The Vivandiere

In the Massachusetts regiments their were two Vivandieres recorded, one was a young girl of the 6th Massachusetts Infantry though there was a second within  the Irish Regiments that has never been identified or traced to a particular regiment though she was recorded at the battle of Antietam.

 Vivandieres were not employed but recognised by the Government and was not strictly fighting personnel in the ranks, some were often referred to as The Daughter of the Regiment being a wife or daughter of a officer or senior NCO. Her job was to comfort the dying and wounded on the field and in camp she would have sold small comforts to the soldiers or written home for them and may have even undertaken the mending or washing of clothes for them for a small fee.

The name Vivandieres and Cantineres had first appeared around the Napoleonic wars in the French armies, it was an a tempt by French commanders to cut down on the camp followers selling all kinds of goods to the soldiers, so a small number of women were militarised to serve the troops. In 1853 the Crimean war broke out when Russia challenged Turkish influence in the Black Sea prompting England and France to back Turkey.

In 1854 military attaches along with news paper reporters from America were sent to observe the French and English regiments in battle. Reports from journalists along with the new technology in photos came back from them and along with them were the first image of the Vivandieres to be recorded, this colourful uniform probably, inspired the uniform for the Vivandiere in the American Civil War five years later