Editing Tomboy (section)

==== Late 19th century and Civil War ====
[[File:American Civil War Chaplain.JPG|alt=Sunday morning mass in camp of 69th N.Y.S.M. Photograph shows Father Thomas H. Mooney, Chaplain of the 69th Infantry Regiment of the New York State Militia and Irish American soldiers at a Catholic Mass at Fort Cocoran, Arlington Heights, Virginia on June 1, 1861. (Source: The Irish American, June 22, 1861)|thumb|Army recruited men for the American Civil War, leaving the women behind to take care of the "left duties of men."]]
During the [[American Civil War]], American society fully realized the importance of healthy women. When hostilities of the North and South broke out and thousands of men fled to the battlefield, many adolescent girls and young women were pushed to be responsible for tasks that would be traditionally considered in the men's realm. Women who had not been allowed to have independent bank accounts were now expected to take care of the finances. American wives, mothers, and young girls who used to rely on the men in the household for security now had the duty of protecting their homes from the enemy. As a result, mothers focused on improving the physical constitution of their daughters while taking care of their own. Many women who had subscribed to the Cult of True Womanhood before the Civil War found themselves engaging in an array of masculine actions during it. Women being given the duties of men during the period of Civil War encouraged tomboyism.<ref name="Abate-2008-2">{{Cite book |last=Abate |first=Michelle Ann |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pYdrZNd7B1sC&q=began+to+change |title=Tomboys: A Literary and Cultural History |date=2008-06-28 |publisher=Temple University Press |isbn=978-1-59213-724-4 |location=Philadelphia, USA |pages=24–16 |language=en}}</ref>