When men went off to war, many women had to take over their roles at home. To help with the war effort, women all over the country pitched in to do what they could. They knitted socks, made clothing and quilts, and gathered and shipped supplies like blankets and towels, soap, rifle cartridges, writing paper, Bibles, and food. They held fund-raisers and often donated personal possessions, or sold them and donated the money. They visited army camps and prisons. They wrote letters to lonely soldiers or helped wounded soldiers write to loved ones. Religious Sisters left their convents to help nurse the ill and wounded, often traveling long distances. Some died on battle-fields. Many were overworked and hungry. In Vicksburg, the Sisters of Mercy moved about the city even though they were in direct danger from the shelling. Because of this, their bishop asked that they travel separately, concerned that they could all be killed in a single explosion. While 2,000 women are thought to have been nurses in both the North and South during the war, countless others volunteered in hospitals and military camps and took the sick and injured into their own homes.
