“Civil War Women of Compassion, Courage, and Grit”

Presented by Rich Rosenthal

President of the North Jersey Civil War Round Table

 A story of survival during wartime – not from cannons and bullets – but of life itself. The women who are left at home without adequate means of support and must provide the basic necessities of food and shelter and still impart their values to their children.

New Jersey’s own Cornelia Hancock, rejected as a nurse by Dorothea Dix because she is too pretty, defies her, and goes to Gettysburg to assist the wounded soldiers and stays throughout the Civil War.  Mary Ann Bickerdyke, who defies army red tape to care for her boys, the wounded, setting up hospitals and kitchens, even following Gen. Sherman through the mountains of Georgia on the way to Atlanta.  Sara Pryor, living through the privation and destruction of the south, still has the courage to defy Gen. Sheridan and demand rations for the starving women and children families in her community

Rich Rosenthal has lectured on numerous historical subjects and is president of the North Jersey Civil War Round Table, is a board member and one of the founding members, with the pre-eminent New Jersey historian, the late John T. Cunningham, of the North Jersey American Revolution Round Table. He resides in Parsippany with his wife, Harriet; they have two daughters and three grandchildren.