Supporting the War Effort

Homespun Cloth

While spinning homespun cloth began as a way to show patriotism and support boycotts, it soon became an essential part of the war effort. There were calls in many states for women to produce uniforms and blankets for soldiers in large amounts. In 1776, Hartford Connecticut was given a quota of 1,000 coats and vests and 1,600 shirts.⁶ Knowing that similar quotas were given to towns and cities in Massachusetts and Philadelphia, it is clear that colonial women provided the vast majority of uniforms to the army. Camp followers were also in charge of laundering and repairing those uniforms.

Camp Followers

There is sometimes a stereotype that camp followers are whores that serve the men in the miliary. While there certainly were whores that travelled with the armies, they made up a small number of camp followers and are not representative of the lives of most camp followers. The definition of camp followers is given in Article 23 of Section 13 of the 1776 American Articles of War and goes as follows; “'all sutlers and retainers to a camp, and all persons whatsoever serving with the armies of the United States.'”.⁷ Sutlers were merchants, traders, and craftsmen permitted to travel with the army for the purpose of selling provisions to troops, and retainers followed the army for personal reasons rather than economic reasons. They were often the wives and children of soldiers and officers. Being a camp follower was a hard life. They tened to the everyday chores of the camp, which were significantly more difficult than what they would typically face at home. While a significant number of women traveled with the army, their numbers were nowhere near the number of soldiers. Therefore, the women often did the chores for several soldiers, along with caring for their husband and children, while on the march for days at a time with sparce resources. However, for many women it was worth it do this labor in order to stay with their loved ones. Without camp followers, soldiers would have had to this work themselves, taking valuable time away from training or pulling much needed men off the battlefield. The necessity of camp followers was recognized by rations being set aside for them and their children. While they were not conscripted, they were expected to listen to the orders of officers in the same way a soldier was.⁸    

Fundraising

While most of women’s direct support to the army was in the form of some kind of physical or domestic labor, they also supplied considerable financial support. In 1780 Ester de Berdt Reed and Sarah Franklin Bache published a broadside titled "The Sentiments of an American Women" in which they reafirmed their comitment to the revolutioin and called for all ladies to take action thourgh spinning, boycotting, and donations.¹⁰ Soonafter they established the Ladies Association of Philadelphia and organized one of the largest domestic fundraisers of the war.⁹ Members of the Ladies Association went door to door in their communities, put up notices in churches, and donated their own money to the cause. Each community had a designated Treasuress who collected the donations and sent them to the State Treasuress who would then send the money to Matha Washington. The fundraising was done almost entirely by women and went on to become one of the largest domestic fundraisers during the war. Ultimately, they collected just over $300,000.00 from over 1,600 donors in just Philadelphia.¹¹