Vermont’s remarkable Civil War battlefield record is well documented, But little is known of how Vermont women sustained the home front.

With nearly 35,000 of the state’s able-bodied men at war, the monumental tasks of keeping more than 30,000 farms in operation became very much a female enterprise. And women took the place of men in factories and worked after hours making items needed by the soldiers.

Vermont women served as nurses in the state’s military hospitals and in the war zone. This story is told in their words, from letters and diaries that describe life during the Civil War in the Green Mountain State.