Camp life of the 31st Pennsylvania regiment

Credit: Library of Congress and The New-York Historical Society

These two Matthew Brady photographs were made in the camp of the 31st Pennsylvania Infantry near Washington, D.C. in 1862. That year, the wife of Prince Felix of Prussia found the winter camp of the Army of the Potomac "teeming with women." Many followed their husbands into the army and sought employment In working as a company laundress or nurse. Camp followers who lacked the marital voucher of respectability were often presumed to be prostitutes, and frequently ordered from camp. During the Civil War, military officials and the general public accepted women in their new role as public nurses.