Laundresses: Warriors of the Washboard

In my last blog post, click [HERE], I talked about orderlies or servants, in which capacity some women served while disguised as men.  Others, however, provided support services while in their true feminine identities.  These women were employed by the military as nurses, cooks, and laundresses. This article will focus on laundresses, also called washerwomen.

When I hear or read about laundresses, I think about this poor lady who is probably not happy and muttering under her breath, "Seriously?  I've got all this work to do with laundry and kids, and you want me to stop what I'm doing and remain still for several seconds for this picture???":

Library of Congress

Doing laundry was an arduous task to be sure.  Clothing had to be sorted, brushed, soaked, washed, scrubbed, boiled, rinsed, dried, and perhaps mended.  Apparently, that wasn't enough for Alice Peet who managed to find time to take care of more than just laundry.  Remember her?  She was the one on North and South who helped get Elkanah Bent dismissed from West Point.

Okay, back to serious stuff....

Laundresses could be found among garrison forces, in hospitals, and on the march with regiments.  Per regulations, each regiment could have four washerwomen, they had to carry certificates provided by the officers who hired them, and they had to be of good character.   So much for Alice Peet.

These are from the Confederate regulations.  The Federal version was exactly the same.

And yes, there is a connection with women soldiers.

The wives of Privates Lewis Epping and Wesley Watkins of the 2nd Maryland Infantry (US), Company G, were allowed to remain with the regiment as laundresses following their discovery when the regiment was being formed on the beach at Roanoke Island. 

 And then there are women who have often been cited as having served in the ranks as soldiers when, in fact, they were actually laundresses instead.

German immigrant, Elizabeth Finnern of the 81st Ohio Infantry, is one.

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 For more details about her, click [HERE] to read an article I wrote.

Mary McCrory was another woman who seemed to have performed multiple roles for the military.  I'm not sure if officials even knew what she was, but she was not a soldier as some historians have believed.  McCrory, who accompanied her husband, John, in Company H of the 21st Ohio Infantry seemed to have mustered in as a nurse and out as a laundress.  

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Her captain, Milo Caton, testified after the war that she was sworn in as either a nurse or a laundress-he couldn't remember which-but her name wasn't carried on the company rolls because there was no place to record women who served in such capacities.  Mary served for approximately six months until she became ill due to pregnancy.  She went home and gave birth.  Her health remained poor, however, and she said she wrote her colonel to tell him that she was not going to be able to return to the service.  She never received a reply, but she said her husband, who was still with the regiment, mentioned in a letter to her that the colonel had indeed received her notification and was aware of her health issues.  Nevertheless, Mary was listed as a deserter (and a laundress) from Camp Lew Wallace in Ohio. (Click to enlarge.)

After the war, Mary applied for a pension for her service as a nurse, which you would think would be a problem with a desertion charge.  And it would be except that the government didn't even acknowledge that she had served at all.  Military officials cited General Orders No. 31 from June 9th, 1861, which forbade nurses from residing in military camps or accompanying regiments on marches.  So the government said that Mary was lying.  Specifically, "...employment...cannot be accepted as by competent authority."

Yet Mary was able to procure a certificate from the Adjutant General of Ohio that actually lists her rank as a private and explains why some historians have mistakenly believed that she was a soldier.  But remember her captain said that there was no place on the company rolls for a nurse or laundress, so she was probably listed as a private as a result.  (The desertion charge was ultimately removed by the way.)

And then F.C. Ainsworth of the Pension Bureau said that no evidence had been found that Mary had been mustered in as stated in the certificate above.

Remember F.C. Ainsworth? He's the one who said, "...no official record has been found in the War Department showing specifically that any woman was ever enlisted in the military service of the United States as a member of any organization of the Regular or Volunteer Army at any time during the period of the civil war."

I guess he forgot about this....

Among others.

This is F.C. Ainsworth
He said that there were no records of women who served as soldiers during the Civil war.
Don't be like F.C. Ainsworth.

So in the end, Mary McCrory was denied a pension because her service could not be confirmed DESPITE testimony from several soldiers from the 21st OVI, including her CAPTAIN, that she had indeed served as a nurse.  One even claimed that she treated him after he was run over by a wagon.  But I guess that wasn't enough because, at the end of the day, governmental officials couldn't find her name on any of the rolls.  Perhaps this was because she was listed as "Mars" and a private.  There she is underneath the name of her much-older husband.  (Click to enlarge.)  In her pension documents, she said her name had been mistakenly recorded as "Mars."  But I guess at the end, it was a "typo" that got her even though it was spelled correctly on the index card above.

And then there was Martha Parks Lindley who enlisted as "James Smith" in Company D, 6th U.S. Cavalry (Regulars) so she could be with her husband, William.   Records show that she mustered out in 1864 after serving a three-year term, apparently with her disguise intact.  Though she told newspaper reporters that she saw combat, a soldier in her regiment seemed to suggest otherwise.  Private Sidney Davis of Company F wrote, "A laundress attached to company D donned a uniform and followed her husband all through the Peninsular campaign, remaining with the wagon train while the soldiers were marching and fighting rejoining them when they encamped.  The men seemed to be somewhat proud of her, although she was not at all good looking."  Was Davis referencing Lindley and just mistook her for a laundress?  Or was there another woman who happened to be serving as a laundress in the same company as Lindley?  It's not clear. 


Women served as laundresses in Confederate units, too.  Such was Mrs. Bradley who was with Miles' Legion.  Authors have held the belief that Mrs. Bradley was actually the woman who enlisted as "William Bradley" in Miles' Legion.  Historians believed that after military officials discovered "William," they allowed her to remain with the unit as a laundress.  However, I discovered that they were, in fact, two different women.  "William Bradley" was actually a runaway slave girl.  And Mrs. Bradley, wife of George Bradley, was actually Matilda (or Mathilda) Bradley who was mortally wounded when she was struck in the thigh by a shell at Port Hudson during the siege.  She did not survive the ensuing amputation of her leg.  Click [HERE] to read an article I wrote about these two women.

Matilda Bradley wasn't the only laundress with Miles' Legion who lost her life at Port Hudson.  Mary Jane Ford died on November 25th, 1862, of unknown causes.  Records also note that a child of an unnamed laundress with the legion died just a couple of weeks later on December 4th.  This may have been Ford's child.  Perhaps they both succumbed to disease.

As evidenced by the experiences of Bradley and Ford, the post of laundress wasn't devoid of peril.  Two additional laundresses discovered this when they were killed at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862. 

New Orleans Times Picayune
November 8th, 1862

And there were male laundresses!  Or launderers.....or something.

I stumbled upon the service records of Peter Flemming, a colored servant who was mustered in to Co. G of the Louisiana Crescent Regiment as a laundress!  This regiment was comprised mostly of men from the New Orleans area and participated in the Battle of Shiloh, among other engagements.

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Until next formation...rest...and be thankful for washing machines.