Today's local paper had a headline that can't 
be overlooked. It read, "Women are the devil". I've said this for years, but no one believed me. At least I said that the Secretary of State, William Seward said, "The men are all in the army, and the women are the devil." General Sherman is noted with a similar line.
The ladies of Winchester were feisty during the Civil War. They didn't take any guff off of Union soldiers, and it became a great source of irritation for Union officers. It has been reported that the women of Winchester who were sympathetic to the South would spit on Union soldiers as they marched through the streets. Thus, earning them a reputation for their great disdain of Union occupation.
Mary Greenhow Lee's diary talks about the poor reception the Union soldiers received on their first occupation of Winchester. She writes, "I am delighted to hear that they are very much disappointed at their reception here and say they were never treated with such scorn as by the Winchester ladies."
In the article in the Winchester Star, Cynthia Burton recounts numerous episodes that were taken from diaries of local women who lived through the conflict.
Winchester was a strategic location because of it's proximity to Washington, D.C. and its open access to the Shenandoah Valley. The city changed hands 72 times during the war, so it was in a constant state of flux, and the diaries reveal the frustration many of the women felt over the constant upheaval.
Three major battles took place in and around the town. With the constant changes taking place, the women and old men were left to try to keep some semblance of normalcy, but it was difficult. The troop movements through the area "brought scarlet fever, typhoid, diphtheria and other contagious illnesses" writes Burton, of the Star.
Finding food was difficult during the Union occupation periods. Only those who had sworn "an 'Oath of Loyalty' to the federal government were allowed to buy supplies. But . . . not a single Winchester woman loyal to the Confederacy took the oath." Ironically, the women were given food by Union soldiers in spite of their restrictions not to offer food to the Secessionists.
Union Captain Charles Francis Adams, Jr., said, "Poor Virginia! . . Her women and children are starving and outraged; her servants have run away or been stolen; her fields have been desolated; her towns have been depopulated . . . The horrors of war are not all to be found in the battlefield."
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