In honor of Women’s History Month, Cherokee citizen and Oklahoma Historical Society director, David Fowler, offers a presentation on Cherokee women and their roles in the American Civil War.

Fowler begins the presentation by going over the numerous places in Oklahoma where Civil War battles took place, including the Murrell Home, the last antebellum plantation in Oklahoma. He then begins to talk of ancestors or living Elders who may have heard passed down stories about the war. “It is important that we are able to see a face and put a letter with that face, to see that these were real people and real events that happened,” he says.

Two of the ladies Fowler mentions are E. Jane Ross and Eliza Ross, neither of whom had a male family member serving in the army, so they couldn’t go and get rations. The Ross women were staying at the Murrell Home in the thick of the Civil War when it was attacked and ransacked.

Mary Jane Ross, Amanda Ross Murrell, Araminta Ross Vann, Mary Stapler Ross, Sarah Bell Watie, and Hannah Worcester Hicks are also mentioned by Fowler.

Watch the full presentation below, which begins about 4 minutes into the video: