Joe Corcoran

As their husbands, sons and fathers went off to fight on the front lines, women who stayed behind had to keep the family going however they could. In this third part of his three-part series Women in the Civil War, Joe Corcoran speaks with WKU Civil War historians Dr. Jack Thacker and Dr. Glenn LaFantasie about the new gender roles women were forced to take on and how those changes are still being felt today.

The Hilltoppers are the only men's team with a losing record in the NCAA tournament. But they're still playing and enjoying their new notoriety. Are they this year's "Cinderella?"

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

Basketball fans in Bowling Green, Kentucky are celebrating an amazing come-from-behind victory. It happened last night in the opening game of the NCAA tournament. President Obama and the British prime minister had front row seats, as the Hilltoppers came back from 16 points down to beat Mississippi Valley State.

From member station WKYU, Joe Corcoran has reaction from Bowling Green.

JOE CORCORAN, BYLINE: Even veteran announcer Jim Nantz couldn't contain of his excitement at the end of the game.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)

The Western Kentucky University mens' basketball team will be playing in front of a high profile fan tonight. President Barack Obama will be in the stands for the NCAA Tournament play-in games in Dayton, Ohio. The Dayton Daily News reports the President will watch the games with British Prime Minister David Cameron who's visiting the U.S. WKU plays Mississippi Valley State in the first of two games tonight.

The casualty numbers of the Civil War were staggering for both the Union and the Confederacy. They would have been much higher without the thousands of women who volunteered as nurses in hospitals and homes.