Texas joined the Confederacy on March 2, 1861. About 70,000 men from Texas then joined the rebellious fight to preserve slavery. The women who stayed behind also did their part for the lost southern cause.
The stories of how these women coped with the bloody conflict of war, food shortages, society pressures and the eventual loss of the war is told in the new book “Women in Civil War Texas: Diversity and Dissidence in the Trans-Mississippi.
Angela Boswell along with Deborah A. Liles are co-editors. Boswell explains that many Texas women cheered on the war for secession and then dealt with the consequences. It’s published by University of North Texas Press.