Maryland Women in the Civil War: Unionists, Rebels, Slaves & Spies

OnJuly 9, 1864, young Mamie Tyler crouched in a cellar as Union sharpshootersabove traded volleys with Confederate forces. After six excruciating hours, sheemerged to nurse the wounded from the Battle of Monocacy. This was life in aborder state and the terrifying reality for the women of Maryland. WesternMaryland experienced some of the worst carnage of the war, and women turnedtheir homes into hospitals for the wounded of Antietam, South Mountain andGettysburg. In Baltimore, secessionists such as Hetty Carry fled arrest byUnion troops. The Eastern Shore’s Anna Ella Carroll plotted military strategyfor the Union, and Harriet Tubman led hundreds of slaves to freedom on theUnderground Railroad. Author Claudia Floyd draws on letters and memoirs tochronicle their stories and present a fascinating and nuanced portrait ofMaryland women in the Civil War.