The Signifance of Susan King Taylor During The Civil War - Research Paper Example

? The Significance of Susan King Taylor during the Civil War African American women have played a part in the military since the American Revolution, not only as nurses and administrators, but as frontline troops, whether officially in recent years or incognito in the past. It was likely that a number of African American women fought on both sides during the American Revolution. However, no clear records survive. In the War of 1812, African American women made medical supplies and tended the sick and wounded1. It was the Civil War (1831-1865) that gave women the most direct opportunity to become involved in conflict2. Notable among them was Susan King Taylor of Georgia, Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman. In April 1861, when Maj. Gen. David Hunter attacked Fort Pulaski, he freed all of the slaves in the area, including King. The new found freedom became a spring board through which King was to serve in the Civil War with profound effect3. Much of the reliable information on King’s roles and engagements before, during and after the Civil War are self written in her memoir, “A black woman’s Civil War memoirs: Reminiscences of my life in camp with the 33rd U.S. Colored Troops, Late 1st South Carolina Volunteers”. Susan King Taylor was born in slavery on August 8, 1848, on Grest Farm, Isle of Wight in Georgia. As a seven year old, King moved to Savannah where she lived with her maternal grandmother, it is while here that she was first encouraged to enroll in school and she eventually attended clandestine school4. She continued with her education until she was 14 when she escaped with her uncle’s family to the Union-controlled St. Catherine Island. The escape was enabled by the successful occupation of Fort Pulaski by the Union. Following the occupation, US Gen. David Hunter released all slaves and granted them freedom allowing Susie’s uncle to take the entire family to St Catherine’s island5. After a while, King moved to St. Simons Island where she started a school for African-Americans. Much of the records point to the fundamental role of “Captain Whitmore” who recognized Kings’ brilliance, as a result he recommended her to “Commodore Goldsborough” who provided the teaching opportunity for the African Americans who were largely freed slaves6. King married Sergeant Edward King of the South Carolina Volunteers, later known as the 33rd U.S. Colored Infantry. At around the same time, she was hired as the regiment’s laundress. This was her first opportunity to serve in the Civil War as she extensively travelled with the regiment a factor that provided her with great insight into the intricacies of the War7. This factor is especially brought out in her memoir where she describes activities and engagements during the War in great detail. Though initially a laundress, King was later to become a nurse as the number of injured soldiers soared and greater need for specialized care arose, she would also serve as a cook for the regiment8. The extent of her involvement in the Civil War is intense, at least this is the impression one gets on reading through her memoir. Apart from the first few pages of the close to a hundred page memoir, the rest of it focuses on military life. Her military life evolves through two parties, self and the work and engagements of her husband’s regiment, which she served in9. The first recount of her military involvement occurs in 1862 when she was relocated to Beaufort, South Carolina where she served as a laundress. It is here that she first witnessed the full extent of the War, she narrates of frequent battles and intersperses giving an account of both personal experience and the regiment’s activities. Although initially hired as a laundress, King did very little of this, this was majorly due to the immediate needs of the soldiers who required tutoring and medical care10. While serving in the War, she made use of every skill and knowledge she had gathered in her then tender life, she would spend time teaching the soldiers and when need arose she would be a nurse. All these activities endeared her to the regiment and her role became ever so central in the advances and achievements of the regiment. According to War analysts, her involvement was not only geared in restoring health and alleviating immediate suffering, King helped equip the soldiers for after War. She equipped them with skills, learning that would come in handy after the War11. She reminded the soldiers that there was a life beyond the deadly shells most fundamentally she restored hope to the regiment’s soldiers. King helped the soldiers focus beyond their blown off limbs and dead partners, she helped alleviate their physical and emotional pain that was ever so common in the South12. Unconfirmed reports by certain scholars also cite that King was also a spy. She would spy for the 33rd U.S. Colored Troops to abate any attacks and to relay any other information that would help in surviving the War and upsetting the regiment’s plans13. Another contribution was food provision, as mentioned, the soldiers were never paid and had to rely on food supplied to them by their supporters. However, this was not always forthcoming, in such cases King would get food for the troops by visiting the houses in the area, Jacksonville, Florida. This was very risky, and her status as an ex-slave made the situation ever so imperious14. As a woman, her selfless nature helped in advancing the War, this is because as “colored troops” she and others never received any payment for their service in eighteen months. In her own account, King wrote that she rendered her services willingly as for the entire period, four years and three months; she never received a single dollar. She withstood the horrendous conditions of camp life during the Civil War, particularly for blacks and for women. King never seemed to care much about the physical toll laboring with an army regiment must have taken on her young body. In addition to the constant threat of gunfire, raids, and shelling, epidemics of smallpox and influenza which ravaged encampments. Tent life, that provided scan shelter against cold, snow, rain, and heat. Not to mention the humid climate and dense vegetation of the South Georgia Islands, this created a haven for mosquitoes and other insects15. In the midst of these atrocious conditions, King stood firm and offered her regiment absolute service. King’s contribution in the Civil War was much more that the physical effort in the regiment camp, it became the foundation for women to join and participate in Wars as able partners to their men counterparts. Besides King, other women such as Charlotte Forten, Sojourner Truth and Elizabeth Keckley played a major role in prior and subsequent Wars. They helped dispel the common myth that women’s roles were only fit in the home set up16. Even though their participation in the War was largely confined to similar roles, as cooks, nurses or laundresses the very fact that they made it to the war front was enough push for the next generation of women17. In her memoir, King highlighted her desire for women, she wrote about the need to fight for equity in the battlefield, something she considered possible as whites and African Americans, men and women had jointly fought in the War. Her burning desire and love for the country was not only exemplified by her service in the Civil War but in her personal moments, she cited her proudest moment as the public reading of the Emancipation Proclamation. Equally influential was Sojourner Truth, a lady born a slave as Isabella and one who withstood brutality until slavery was abolished in her state, New York in 1827. Unlike King, Truth took up activism, a role she carried out exhaustively as it fitted well with the preaching career she had since take to18. Her involvement in the Civil War mainly came in form of continuous agitation for inclusion of former slaves, and generally black people in the Union Army. Once she succeeded in this she volunteered to ferry supplies needed by the army. This way she played a very critical role in supporting the Union Army19. Another lady worth mentioning was Harriet Tubman; Tubman was born a slave in Eastern Shore of Maryland20. Typical with the life then, she had to withstand unending suffering as a slave. Tubman’s reprieve came with the abolition of slavery. Before hand, she had continuously risked her life as an active member of the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was a network utilized by escaping slaves from the South to gain entry to the states of the North. In her service, she would tend and guide the slaves who had little knowledge on the escape routes. In the onset of the Civil War, she took on an active role doubling as a nurse and a spy. Her success as nurse came from her extensive knowledge of indigenous plants and their curative effects. She also used her knowledge to organize a spy ring through which she could gather information for the Union troops based in South Carolina further weakening the federal troops21. Works Cited African American Registry. Susan King Taylor Born. 2013. http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/susan-king-taylor-born (accessed April 10, 2013). Barthelemy, Anthony Gerard, Nancy Prince, Louisa Picquet, Bethany Veney, and Susie King Taylor. 1988. Collected Black women's narratives. New York: Oxford University Press. Boisseau, Tracey Jean. "“Travelling with Susie King Taylor"." A journal of feminist theory & culture Volume 7, Issue 2, 2008: 3-31. Catherine Clinton, "Susie King Taylor: A Black Woman's Civil War," Forgotten Heroes: Inspiring American Portraits from our Leading Historians, ed. Susan Ware. New York: Free Press, 1998, 95-102. James, Jennifer C. A Freedom Bought With Blood: African American War Literature from the Civil War to World War Ii: Easyread Large Edition. New York: ReadHowYouWant.com, 2009. Largent, Kimberly J. Civil War Articles:Susan Baker King Taylor, Reminiscences of Life with the 33d US Colored Troops. 2013. http://ehistory.osu.edu/uscw/features/articles/ArticleView.cfm?AID=42 (accessed April 10, 2013). Library of Congress. Harriet Tubman . http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/tubman/ (accessed April 13, 2013). Malburne, Meredith. Susie King Taylor, b. 1848 Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33rd United States Colored Troops Late 1st S.C. Volunteers: Summary. 1902. http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/taylorsu/summary.html (accessed April 3, 2013). National History Education Clearing House. Scenes in the life of Harriet Tubman: Video Transcription . http://teachinghistory.org/best-practices/examples-of-historical-thinking/25379 (accessed April 13, 2013). PBS. Sojourner Truth. http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/people/sojourner_truth.html. http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/people/sojourner_truth.html (accessed April 13, 2013). Sutherland, Jonathan. 2004. African Americans at war: an encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. Taylor, Susie King. REMINISCENCES OF MY LIFE IN CAMP WITH THE 33D UNITED STATES COLORED TROOPS LATE 1ST S. C. VOLUNTEERS. 1902. http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/taylorsu/taylorsu.html (accessed April 10, 2013). Taylor, Susie King, and Margaret Gay Malone. 2003. The diary of Susie King Taylor, Civil War nurse. New York: Benchmark Books. Taylor, Susie King, and Patricia W. Romero. 1988. A Black woman's Civil War memoirs: reminiscences of my life in camp with the 33rd U.S. Colored Troops, late 1st South Carolina Volunteers. New York: M. Wiener Pub. Truth, Sojourner. The Narrative of Sojourner Truth. 1850. http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/truth/1850/1850.html (accessed April 13, 2013). Walbridge, Mike. 2000. African-American heroes of the Civil War. Portland, ME: Walch. Read More