what was the role of women during the revolution and the changes brought by the government
Answers
From supportive jobs like nurses, cooks and maids to more direct roles such as secret soldiers and spies, these Daughters of Liberty did more than their share to help win America’s independence.
Here’s an overview of these roles as well as a look at the famous women of the Revolutionary War who performed them:
Nurses:
Although nurses were not used much during the early days of the war, they became more prevalent in 1777.
According to the book, The Revolutionary War, many nurses were originally camp followers: wives, daughters and mothers of male soldiers who followed the army looking for food and protection because they were no longer able to support themselves after the men left for war:
“In early 1777, Washington asked his commanding officers to ‘assist Regimental Surgeons in procuring as many Women of the Army [camp followers] as can be prevailed on to serve as Nurses to them who will be paid the usual price.’ Later after the reorganization of the Continental army medical staff, one hospital matron and ten nurses were allocated for every hundred sick and wounded men. Nurses were to receive 0.24 cents a day plus one full food ration. The matrons, being in a more supervisory position, got more than twice that rate at 0.50 cents a day plus the full ration.”
While surgeons and surgeon mates performed most of the skilled medical duties, female nurses did mostly custodial work, feeding and bathing patients, emptying chamber pots, cleaning hospital wards and occasionally cooking.
"A Society of Patriotic Ladies" a British cartoon mocking the Edenton Ladies Tea Party, a political protest against the British government organized by a group of North Carolina women in 1774
“A Society of Patriotic Ladies” a British cartoon mocking the Edenton Ladies Tea Party, a political protest against the British government organized by a group of North Carolina women in 1774
According to the book It’s Our Military Too! Women and the U.S. Military, female nurses often came up with new inventions to help treat and care for patients:
“Nurses introduced innovations, however, to keep patients comfortable and help them recover, including stone hot-water bottles, combination lamps and food-warmers, varying sizes of china feeding cups, and ‘go-chairs’ (wheelchairs) and fan chairs (wheelchairs with fans.) A popular part of the patient’s diet provided by nurses was warm ‘pap’ (milk in which oatmeal had been cooked and strained and to which beaten egg yolks, butter, and orange flavor were added) and beef tea, an extract of beef juices.”
Despite the opportunity for food and pay, many women were reluctant to take nursing jobs since the mortality rate in hospitals for the sick as well as for the caregivers was exceptionally high. Some women were not easily scared though and became nurses anyway, despite the risk.
One such nurse was Mary Waters, a Dublin native who immigrated to Philadelphia in 1766 and became an army nurse after the war broke out. A biography was even written about Waters in 1791, but it was never published.
Another famous nurse was Mary Pricely who served as a nurse on colonial warships, such as the ship the Defense in 1777.
Explanation: