The other day I was at Wal-Mart browsing through the books and magazines, figuring as usual that there wouldn't be anything to interest me. Found this on the bottom shelf:




The headline of Defiant Southern Women caught my attention and I shelled out the $6 for it, and I don't know about everyone else, but here's something I sure never read in history class; an article about how in March of 1863, a group of Confederate women (this was apparently previously credited to the Union people for blame) led by Mary Jackson, armed with knives and pistols, marched out to the butcher and bakers and inquired about lowering the price of food so the wives and mothers of the soldiers could afford to feed their families.

When the storekeepers refused to lower their prices, the women responded by drawing their weapons and breaking into the stores and taking the flour, salt and molasses for themselves. They later came back with a larger group (including some men) armed with axes and hatchets and broke down the doors to take the food.

Some of the women's arguments justifying their actions were similar to the arguments they posed against their men being drafted in the first place, one woman pointed out rich men with 20 slaves could avoid being drafted into the war when their poorer husbands and sons could not; they likewise pointed out that mothers and wives with children couldn't afford to eat given the low wages paid soldiers' wives and the high prices of food ($1.10 a pound for bacon, no wonder they couldn't afford it, we can hardly afford bacon today at $3 a pound and this was 150 years ago!) and because of the actions they took, finally got the government to come up with an improved welfare plan for the families of the soldiers.

VERY interesting read, if you can find this magazine anywhere for a reasonable price, I recommend checking it out.