Victorian Civil
oil painting on tin….civil war soldier and wife? how can i tell?

I found this painting on tin at a yard sale, and i know it is very old, but can i date it by figuring out the uniform on the soldier? the woman looks victorian..was the civil war in the late 1800’s? what did their uniforms look like? if it is picture of a civil war soldier and his wife (portrait style), is it neccesarily worth anything?

Just because it looks old, doesn’t mean it is as old as you think. You can’t necessarily date a painting by looking the people in it. It could be a painting that someone did after the fact years later. You need to find out the what pigments were used to paint it. You need to find the composition of the tin itself. Take it to an antiques dealer who specializes in this kind of painting to be sure. It could worth something, but it could be something done recently that someone tried to make it look old. Good luck in your search.

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The American Civil War coincided with the Victorian era, one of the most repressive morality eras in the history of women. Everything from the dress of a woman their education were severely constrained by social customs that govern each of their shares.

These Victorian values that women from the time of the Respected Civil War certainly not shelved with the advent of war, a woman's contribution to the war effort was to begin – and usually ends – at home. However, as the war drags on, more and more men left their jobs, homes and lives for the war effort, women were taking over farms farm, working in stores, teaching in schools, and other to take charge of the men who had gone to war.

However, many women refused to limit their assistance to his country to what could be done closer to home. They became nurses, has worked to increase supplies for his troops, or even worked in the armories. A number of these women support their country in a more dangerous place – and outrageous – way: they became spies.

The spying was considered a dishonor to the search for a man during the Civil War era. For a woman, espionage was equivalent to prostitution. However, as the escalation of the war, women in both the North and South boasted Victorian morality of time to offer their country the intelligence it needs to do tactical decisions and practices.

Easily the most famous spy of the Civil War or the 19th Century, Belle Boyd. A spy of the Confederacy, "The Belle Rebelle, "as she became known, Boyd's espionage activities during the war – not to mention their ability to escape unscathed difficult situations – brought her fame and a bit of luck, both during and after the war.

– Belle Boyd

Born Mary Elizabeth Boyd, Belle Boyd began spying for the Confederacy, when Union troops invaded his Martinsburg, Virginia home in 1861. When one of the Federal soldiers mistreated his mother, Boyd shot and killed him. Exonerated in the death of a soldier, an emboldened Boyd managed to befriend the Union soldiers left to guard her and used her slave, Eliza, to pass information entrusted to it by the soldiers together with officers of the Confederacy. Boyd was captured in his first attempt at espionage – and threatened with death – but did not stop their activities, but undertook to find a better way.

Boyd opportunity was presented at the hotel from his father. She eavesdropped on the conversations of the officers Union staying at the hotel out about military affairs, and learned enough to inform the general Stonewall Jackson about his regiment and activities. This time, Boyd surrendered their first-hand intelligence, moving through the Union lines, and reportedly close enough to the action to return to bullet holes in their skirts. The information allowed the Confederate army to advance on the federal troops at Fort Royal.

However, Acts Boyd daring espionage were drawn to a halt when a boyfriend gave the Union authorities in 1862. He was arrested in the Old Capitol Prison in Washington for one month, then released, but found herself in the hoosegow again shortly. Again, he managed to be released, and traveled to England, where she married a Union officer.

Boyd was not the only woman spy operating in Virginia. In the Confederate capital of Richmond, Elizabeth Van Lew, known as "Crazy Bet" was providing the Union with intelligence while their neighbors of the Confederation to consider their madness.

Slave Power arrogant, is jealous and intrusive, is cruel, is despotic, not only on the slave, but on the community and the state. Elizabeth Van Lew

Van Lew, born into a wealthy family in Richmond, he was educated by Quakers in Philadelphia. He declared abolitionist Richmond, going so far as to convince her mother to free the slaves of the family.

His espionage activities began shortly after the start of the war. To the distress of her neighbors, she openly the support of the Union, and soon focused its efforts on helping prisoners in Federal Prison for Libby, taking food, books and paper. He soon began information on smuggling activities of the Confederation of prisoners to the Union officers, including General Ulysses S. Grant.

To conceal their activities Confederate neighbors, Van Lew strange behavior – dressing in old clothes, talking to herself, refusing to comb – oddly enough that the people started thinking I was crazy, and call her "Crazy Bet". Far from crazy, Van Lew was hailed by Grant as the supplier of some of the most important intelligence collected during the war. One of the strategies more inventive Van Lew is a code he developed, to manipulate information, often sent officials Union in hollowed eggs. He also used former slaves in an espionage network, one of them, Mary Elizabeth Bower, was employed at the White House of the Confederacy.

Belle Boyd and Elizabeth Van Lew are just two of the many women who helped their respective countries during the Civil War espionage. These women took the risk I knew that had ramifications for a long time, many of which were revealed as spies, as Van Lew, were rejected in society after the war. Their controversial efforts not only helped the war effort – which helped the progression of women in the coming years.

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Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Deadlier Than the Male – Female Spies During the Civil War