Major Belle Reynolds of Peoria

Lori Tuttle
Washington School, Peoria

During the Civil War many women enlisted in armies or traveled with their husbands. Belle Reynolds, a Peoria resident, was of the second type. During the Civil War, Belle Reynolds became a local heroine because of her involvement with the Battle of Shiloh, which resulted in her being commissioned a major of the Union army.

Belle Reynolds was one of a considerable group of women who worked to aid the sick and wounded. At great risk to herself, she accompanied her husband into the theater of war, where she worked to make the soldiers comfortable.

On October 20, 1840, Arabella L. Macomber was born into a well-known, educated family in Shelbourne Falls, Massachusetts, a station on the Underground Railroad. As a child she heard stories of fugitive slaves from family and friends which caused her to support the North in the Civil War. In April 1860 Belle married William S. Reynolds, a druggist in Peoria, Illinois. When her husband enlisted in the Union army, Belle followed him into battle. As a result, she was near the fighting, and she helped care for the wounded. Although few people are aware of it, hundreds of women disguised as men enlisted in Union armies. Some women acted as spies, and a few fought in the front lines. Most women involved in the war were nurses, but many followed their husbands into war because women were allowed to follow their husbands wherever they went. Belle did not enlist in the army as a soldier. She merely joined her husband and tried to keep the soldiers' spirits up whenever possible. Belle had only been married for one year when the battles of the Civil War began hitting closer to home. On their first anniversary, the Reynoldses were in church when a messenger brought news of an attack on Fort Sumter. As soon as the news broke, William Reynolds immediately enlisted in the Union army.

In August 1861 Belle joined her husband at Bird's Point, Missouri, where his regiment was stationed. While traveling with her husband, Belle witnessed several battles. She was in the field with her husband from the first great western battle, Shiloh, and was also traveling with the regiment when the Union won skirmishes at Frederickstown, Missouri, taking possession of Cape Girardeau as well as Shiloh. Although she was only in Peoria for a short time (1860-1864), it was during her stay here that she was commissioned a major.

ILLINOIS HISTORY / FEBRUARY 1994

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Women joined forces during the Civil War to assist in any way they could. The
United States Sanitary Commission was one women's organization that came to the
aid of wounded soldiers. The men pictured here are recuperating at a military
hospital while the woman in the doorway sits ready to tend to them.

On the morning of April 6, 1862, Belle and her woman companion, "Mrs. N.," were sitting at a campfire cooking breakfast when they heard gunfire. At first they were not alarmed. They thought it was simply the pickets firing their muskets to make sure the gun powder was still dry. When people began running, Belle and Mrs. N. did not take the threat of a battle seriously and began slowly packing their trunks instead of running for their lives. Total confusion reigned. Belle and Mrs. N. walked into an empty campsite. It was not until a wagonmaster told Belle and Mrs. N. to run for their lives that the reality of an attack finally sank in. They began running and headed for Captain Norton's boat, the Emerald, which was headed to Pittsburg Landing. When they were about a half mile down the river, they were forced to take on the wounded and give them medical attention, keeping the two women from assisting at the battlefield. The women tried to help care for the wounded, but the conditions were terrible. For every two people who died of wounds, five died of disease.

After a nearly sleepless week of caring for the wounded. Belle was told to return to Peoria for a short time. She took the ship Black Hawk for her return trip; on board were other passengers and several distinguished government members, including the Governor of Illinois, Richard Yates. While on board, she gave eyewitness accounts of the battles and the terrible conditions she and the soldiers had been forced to endure. A passenger remarked that she deserved a commission more than most of the men in the field. Yates agreed and had a blank commission form brought in. He asked the rank of her husband, and when he learned that he was a lieutenant, he said that he believed in giving the women the best of it. Then he continued to fill in the form with Belle holding the rank of major.

When Belle returned to Peoria, she became the town's heroine. Although the title of major was only semi-official, the townspeople still looked at her as a local celebrity. Belle continued her career with the Red Cross and accomplished many things in a time when women were not allowed to do much publicly. She is still best known as the first woman major in the Civil War.—[From B. Adams, "She more than held her own," Peoria Journal Star, Jan. 25, 1993; B. Adams, "Floating museum will pay homage to commissioned major," Peoria journal Star, Sept. 6, 1987; M. Beckman, "Belle headed for war with the boys in blue," Peoria Journal Star, May 27, 1973; Mary Louise Gordon, "Belle Reynolds," Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, 1991; A. Young, The Women and the Crisis.]

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