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46 Army Hist. 1 (1998-1999)

handle is hein.milandgov/aryhsy0046 and id is 1 raw text is: ARMY HISTORY THE PROFESSIONAL BULLETIN OF ARMY HISTORY PB-20-99-1 (Now 46) Washington. D.C- Fall 1998-Winter 1999 The Girl I Left Jiehind Me? United States Army Laundresses and the Mexican War Rohert P. Wettemarn, Jr. The hour was sad I left the maid,. A lrgn ngfarewell taking, Her sighs and tears my steps delay d- I thought her heart was breakimg; In hurried words her name I blcss'd, I breathed the vows that bid me, And to my heart, in anguish press'd The girl I left behind me. Samuel Lover During the Mexican War, the Insh poet and songwmter Sarmue Lover toured the United States populanrizg The Girl T Left Behid Me - a tune that woukl remain a favorite of American soldiers for many decade- Throughout the summer of 1i86b, alladeers played this song for the wives and sweethearts WA behmdhby American cnrtzendsoldicrsmarchingtowards the halls of the Montezumas But. thin patnoic image of heart-rending separation did nor reflect the igniican trole of the soldier& wives and other women who accompanied the United States Regular Army in thi peniod. Throughout the war, laundreses and camp women performed domestic duties within the recog- nized structure of the U.S. Army, cooking, cleaning and cnanng for bot h Regular Army officers and enlisted mn H campaigning in M xicn Forgotten by mosit. these women exercised a note worthy humanizmg in- fluence on the Army units t which they were attached A number of historians have viewed Army laun dresses and camp followers as little more than prosti- tutes for the rank and file of the antebellum Army. In a study of prosttution in the American West, Anne 0u.er alleged that' The muhliph ity of terms [used in mihtary regula- Wnh tween 11 and I 869 was not a minor pomn. Overlapping terminology-marmos, nurses fe- rakl attendants,. campwomen, foll wer; of the army, and 'laundresse -has served to keep identi- fication of female roles confused, and permitted offi- cials to avoid any direct acknowledgement of prostiu- lion on rndiiary grounds2 In short. Butter contended that the [United Statesi military crated a de facto policy in support of prosi- tution This assertion has been contested in studies of Army laundresses serving after the Civil War.4 What- ever the case later in the nineteenth century, Butler's statements do not reflect the experiences of women retained by regular forces during the Mextcan War In the absence of written records produced by actual Army laundresses, scholars have,. been forced to rely upon government documents, officers' dianes, and letiers to understand thew- women. Thee, accounts are dificult to interpret. Grady McWhiney noted that Army officers expre-cd 'diverse attitudes and ac- notiS- with respect to sex ' According to Edward Cofiman, women mentioned by officers were usually Iroublesome or victims of unusual difficultiesP- While prostitutes were known to hve near some mih tary camps, my readig of these documents leadst tothe clear conclusion that American army camp women in the antebellum period were not ladies of ill fopute, nor did they just fade away as suggested in one study of laundresses in the frontier Army Like their counter- parts i the eighteenth century, these women fulfilled an important function for the Army throughout much of the M xican War' The March 1802 'Act Fixing the Mihltary Peace Establishment of the United States officially recog- nized the U.S. Arm y's women retainers ' That act provMed that rauon were to be issued -o t women

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