Crossdressing in the Civil War

[Naim Peress]

Naim Peress blogged about a crossdressing incident during the Civil War. (www.civilwaretal.blogspot.com). Do you know of any such incidents during the war? I'd be amused to hear them.

[gary]

Pvt. Joe Bell, aka Maria Underwood, attempted to serve as a substitute in a sharpshooter unit. Bell/Underwood refused to be examined by the surgeon to be certified as fit for duty. When the may who was paying Bell/Underwood demanded Bell/Underwood be examined, Bell/Underwood dropped the masquerade and revealed her true gender, and that she was imprisoned in Richmond earlier in the war. She was sent north to the Land o' Lincolnites.

[M E Wolf]

O.R.--SERIES II--VOLUME V [S# 118]
UNION CORRESPONDENCE, ORDERS, ETC., RELATING TO PRISONERS OF WAR AND STATE FROM DECEMBER 1, 1862, TO JUNE 10, 1863.--#5
OFFICE PROVOST-MARSHAL-GENERAL,
Wheeling, December 24, 1862.
Col. W. HOFFMAN, Commissary-General of Prisoners.
SIR: I have the honor specially to report the receipt of a prisoner of war sent here by Brigadier-General Crook in the shape of a female wearing male apparel charged as a spy for the rebels, arrested in the streets of Charleston, Va. Her statements are contradictory, at one time asserting she was in the rebel army, at another time affirming she served with the Twenty-third Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, U.S. Army. She is a coarse-looking creature, scarcely answering the description of la fille du regiment. I have placed her in the Ohio County jail for the present, ordered clothes for her suitable to her sex, and await your order regarding her.
Very respectfully,
JOS. DARR, JR.,
Major and Provost-Marshal. General.
[Indorsement.]
Respectfully referred to Colonel Doster, provost-marshal, to know if he can provide for the within-named woman in the Old Capitol Prison if she is ordered to this city. Please return this letter.
W. HOFFMAN,
Colonel Third Infantry, Commissary-General of Prisoners.
[Inclosure.]
A FEMALE SOLDIER IN CUSTODY--AN EVENTFUL CAREER.
Among the prisoners brought up yesterday on the steamer Bostona, No. 2, was the somewhat famous female soldier, Harry Fitzallen, of whom our readers have doubtless heard something through the Cincinnati papers. Harry, who was dressed in a tightly-fitting cavalry uniform, was taken to jail yesterday soon after his arrival, when the provost-marshal, Major Darr, with a view of ascertaining if possible the truth in relation to the charge that has been made against Harry of being a rebel spy, held an interview with her. During the conversation she said her name was Marian McKenzie. She was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Her mother died when she was an infant and her father removed with her to this country when she was only four years old. Her father dying a short time after reaching New York Marian was left alone upon the world and managed to make her living in various ways, as she expressed it. She educated herself and studied for the stage but finding the profession of an actress not exactly suited to her taste she traveled about from place to place engaging in divers employments. Shortly after the breaking out of the war she enlisted in a Kentucky regiment at Newport and served two months. Upon her sex being discovered she had to quit. She enlisted several times after this in as many different regiments and was several times arrested. The last time she was arrested in Charleston, Kanawha County, in men's apparel by the provost-marshal. She says that she has brothers and sisters residing in Canada. Upon being asked what part of Canada her relations inhabited she declined to answer, saying: "This sensation will have publicity enough if it has not already and I do not wish the innocent to suffer for the guilty." When told that she would be detained until her statements could be corroborated she said: "Very well, I cannot help it. The only
way in which I have violated the law is in assuming men's apparel. The injury that I have done is principally to myself." She speaks fluently and uses the best of language, and is evidently an educated woman, well skilled in the iniquities of the world. She visited this city about three years ago under the name of Miss Fitzallen and in the character of a prostitute. She says she went into the army for the love of excitement and from no motive in connection with the war, one way or another. She is about twenty-five years of age, very short and very thick. She has heretofore acknowledged that she has been engaged in the rebel service but now denies the soft impeachment. As there are several suspicious circumstances connected with the case Harry will be furnished with appropriate clothing and detained until all doubts are removed.
-----
FOX’S REGIMENTAL LOSSES
CHAPTER VII.
Forty-sixth Pennsylvania, Company D: --" Charles D. Fuller; detected as being a female; discharged, date unknown."

One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania, Company F:--" Sergeant Frank Mayne: deserted Aug. 24, 1862; subsequently killed in battle in another regiment, and discovered to be a woman; real name, Frances Day"

Second Michigan, Company F :--"Franklin Thompson; deserted." (Charge of desertion removed by House Committee on Military Affairs, Washington, Feb. 1887, the soldier having had a good record and had fought well in several battles, but proved to be a woman; real name was Miss Seelye.)

Twenty-sixth North Carolina (C. S. A.)Company F:--" Mrs. L. M. Blaylock; enlisted March .20, 1861; discharged for being a woman." (*)

[gary]

I forgot which soldier was discharged after she delivered a baby.

[M E Wolf]

Dear Gary;

"They Fought Like Demons;" Page 15; First Paragraph:

The unidentified woman from New Jersey was promoted to corporal prior to Fredericksburg. She was, apparently, a very good soldier. One of her comrades stated that not only was she "a young and good looking corporal,"but her "courtesy and military bearing...struck the officers very favorably." Furthermore, he proclaimed her to be "a real soldierly, thoroughly military fellow." She was also a valiant soldier. Although in her final trimester of pregnancy, she performed her duty at Fredericksburg, and she performed it well. On January 19, 1863m a shocked colonel with the Army of the Potomac wrote home that "a corporal was promoted to sergeant for gallant conduct at the battle of Fredericksburg--since which time the sergeant has become the mother of a child." Tongue-in-cheek he added, "What use have we for women, if soldiers in the army can give birth to children?" Indeed, when she delivered her baby boy, she became the subject of much gossip among the Army of the Potomac. Yet in all that was written home about her by enlisted men and officers, neither her true nor her enlisted identity were ever mentioned. Her name, the alias under which she served, and her regimental affiliation remains unknown.

Footnote cites: Samuel S. Partridge 13th NY Inf. to brother; April 10, 1863. Fredericksburg & Spottsylvania National Military Park; NPS; and-- Civil War Letters of Col. Elijah H. C. Cavins, 14th Indiana

-------------------------------------------------------------
Lizzie Compton wounded at Fredericksburg and mustered out of the US Army; went west and joined the 25th Michigan Infantry.

Ref: Long; "Day by Day"; Pages 376-379; 391 : Senior Morgan, 110; Allen Keller Morgan's Raid 35.
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Good book and well researched by the way; having a good reference to each story told--have to re-read to find the more.

Respectfully submitted,
M. E. Wolf

[Scribe]

Originally Posted by Naim Peress

Naim Peress blogged about a crossdressing incident during the Civil War. (www.civilwaretal.blogspot.com). Do you know of any such incidents during the war? I'd be amused to hear them.

Do you count Jefferson Davis' attire when he was captured?

[ole]

Objection! Women who dressed as soldiers for whatever reason were not, technically, crossdressers. They had reasons other than sexual to do so.

Do you count Jefferson Davis' attire when he was captured?

INCOMING!

Ole

[larry_cockerham]

Originally Posted by ole

Objection! Women who dressed as soldiers for whatever reason were not, technically, crossdressers. They had reasons other than sexual to do so.
INCOMING!

Ole

Much as I hate to admit it about OUR President, the man has a point.

[blue_zouave]

Oh shucks, I was hoping to hear something about some peripheral ancestor of RuPaul...

[larry_cockerham]

Originally Posted by blue_zouave

Oh shucks, I was hoping to hear something about some peripheral ancestor of RuPaul...

I suspect any such ancestor would be peripheral at best.