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“Economy Rules the Day:”
The Civil War Sacrifices of Judith Walker McGuire
by Tim Sheehan

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Employment (continued)

At the end of 1863, the conscription of all men under the age of fifty-five necessitated the opening of War Department office positions to women. The War Department wanted women in the office and men in the field. Lt. Gen. R.S. Ewell of the War Department noted that, in December 1864, he had “frequent applications from ladies, who are well recommended and in great want, and are apparently well fitted for clerical duty.” The first War Department office to employ women was the Niter and Mining Bureau in July 1863. The Subsistence Bureau, another War Department Office, began to employ female clerks in December 1863. In January of 1864, the Subsistence Department employed a total of 24 men. That number dropped to 13 men by March 1864, then to 7 men by the end of the year. That number remained constant for the remainder of the war. On the other hand, 27 women were employed in this department at the end of 1863. That number peaked at 38 in the summer of 1864. (64)

Judith McGuire became one of the first female employees in the Subsistence Department. She obtained a clerkship, noting the position “was obtained without the least effort on my part.” Her cousin, Colonel F.G. Ruffin of the Commissary Department, used his influence to get her a job entering accounts. A requirement for “us to say that we are really in want of the office” insulted McGuire. She viewed the job as “a work of supererogation, I should say, as no lady would bind herself to keep accounts for six hours per day without a dire necessity.” (65) McGuire accepted this job only as a temporary sacrifice made to benefit her family.

Judith McGuire flirted with the idea of not accepting the job when she learned she would have to take an arithmetic test to prove her competency. Her pride almost cost her the job. She vented her frustrations in the Diary by writing of the absurdity of being “examined in arithmetic by a commissary major young enough to be my son.” Because the job paid a much-needed $125 per month she decided to “submit to it” and passed. (66) The financial well being of her family came before her own pride.

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This page last updated 23 August 2008