Emma Spaulding Bryant: Civil War Bride, Carpetbagger's Wife, Ardent Feminist; Letters and Diaries, 1860-1900.Emma Spaulding Bryant: Civil War Bride war bride n. A woman who marries a serviceman during wartime. Noun 1. war bride - bride of a serviceman during wartime bride - a woman who has recently been married , Carpetbagger's Wife, Ardent Feminist; Letters and Diaries, 1860-1900. Edited with narrative by Ruth Douglas Currie. Reconstructing America, no. 7. (New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of : Fordham University Press The Fordham University Press is a publishing house, a division of Fordham University, that publishes primarily in the humanities and the social sciences. Fordham University Press was established in 1907 and is headquartered in the Canisius Hall building in the Rose Hill Campus of , 2004. Pp. xiv, 503. $75.00, ISBN ISBN abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 0-8232-2273-X.) In Emma Spaulding Bryant: Civil War Bride, Carpetbagger's Wife, Ardent Feminist; Letters and Diaries, 1860-1900, Ruth Douglas Currie has collected and organized the remarkable personal papers of a Maine woman who relocated with her husband to Georgia during Reconstruction Wartime Reconstruction or Forty Acres and a Mule At the beginning of Reconstruction, Georgia had over 460,000 Freedmen.[1] In January 1865, in Savannah, William T. Sherman issued Special Field Orders, No. . This volume serves as a unique resource for students of women, race, Reconstruction, and gender relations from the perspective of a Yankee woman living in the South after the Civil War. Approximately two-thirds of the extant Bryant letters, along with journal and diary entries, compose this collection. The letters are the result of long separations of an ambitious carpetbagger carpetbagger Epithet used during the Reconstruction period (1865–77) to describe a Northerner in the South seeking private gain. The word referred to an unwelcome outsider arriving with nothing more than his belongings packed in a satchel or carpetbag. and his resilient wife. They are presented chronologically and arranged according to the major events in Emma Bryant's life. The letters give us insights into Bryant's intimate relationship with her husband and into her political views on issues dealing with Reconstruction, race, and women's rights The effort to secure equal rights for women and to remove gender discrimination from laws, institutions, and behavioral patterns. The women's rights movement began in the nineteenth century with the demand by some women reformers for the right to vote, known as suffrage, and . Currie also includes some of the letters of John Emory Bryant, Emma's husband. These letters illustrate his Civil War military activities as well as his deep love and admiration for Emma. Letters dated 1872-1873 reveal a troubled time in the marriage; Emma went against her husband's express wishes by consulting a male physician about her "uterine uterine /uter·ine/ (u´ter-in) pertaining to the uterus. u·ter·ine adj. Of, relating to, or in the region of the uterus. difficulties" (p. 169). Many letters contain political references such as Emma' s advice to John regarding "the conversion of the Southern people to a new civilization" and Emma's views on women's rights (p. 243). In letters from 1887 Emma discussed her concerns about economic security for her and her daughter. When Emma and John entered their golden years, they exchanged views on religious salvation. This volume is an important collection because the letters of this northern-born woman stand in sharp contrast to the documents left by southern women such as Mary Chesnut and Catherine Ann Devereux Edmondston. Yet the book falls short on integrating the events of Bryant's life into the major developments in nineteenth-century women's history. Short prefaces to each section contain useful facts, but most of the information addresses the activities of John Bryant and the political events that he witnessed. Emma's experiences appear primarily in relation to her husband's activities. Although her husband influenced her thoughts and actions, surely major events of women's history had some impact. For example, readers should have a clearer understanding of why the editor touts Bryant as ardent feminist. Since it is quite clear that most of her commentary on women's rights was private, why does Currie consider her to be so progressive? Perhaps more context on nineteenth-century domestic ideals, women's benevolent societies, women teachers, companionate marriage, mother-child relations, religion, and death would help. Regardless of these omissions, the letters are at once fascinating, voluminous, well selected, remarkably introspective in·tro·spect intr.v. in·tro·spect·ed, in·tro·spect·ing, in·tro·spects To engage in introspection. [Latin intr , and carefully edited. This book will serve as a fine primary source for scholars and students of women's history, Civil War and Reconstruction history, and nineteenth-century United States history. KARIN L. ZIPF East Carolina University East Carolina University is a public, coeducational, intensive research university located in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. Named East Carolina University by statue and commonly known as ECU or East Carolina |
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