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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)

In her only entry containing a full description of her job, McGuire writes that she “liked it well.” She describes the job as being   “not very onerous, but rather confining for one who left school thirty-four years ago.” She regarded her supervisor, Major Brewer, as a kind person considerate of others’ comfort. McGuire describes in the Diary her fellow employees as being refugees of “fallen fortunes and destroyed homes.” Despite their circumstances, she found them to be amiable and hoped to get along very well. (67) Why didn’t McGuire frequently write about her work?

It can be assumed that she disliked the thought of employment. The job did not appeal to her. She’s very enthusiastic in the Diary about soap making and sewing, both of which women and McGuire considered acceptable forms of wartime employment since they were done at home. Yet these domestic undertakings never prevented McGuire from visiting the wounded. McGuire’s job at the War Department did interfere with visiting the Robertson Hospital. With work consuming her time from nine to three in the afternoon, she could only visit the Robertson Hospital in the afternoons and two evenings a week. Housework also got in the way after the various families of the Ashland household went their separate ways in the Fall of 1863, forcing McGuire to provide more time towards domestic chores. Referring to the Robertson Hospital, Judith McGuire gripes in the Diary, “It is a cross for me not to be able to give it more time.” (68) Economic and domestic necessity had to come before patriotic charity.

©2005-2008 Tim Sheehan tim@historynut.info

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This page last updated 23 August 2008