About 20,000 women followed their husbands to battle.
They were known as camp followers. Some were looking for adventure and others wanted to be with their loved ones. But most became camp followers because they needed to survive. They were poor women who feared that they and their children would starve with their husbands at war. Camp followers were paid for their services as laundresses and nurses. They also were fed. But women got only half a soldier’s portion of food (half rations) and children got only quarter rations.
