Before any battles, Dorothea Dix says don’t send women of any age looking for employment unless the need is announced.
The New York Times
May 31, 1861
All persons are respectfully and earnestly requested not to send to army quarters, or moving stations, women of any age in search of employment, unless the want of these is announced by either letter or advertisement, there being no provision made by Government, or otherwise, for such persons. There are many who are anxious to join their friends, who believe that they will find readily remunerative employments. They arrive without means, either of support or for defraying return expenses; and so far from meeting fathers, brothers or husbands, may learn that their regiments are on the march to distant stations. The expense of providing for these ill-counseled, but well-intentioned and helpless persons in Washington falls inconveniently on individuals who are not willing to witness needless exposure or suffering.
D.L. DIX.
Washington, May 29, 1861.