Introduction: The Home Front

“Oh for an end to this war!” wrote Frances Cooper of Hoboken to her fiancé, German-speaker Emil Cuntz, in August 1862, little knowing that the war would continue for almost three more years. Her statement epitomizes the Civil War in New Jersey, where a conflict that the state entered reluctantly seemed never-ending. New Jersey, the only free state in the North not to support Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election, was initially divided over the war, although ultimately most people supported the Union cause. On the home front, women, children, and the elderly struggled to keep farms and businesses afloat in the absence of husbands and fathers. Women played an important role in raising money for the war, although their participation was limited by the social expectations of the time. While African Americans welcomed the fight to abolish slavery, they were constrained in their participation in the conflict by the segregated society of the day. The first nine sections of this online exhibition explores the impact of the Civil War on the home front in New Jersey.