“Since the War Broke Out”: The Marriage of Kate and William Mclure

Abstract

Abstract Scholars are just beginning to examine how the upheavals of the Civil War affected sex roles and married life among white southerners. Thus far two schools of thought have emerged on the impact the war may have had on the ways that men and women related to each other. Some historians argue that women’s lives were essentially unchanged by the war, as women continued to adhere to traditional 0sex roles, while another scholar contends that the war opened up opportunities for more women to go to school and participate in voluntary activities outside the home. We know very little about how the war may have affected men’s personal lives or about how relationships between men and women may have begun to shift during the war itself. A close examination of one couple’s experiences can begin to answer these questions, and it may suggest the ways that other Southern marriages were being transformed.