In the Army: Women, Camp Followers and Gender Roles in the British Army in the French and Indian Wars, 1755-1765

TitleIn the Army: Women, Camp Followers and Gender Roles in the British Army in the French and Indian Wars, 1755-1765
Publication TypeBook Chapter
Year of Publication2000
AuthorsHendrix, Scott N.
EditorDeGroot, Gerard J., and Corinna Peniston-Bird
Book TitleA Soldier and a Woman: Sexual Integration in the Military
Pagination33-48
PublisherLongman
CityHarlow, UK
Abstract

Camp followers, particularly women, are the forgotten stage hands of the great military dramas of the eighteenth century. Women camp followers were not, as has often been suggested, parasites who battened on to an army and progressively weakened it. On the contrary, the women, children and non-combatant men who followed an army fulfilled many important functions. Either formally or informally, they provided vital logistical support, as well as much of the social structure which helped make military life bearable. Perhaps more importantly, the presence of large numbers of women and children, living intimately and closely with soldiers, created a military world which contrasts sharply with that of today. In particular, gender roles within eighteenth-century European military forces would have been quite different from those of armies of later periods.

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43365821

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