Most women carried on with their daily tasks at home, but many took action by boycotting British goods or following their men into war as cooks, nurses, and care-givers. After the revolution, the laws of coverture, established during the colonial period, remained in place. These laws ruled that when women married they lost their legal identity. Women could not own property, control their own money, or sign legal documents. Women often followed their husbands in the Continental Army. These women, known as camp followers, often tended to the domestic side of army organization, washing, cooking, mending clothes, and providing medical help when necessary.