The Civil War brought about a wholesale transformation of American society — it was in many ways a second American Revolution. Among the most titanic changes was in the role of women. Abolition of Slavery was the most far-reaching  change, but others included further opening of the West via the transcontinental railroads and the Homestead Act; expansion of the role of government; increased urbanization and immigration; and even baseball becoming the national game. But the thousands of women, from Clara Barton to Harriet Tubman and so many others who asserted themselves during the war, becoming doctors, nurses, spokesmen for abolition, and other professions, even soldiers, transformed society irrevocably.  In that sense, the Civil War began the movement for “women’s liberation.” Gene’s two volume book, Civil War Women: Underestimated and Indispensable,” discusses 100 of those women and their contributions.