Paula Gidjunis on “Civilians in the Civil War: Homefront to the Battlefield”
Paula Gidjunis
Paula Gidjunis gave us an in-depth presentation on civilians who answered the call to support the men who did the fighting on the Battlefields. She used a PowerPoint presentation to display the photographs of many of these these famous civilians. She also had excerpts from period diaries and letters. She discuss the impact of the Civil War on civilians and how they coped with the destruction of war. Many of the subjects were the women who became nurses in home town hospitals and those who went and served the wounded in battlefield hospitals. She also discussed the aid and comfort given to the underground railroad system, the civilian spy networks that supported the Army on both sides. A very interesting and educational presentation.
Paula Gidjunis is a retired middle school Social Studies teacher and a current instructor at the Civil War Institute at Manor College. She also works as a bookkeeper part-time.
She is on the boards of the Historical Society of Montgomery County and the Delaware Valley Civil War Round Table and chairs their Preservation Committee. She has a BA in History/Education, a certificate in Historical Preservation, an MBA, and is currently working on a Masters in History at LaSalle University.
Soldiers’ Aid Society
Civilians and wagon