page_title: Vivandière
section_title: American Civil War
hierarchical_section_title: Vivandière / American Civil War
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of an unidentified woman of the Civil War period who is wearing a kepi and a canteen. It is possible she is a vivandière.
context_page_description: Vivandière or cantinière is a French name for women attached to military regiments as sutlers or canteen keepers. Their actual historic function of selling wine to the troops and working in canteens led to the adoption of the name 'cantinière' which came to supplant the original 'vivandière' starting in 1793, but the use of both terms was common in French until the mid-19th century, and 'vivandière' remained the term of choice in non-French-speaking countries such as the US, Spain, Italy, and Great Britain. Vivandières served in the French army up until the beginning of World War I, but the custom spread to many other armies. Vivandières also served on both sides in the American Civil War, and in the armies of Spain, Italy, the German states, Switzerland, and various armies in South America, though little is known about the details in most of those cases as historians have not done extensive research on them.
context_section_description: During the Crimean War, the United States War Department sent three United States Army officers to Europe to observe the current art of war there. They brought back the idea of vivandières to America, and during the American Civil War of 1861–1865, many patriotic women on both sides served as vivandières, though exact numbers are unknown, and the practice does not appear to have had the strong and lasting official sanction that it had in France.
  One American example was Anna (Annie) Etheridge who lived in Detroit when the American Civil War broke out. Etheridge joined 19 other women in April 1861 who enlisted as vivandières with the Union's 2nd Michigan Volunteer Regiment. When the 2nd Michigan first saw action at Blackburn's Ford, Etheridge was reported to have nursed the wounded and to have brought water to the dying. She served with the Regiment throughout its battles, including both of those at Bull Run. At Chancellorsville, Etheridge was wounded in the hand when a Union officer attempted to hide behind her, and he was ultimately killed and her horse wounded. For her courage under fire, Etheridge was one of only two women awarded the Kearny Cross, named in honor of Gen. Philip Kearny. The other recipient was French, Mary Tepe.  Another Civil War vivandiere was Kady Brownell.
caption: Unidentified American woman during the American Civil War, presumed to be a Vivandière.
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