Although they are not widely known, the vivandieres and cantinieres who traveled with regiments during the Civil War were women who, despite the constrictions of Victorian society, chose to serve alongside men during wartime in a role that American women thus far had not played. A part of their regiment, these women served several functions, all unheard of for American women of the time.
The history of the vivandiere, or cantiniere, is rooted in the Napoleonic War. During this war, it was not uncommon for bands of women, often the wives or daughters of members of the regiment, to “follow the drum” just behind a regiment. The French army, wishing to reduce the number of women who followed these regiments, restricted this activity, but as a compromise, allowed a few women to serve in some capacity in the regiment. These women became either as vivandieres or cantinieres. The duties of each were prescribed; vivandieres acted as a concessionaire of sorts, selling food and drink to the troops, remaining in camp, while cantinieres followed the regiments on campaign, also distributing food and drink, and nursing ill or wounded soldiers.
Prior to and during the civil war era, the French army was respected as the finest and most technologically advanced, and many of those who served in the U.S. Army prior to the Civil War went to Europe and Africa to observe the French army and teach their skills to troops in the U.S.
At the beginning of the Civil War, the most obvious example of the French influence on the U.S. was the establishment of volunteer Zouave regiments throughout both the union and the confederacy. These Zouave regiments adopted the uniform and drill styles of the French Zouave regiments, while also adopting another French custom – the vivandiere. The 39th New York Zouave regiment, which was known as the Garibaldi Guard, counted among its numbers no less than six vivandieres. Vivandieres were, at the outset of the war, associated most closely with the Zouave and other French-derived regiments; however, the practice spread to more traditional regiments, as well.
If the vivandiere was associated with a Zouave regiment, then her uniform was as colorful and elaborate as those of the Zouave soldiers; the Garibaldi Guard vivandieres wore red jackets over blue gowns, topped by a feathered hat. Other vivandieres may have been less decorative, but most vivandieres wore a skirt over trousers, a jacket, and hat, along with the canteen the vivandiere was famous for. Most of the vivandieres uniforms had some sort of military trim.
In America, the vivandiere was most often known as “the daughter of the regiment,” a title that was sometimes literal, as the vivandiere was usually the daughter, wife, or some other relation to an officer in the regiment. The role of these daughters of the regiment was to follow the regiment, assist in setting up and maintaining camp, not to mention their duties as nurses, carrying a canteen of water or whisky into battle, performing triage to the wounded on the front.
Vivandieres were most popular at the beginning of the war, when regiments were forming, and their duties were often confined to drills. When the war progressed, and the campaigns grew longer and the fighting more common, the vivandieres were less common. This may also be due to the fact of the eventual “normalization” of the troops; as the volunteer units who formed at the outset of the war became encompassed into larger regiments and armies, they became more regulated, their customs more in line with that of the regular army.
Despite the fact that the number of vivandieres dwindled after the beginning of the war, several remained with their regiments throughout most of the war, bravely accepting the brutal conditions of military life during the civil war era, following their regiments to the front lines of battle. They gave rise to the acceptance of women as wartime nurses, as valued members of a military camp, and may even have presaged the acceptance of women as soldiers in the 20th century.
