Quarterly Membership Meeting

August 17, 2014
Following a brief business meeting, Caroll Scogin-Brincefield will present a program on the role of women in the Civil War. The Civil War was one of the most turbulent periods in America’s History. Texas had the role of a supply state for the Confederate cause because of the port cities, limited rail and numerous wagon trails. This was one of many reasons that the Union was concerned about Texas. Texans had a well-defined and consistent sense of right and wrong.

Texas population in 1860 was 421,649. The Civil War records state between 70,000 – 90,000 Texas boys and men ranging in age from 16 to 55 years joined the ranks of the military, reflecting roughly 16 – 21 percent of the men in Texas going to war. Sons, husbands, brothers, uncles, and cousins left families torn apart. Some never returned; others returned but life was never the same for them. The loss of so many men had a devastating effect on the state, but more so on the families they left behind in the shadows. The world as Texas women and children knew it was turned upside down.

The war placed pressures on the women and children that life prior to 1861 had not prepared them to handle. Texas did not have a Gettysburg or a Vicksburg, but we did give our men to those battlefields.

The Texas cry was heard from the East coast to the Arizona desert. Families of these brave soldiers lived in the shadows in a state once seen by many as a safe refuge. The Civil War is the most written and researched topic in today’s study of history and the stories of the silent victims – the women and children – need to come out of the shadows and into our lives as students of the Civil War and as Texans.

The program promises to be interesting and informative. Bring and snack to share, and join us on August 17.