The Civil War increased job opportunities for women – and not just as nurses, spies, and disguised soldiers. The large numbers of men serving in the armed services created job openings at home. Women worked with men in at least one factory in Seneca Falls. Here, a young Yates County woman widowed by the war traveled to the federal capital seeking a Post Office appointment.
From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in March 1865:
AN OFFICE-SEEKING LADY. – We see it stated that Mrs. Sloan, widow of Maj. Barsett [Barnet] Sloan, of the 185th [really 179th] N.Y. Vols., killed before Petersburg, is an applicant for the Post Office at Penn Yan. She is now in Washington with ample testimonials.
Yates County, NY, in the Civil War has been covering the attempt to have Mary Sloan named Postmistress. A Penn Yan paper thought she stood an excellent chance if she had a fair field. A fair presentation of her case would gain President Lincoln’s approval.
The same newspaper reported the death of Mary Sloan’s husband, Major J. Barnet Sloan of the 179th Regiment NY Volunteers: “He was engaged in the great battle at Petersburg on Friday last and was mortally wounded and died the next day.”
John Barnet Sloan – 179th NY Infantry
179th Infantry’s Guidon
J. Barnet Sloan
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