaware, under ATC's 2nd Ferrying Group

After the war, Nancy Love became the mother of three daughters, but she continued as an aviation industry leader, as well as a champion for recognition as military veterans for the women who had served as WASP. Nancy Harkness Love died on October 22, 1976. Among the things she left behind was a box she had kept for more than 30 years. Inside was a handwritten list of women pilots she had compiled in 1940 and clippings and photographs of each of the women who had died under her command. Her job had not been easy, but the love and respect she received from the WAFS and WASP she commanded during WWII is indisputable

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http://shorock.com/don/ou/2005/stratton.pdf

Dorothy StrattonIn 1920, when Dorothy C. Stratton received herBachelor of Arts degree from Ottawa University, thecareer prospects for women were somewhat morerestrained than they are today. But it appears that thetrends of the time did nothing to dampen Dorothy’senthusiasm for personal and professional growth.As the country faced the prospect of World War II, Dorothy Felt an urgent need to serve her country. She has been quoted as saying that a woman trustee at Purdue – where she was Dean of Women – said, “Dorothy, you can’t afford to do this.” To which Dorothy replied, “I can’t afford not to.”

In the nation’s capitol in November 1942, President Roosevelt signed the law establishing the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve, and the then Lt. Stratton was sworn in as its director. She became the first woman accepted for service as a commissioned officer in the history of the United States Coast Guard.

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Women Pitch In • Applicants had to be U.S. citizens between the ages of

21 and 45 with no dependents, be at least five feet tall, and weigh 100 pounds or more. Over 35,000 women from all over the country applied for less than 1,000 anticipated positions.

• On 20 July the first officer candidate training class of 440 women started a six-week course at Fort Des Moines. Interviews conducted by an eager press revealed that the average officer candidate was 25 years old, had attended college, and was working as an office administrator, executive secretary, or teacher. One out of every five had enlisted because a male member of her family was in the armed forces and she wanted to help him get home sooner. Several were combat widows of Pearl Harbor and Bataan. One woman enlisted because her son, of fighting age, had been injured in an automobile accident and was unable to serve. Another joined because there were no men of fighting age in her family. All of the women professed a desire to aid their country in time of need by "releasing a man for combat duty."

http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/wac/wac.htm