[Archived] Lecture on Women in Civil War Alexandria

Wednesday, March 19 at 7:30 PM

In recognition of the Civil War Sesquicentennial and National Women in History Month, learn more about the daily lives of women in Union-occupied Alexandria during the Civil War at a lecture that will be held at the historic Lloyd House in Alexandria.   The lecture will be presented by Wanda S. Dowell on Wednesday, March 19, at 7:30 p.m.   The lecture is free; reservations are not required.

Ms. Dowell, the former director of Fort Ward Museum and Historic Site in Alexandria and a specialist in women of the Civil War era, will examine what life was like for Northern and Southern women in wartime Alexandria.   Her talk will provide background on the role of women in 19th-century America prior to the 1860s, then address how the war created hardships and challenges for women but also opportunities that did not exist for them before the conflict.   She will cover Southern residents of the town, like Anne Frobel and Ada Warfield, who lived under Federal occupation, as well as Northern women like Mary Phinney von Olnhausen and Julia Wheelock who came to Alexandria to nurse soldiers in the city’s military hospitals. 

The lecture is part of a Civil War 150th lecture series highlighting the impact of the American Civil War on Alexandria and the Northern Virginia region.  For more information about the lecture, or others in the series, please visit the Office of Historic Alexandria website, or call 703-746-4554.   The Lloyd House is located at 220 N. Washington Street in Alexandria.  Please use the Queen Street entrance.