ABSTRACT
The Civil War touched African American women in very personal ways, in every aspect of their lives. Because so many of their men were involved in some way or the other in the Civil War, the women felt the impact of the war in a very direct way. Lucy Stanton Day's stepbrothers enlisted in the Massachusetts 54th. 1 Sarah Swails' husband, Stephen, was a sergeant in the same regiment. Catherine Delany's husband, Martin, and her son, Toussaint L'Overture, were Union soldiers. Mary Ann Shadd Cary's brother, Abraham Shadd, served in the Massachusetts 55th. Susie King Taylor's first husband, Edward King, her father, Raymond Baker, and several uncles and cousins were Union soldiers. Margaret Sasportas' brother, Thaddeus, was a Union soldier. Caroline Wall Langston's husband, John Mercer, and her brother, O.S.B. Wall, both served in the Union army. Mary Smith Kelsey Peake's spouse was a Union spy.
