Women in the ranks

[johan_steele]

It happened, we know there were women who disguised themselves as men for a variety of reasons from patriotism a sense of adventure and love for a soldier. I know a woman who portrays a Viviandiere, she has collecetd the names and stories of almost two hundred women who served i the ranks. I would like to use this thread to post the stories of those women who went to war, both disguised as men and those who did not hide their sex.

[johan_steele]

The May 1907 edition of Confederate Veteran Magazine has the following article:

IN WHAT REGIMENT WAS "CAPTAIN BILLY?" Bartlett S. Johnston writes from Baltimore: "In 1863 I was living in Charlotte. After the battle of Chickamauga, I heard the Yankee prisoners were coming through town. I went to the depot and saw a long train full of prisoners. While I was standing on the platform one company of the troops guarding the prisoners got off the train and formed a line. The officer in command (a captain) was a woman dressed in full uniform with a tobacco bag tied on a button of her coat. The men called her "Captain Billy." They told me that her husband had been the captain and she a lieutenant, that that he was killed and she was made captain and put in command of the company and that she had been wounded. I ran over to where Gen. D. H. Hill was standing and called his attention to the fact that a woman was over there in command of a company. He said to me: 'My boy, that woman is an example for some of these men staying at home.' I would like to know what regiment she belonged to."

[johan_steele]

Fitzgerald Ross notes a similar account in Cities and Camps of the Confederate States.

"- and Colonel Geary, one of our party, discovered a Confederate captain in one of the ladies. Her husband was a major in the confederate army, and she had taken an active part herself in the war, and fairly earned her epaulettes. She was no longer in uniform, having lately retired from the service, was young, good-looking, and lady-like, and told her adventures in a pleasant quiet way."

[johan_steele]

In a letter by a Texas cavalryman, Robert Hodges Jr. in August 1863 in which he describes a scene for his father from Turner's Station, Tennessee:

"One of the soldiers directed my attention to a youth [Amy Clarke] apparently about seventeen years of age well dressed with a lieutenant's badge on his collar. I remarked that I was nothing strange. He then told me that the young man was not a man but a female."

[johan_steele]

James Greenalch of Michigan wrote home on April 20, 1863 that:

"The boys told me to knight [sic] that a regiment that is campt [sic] near us, the 74 Ohio, that on orderly Sergeant in that regiment has got a child, that the sergeant turns out to be a woman with mens cloths [sic] on and has ben [sic] in the regement [sic] twenty months." 13

The result of this sergeants delivery were orders from General William S. Rosecrans which read in part:

"The medical director reports that an Orderly sergeant in Brigadier General _____'s division was today delivered of a baby, -which is in violation of all military law and of army regulations. No such case has been known since the days of Jupiter. You will apply the proper punishment in this case and a remedy to prevent a repetition of the act."

[johan_steele]

Frank Mayne, later known as Frances Day, served and attained the rank of sergeant in Co. F, 126th Pennsylvania. Mayne is listed as having deserted on August 24, 1862, but was subsequently killed in battle in another regiment where it was discovered she was a woman.

[johan_steele]

A sergeant in the 10th New York Heavy Artillery came down sick on the picket line and carried to the hospital where "he" gave birth. "For the first three or four days the event created great question among the two regiments as to its parental relations." [There were two regiments of the 10th]

[johan_steele]

WOMEN IN SOLDIERS' APPAREL

The Central cars, on Friday night, brought down two girls, named Mary Bell and Mollie Bell, who were dressed in soldier clothes. They claim to be cousins, and state that before the war they lived with their uncle in Southwestern Virginia; but about two years since he left them and went over to the Yankees. They then attired themselves in male apparel and were admitted into a cavalry company, attached to the Confederate service. A few months after their enlistment they encountered a force of Yankees, were defeated and captured with the rest of the company; but subsequently, General John H. Morgan, with reinforcements, overtook the Yankees who had them in charge, causing such a precipitate retreat that they were compelled to abandon their prisoners. After three months' service in the cavalry, they joined the Thirty-sixth Virginia infantry, and have been with it up to the present time. On one occasion Mollie killed three Yankees while on picket, and on her return to the brigade was promoted for gallantry to corporalcy. The corporal has missed but one battle -- that of Cedar creek -- she having been sent off on duty at the time. Once she was slightly wounded in the arm by a piece of shell.

From the time these girls entered the service up to the day of the fight which took place between Early and Sheridan on the 19th instant, the secret of their sex was only known to the captain of the company to which they belonged. At this battle he was taken prisoner, and they then, finding it necessary to have some protector confided their secret to the lieutenant commanding the company; but he did not keep it two days before he reported it to General Early himself, who ordered them to be taken to Richmond. In the interview with the General, which ensued in consequence of the information imparted to him by said lieutenant, Mollie stated that there were six other females in disguise in the army; but she refused to tell who or where they were.

These girls were known in the army by the names of Tom Parker and Bob Morgan, and were acknowledged by all the soldiers with whom they were associated to be valiant soldiers, having never been known to straggle or shirk duty.

As they appeared in the Chief -of-police office on Friday night, there was nothing in their appearance to excite suspicion that they were other than what they appeared to be, confederate soldiers. They are modest in demeanor, and were always known as quiet and orderly members of their command. Mollie, alias Bob Morgan, did most of the talking and displayed evident marks of education and refinement; Mary, alias Tom Parker, was taciturn and moody, but yet not altogether uninteresting. Mollie says that "Tom" as she called her cousin was never intended to be a soldier; she is too modest and backward.

They were both committed to Castle Thunder to await further arrangements for their welfare

[johan_steele]

The Sandusky, Ohio Register of December 12, 1864, reported:

"One day last week one of the rebel officers [imprisoned on] Johnson's Island gave birth to a 'bouncing boy'. This is the first instance of the father giving birth to a child, that we have heard of - it is [also] the first case of a woman in rebel service that we have heard of, though they are noted for goading their own men in [to] the army, and for using every artifice - to befog and befuddle some of our men."

[johan_steele]

http://www.geocities.com/yosemite/25...dinuniform.htm was kind enough to list these women.

Budwin, Florena (? - 1865)

Florena enlisted in the Union army with her husband and maintained her disguise throughout her active service. She and her husband were captured and confined at Andersonville where Mr. Budwin died. She remained at the prison until the stockade was threatened by Federals; then she was transferred to a Florence S. C. facility. There she fell victim to an epidemic and a doctor discovered her sex. Special treatment failed to save her and she died on January 25, 1865. xiv

Cashier, Albert J. (1843 - 1915)

Among the 36,312 names on the Vicksburg, Illinois monument is the name of Albert Cashier, whose real name was Irene Hodgers (sometimes spelled Hogers) from Ireland. The records of this soldier have nothing unusual to report. Cashier enlisted in Co. G, 95th Ill. Inf. at the age of 19. The company was mustered into service on September 4, 1862. Cashier participated in the battles of Vicksburg, the Red River Campaign and Nashville. Her final service came with the capture of Mobile, A. The regiment was mustered out August 17, 1865 and Cashier returned to private life, remained in her male guise, and filed for a pension in 1899

In 1911, Cashier was involved in an automobile accident, which resulted in her true sex being discovered. Those in her unit never suspected her true identity. During a pension review in 1914 one of her comrades, Harry G. Weaver, gave an affidavit stating: "When we were examined [at induction] we were not stripped. We were examined on the same day. All that we showed was our hands and feet. I never did see any part of his person exposed by which I could determine the sex. He was of very retiring disposition and did not take part in any of the games. He would sit around and watch, but would not take part. He had very small hands and feet. He was the smallest man in the company." Another comrade stated: "Cashier was very quiet in her manner and she was not easy to get acquainted with." xv

Clalin, Frances

Clalin served for three months in Co. I, 44th Mo. Artillery and for 19 months in Co. A, 13th Mo. Cavalry. xvi

Compton, Lizzie

On July 4, 1863, the same day that Lee retreated from Gettysburg, Confederate General John Hunt Morgan suffered a defeat at Tebbs Bend on the Green River in Kentucky. A Union soldier wounded there was discovered by a surgeon to be a sixteen-year-old girl whose name was Lizzie Compton. She had been wounded before at Fredericksburg and discharged, only to reenlist. Whenever she was sounded or feared detection, she enrolled in a different regiment. Prior to this wounding, she had served for at least eighteen months. xvii

Day, Francis - SEE Frank Mayne

Edmonds, Sarah Emma - SEE Franklin Thompson

Emily ? (? - 1863)

A Brooklyn Resident, her parents saw her desire to enlist with the army as being mentally unstable and sent her off to an aunt in Michigan so that she might forget the whole idea. She escaped her aunt, disguised herself as a man and joined the army as a drummer. She was fatally wounded on the second day of the battle of Chickamauga where her sex was revealed.

When informed that her wound was mortal she wrote to her father: "Forgive your dying daughter. I have but a few moments to live. My native soil drinks my blood. I expected to deliver my country, but the fates would not have it so. I am content to die. Pray pa, forgive me. Tell ma to kiss my daguerreotype. Emily." xviii

Fuller, Charles

Enlisted in Co. D, 46th Pennsylvania. She was detected as being a female and discharged. Date unknown. xix

Goodrich, Ellen

Her father disowned Goodrich when she announced that she intended to join her fiancee in the war. She fought by his side for three years and was wounded in the arm by a minnie ball. She nursed her fiancee when he was ill and married him a day or so before he died. xx

Hogers [HODGERS], Irene [JENNY] SEE: Albert Cashier

Mayne, Frank

Frank Mayne, who later came to be known as Frances Day, served and attained the rank of sergeant in Co. F, 126th Pennsylvania. Mayne is listed as having deserted on August 24, 1862; but was subsequently killed in battle in another regiment where it was discovered that she was a woman. xxi

Owens, Mary

Owens returned from the war and said that she had secretly married a man with whom she'd enlisted, eighteen months earlier. He was killed and she was wounded. Upon her return, the press reported that she was "the heroine of the neighborhood." xxii

Thompson, Franklin (1841 0 1898)

Disguised as Franklin Thompson, a bible salesman, Sarah Emma Edmonds entered the United States from Canada to avoid an arranged marriage. She failed the first attempt at a physical due to a height requirement, but managed to pass the second physical and enlisted in Co. F, 2nd. Michigan Infantry on May 14, 1861 at the age of 20. This soldier started out as a field nurse serving at First Manassas (Bull Run) and the Seven Days Campaign. She served as an accomplished spy and buried another female soldier at Antietam. The regiment was moved to Kentucky early in 1863, where Thompson came down with malaria. Fearing discovery she deserted on April 22. It was not until 1884 that Thompson, now using her married of Seeleye; [SEELYE] revealed the truth about Private Franklin Thompson while attending a regimental reunion without her disguise. Urged to file for a pension by her comrades, she took her cast to Congress with more interest in clearing the desertion charges from her mane than receiving a pension. She achieved both in February 1887 and lived out her live as the only female member of the GAR. xxiii

Wilson, Fannie

From New Jersey, Wilson served for eighteen months before her sex was discovered during the Vicksburg Campaign. She was sent to Cairo, Ill., where she re-enlisted in the 3rd Illinois Cavalry, only to be discovered and discharged again. xxiv

Wise, Mary

Mary Wise claimed that she had served two years and was paid before being mustered out on an Indiana regiment.