Young Virginia Widows

The hardship of the Civil War was not limited to the battlefield. Women and children suffered, especially in the South.

According to Encyclopedia Virginia there were between 4,000 and 6,000 young widows in Virginia after the Civil War. They estimate this number based on the 20,000 to 30,000 total deaths of Confederate soldiers from Virginia and that 20% of them were married. According to the 1860 census the white population of Virginia was just over one million which puts the male population at around 500,000. There were 263,000 males aged 15 to 39 in 1860. So, the percentage of military aged males who died is 9.5%.

This seems low, but more surprising to me is the lack of precision in the data available about the total deaths. It is also counterintuitive to me that only 20% of the Virginia Confederate soldiers were married.

Having said all that, 5,000 young widows is no small matter, especially when you consider children. In 1860 there were 308,000 white children under 10 years old. The female population between the ages of 15 and 39 was about 260,000 which would mean there were 1.2 children per female in the age group. This indicates that there were at least 6,000 children without a father. Some of the children were orphans as well.

This leaves 11,000 widows and children without fathers in Virginia after the war. That equates to 1.1% of the entire population or 5% of all children 9 years old or younger. Today Virginia’s population is 8.6 million. Apply that same percentage and it is the equivalent of 95,000 widows with children today in Virginia.

These women were in a difficult position not made much better by the $30 per year the State of Virginia provided them. That is equal to about $560 today. They were also entitled to any back pay the soldier was owed at the time of his death. There are death records that show that 1,297 women applied for and received the back pay.