Ladies Where You'd Least Expect Them, POW's, Soldiers And Spies, Oh My

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
libby book pic big.jpg

From an officer's memoir's, this image depicts Libby and Son's ship's chandlery as the famous Libby prison, Richmond. Several men held there during the war wrote of a young girl captured as a trooper, discovered and exchanged.

One officer's account;

Girl prisoner Libby.jpg



War provided quite a few exceptions to the era adage where a lady's name only appeared in print three times. Happily, some of our most beloved women of the war shattered this code by regular appearances as genuine heroines. Mother Bickerdyke, Sojourner Truth, Phoebe Pemberton, Sisters of Charity, Clara Barton, Annie Wittenmeyer, Harriet Tubman for instance, made illustrious news, not infamous. It was wonderful.

It was also in stark contrast to the accepted, ridiculous practice of publishing say, an arrested prostitute's name and referring to the er, gentleman arrested with her as ' a gentleman '. Unnamed.

We do have wonderful books on these topics, by authors we're lucky enough to know. Point is a little comprehensive, that we girls have so many stories through those years no one could document all of them. A lot are still out there.

girl prisoner female spy large.jpg

From a Frank Leslie's spread, 1861, part of normal duties in Washington, DC. That prison would have been Old Capitol City.

Spies were quite real- found a ' Union female soldier, CONFEDERATE female spy. Good stuff.
fs spy1.jpg
fs spy2.jpg


Papers naturally were terribly insulting about each other so please no one go up a wall- the point is the female Confederate soldier.
girl prisoner conf 1a.JPG
girl prisoner conf 1.JPG

girl prisoner conf 3.jpg


Hate to rely so heavily on era papers; they're just so incredibly more valuable as reflective of what we were all doing 150 years ago than later interpretations. It would be terrific not to separate us, North v South. We were everywhere.

girl prisoner died.JPG

Haven't had time to look up Florinda. Union and Confederate, women were discovered scooped up as prisoners, or suspected as being females and turned in.



In 1861, new articles began to appear. The gloves were off, for one thing, it seemed when it came to a whole, new classification of female- those who went to war. Here's where it becomes a little convoluted. Spies and female soldiers were pitched into jail, sometimes as prostitutes ( because why else would a woman follow men to war? ), but sometimes written of with great sympathy, if not respect.


girl prisoner 35th Indiana.JPG

Arrested..... after serving over 2 years.

Here's Amy Clark
girl prisoner amy clark.JPG

It states she was paroled as a POW- cannot find where?

girl prisoners camp chase.JPG

City prison. *sigh*

girl prisoner louisiana.jpg

There have been so many conjectures on how many women fought at Gettysburg it's crazy. We'll simply never know. We were there.
 
3 women fought in the CS ranks @ Allatoona Pass. A Sgt gave birth in the AoC. A young woman fighting as a private soldier with the Irish Brigade died at Gettysburg. The stories are out there and most are rather intriguing.

There were women in the ranks, legitimate evidence exists. Estimates range from 700-1400 on the US side alone. We will never know how many.

Most I have seen researching the subject have/are making honest scholarly efforts with little in the way of ulterior motives.
 
View attachment 198954
From an officer's memoir's, this image depicts Libby and Son's ship's chandlery as the famous Libby prison, Richmond. Several men held there during the war wrote of a young girl captured as a trooper, discovered and exchanged.

One officer's account;

View attachment 198948


War provided quite a few exceptions to the era adage where a lady's name only appeared in print three times. Happily, some of our most beloved women of the war shattered this code by regular appearances as genuine heroines. Mother Bickerdyke, Sojourner Truth, Phoebe Pemberton, Sisters of Charity, Clara Barton, Annie Wittenmeyer, Harriet Tubman for instance, made illustrious news, not infamous. It was wonderful.

It was also in stark contrast to the accepted, ridiculous practice of publishing say, an arrested prostitute's name and referring to the er, gentleman arrested with her as ' a gentleman '. Unnamed.

We do have wonderful books on these topics, by authors we're lucky enough to know. Point is a little comprehensive, that we girls have so many stories through those years no one could document all of them. A lot are still out there.

View attachment 198955
From a Frank Leslie's spread, 1861, part of normal duties in Washington, DC. That prison would have been Old Capitol City.

Spies were quite real- found a ' Union female soldier, CONFEDERATE female spy. Good stuff.
View attachment 198956 View attachment 198957

Papers naturally were terribly insulting about each other so please no one go up a wall- the point is the female Confederate soldier.
View attachment 198945 View attachment 198944
View attachment 198946

Hate to rely so heavily on era papers; they're just so incredibly more valuable as reflective of what we were all doing 150 years ago than later interpretations. It would be terrific not to separate us, North v South. We were everywhere.

View attachment 198947
Haven't had time to look up Florinda. Union and Confederate, women were discovered scooped up as prisoners, or suspected as being females and turned in.



In 1861, new articles began to appear. The gloves were off, for one thing, it seemed when it came to a whole, new classification of female- those who went to war. Here's where it becomes a little convoluted. Spies and female soldiers were pitched into jail, sometimes as prostitutes ( because why else would a woman follow men to war? ), but sometimes written of with great sympathy, if not respect.


View attachment 198942
Arrested..... after serving over 2 years.

Here's Amy Clark
View attachment 198943
It states she was paroled as a POW- cannot find where?

View attachment 198950
City prison. *sigh*

View attachment 198949
There have been so many conjectures on how many women fought at Gettysburg it's crazy. We'll simply never know. We were there.

It appears the soldier's name was Florena Budwin, not Florindo Budworth. See:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1865-newspaper-female-woman-civil-war-prison-pow

"A FEMALE SOLDIER BURIED AT FLORENCE SOUTH CAROLINA" - Letter from Colonel J. P. S. Tobin of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers dated Charleston, SC September 29, 1865 to the editor of The Press [a Philadelphia Newspaper] - the letter notes Tobin's recent discovery while at the stockade at Florence - he found the grave of a female from Philadelphia, she had been brought with a number of other prisoners but her sex was not discovered until shortly before her death, she stated her name to be Florindo Budworth and that she resided in Philadelphia, Tobin could not learn to what regiment she belonged - she is buried among other victims of rebel cruelty.

Women's Studies - Women in the Military - "Standing alone amidst the rows of trench burials from the Florence Stockade in the Florence National Cemetery is the headstone of Florena Budwin. Her story has been told many times throughout the years, but the truth as to how she ended up as a POW in the Florence Stockade may remain a mystery forever. As the story goes, Florena was a Philadelphia woman who disguised herself as a man to be with her husband during the war. Both her and her husband were captured and were held captive at Andersonville, GA where husband was killed [Andersonville is not mentioned in this article]. She was transferred, along with other prisoners, to the Florence Stockade. During a routine examination, her identity as a female was discovered by a Confederate doctor. She was then removed from the stockade. She was given a private room and the ladies of Florence donated food and clothing. She helped to care for the sick, but died of pneumonia on January 25th, 1865 at the age of 20. She lies buried in grave D-2480. Unfortunately, all efforts to positively identify her or her husband have come up empty. However, it is no doubt that she was woman who was held captive at Florence and probably deserves the right to be known as the first woman to be buried in a National Cemetery."
Florena Budwin's story can be seen at http: ///~florencestockade/florena. htm
 
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... There were women in the ranks, legitimate evidence exists. Estimates range from 700-1400 on the US side alone. We will never know how many...

On the other hand, I have REAL trouble giving any credence at all to the original story here: it's well-known that Libby Prison was a prison for OFFICERS, something I seriously doubt our incipient cavalryman here was masquerading as:

girl-prisoner-libby-jpg.jpg
 
How very interesting! I often wonder how they passed for so long... perhaps the other soldiers just thought they were odd, if not at least a little effeminate? There's so many differences between men and women, ones most of us don't even pick up on until they're pointed out, but we use to subconsciously gender one another. Some physiologically brought on, some learned.

I could probably pass from a distance, with short hair, in the quite unflattering uniforms of the day. I'm pretty sure the first person to see me swat flies away would pick up on the rouse, though.:bounce:
 
How very interesting! I often wonder how they passed for so long... perhaps the other soldiers just thought they were odd, if not at least a little effeminate? There's so many differences between men and women, ones most of us don't even pick up on until they're pointed out, but we use to subconsciously gender one another. Some physiologically brought on, some learned.

I could probably pass from a distance, with short hair, in the quite unflattering uniforms of the day. I'm pretty sure the first person to see me swat flies away would pick up on the rouse, though.:bounce:
 
On the other hand, I have REAL trouble giving any credence at all to the original story here: it's well-known that Libby Prison was a prison for OFFICERS, something I seriously doubt our incipient cavalryman here was masquerading as:

girl-prisoner-libby-jpg.jpg


She may have been held at Belle Plain, men at Libby came to her aid, looking back into snips. Since there's more than one account describing her, I didn't hesitate to use her.
 
How very interesting! I often wonder how they passed for so long... perhaps the other soldiers just thought they were odd, if not at least a little effeminate? There's so many differences between men and women, ones most of us don't even pick up on until they're pointed out, but we use to subconsciously gender one another. Some physiologically brought on, some learned.

I could probably pass from a distance, with short hair, in the quite unflattering uniforms of the day. I'm pretty sure the first person to see me swat flies away would pick up on the rouse, though.:bounce:


Martha Lindley, who served with her husband in the 6th US Cavalry, was just thought to be shy and one of a pair of good buddies who did not mix much. She intrigues me hugely as a wife and mother who gave their children to the grandparents and fought. My grgrgrandfather was in the 6th US although not that company, would love to know if he was aware of this shy pair.

Another two women were teamsters. No one thought twice about their sex until they got into a fist fight and fell into a river. Shocked? No one had a clue. Can you imagine, poor things making it that far and having the misfortune to be caught so obviously?

It was tough for them coming forward post war - perhaps there were women who made untrue claims, I do not know? The thing is, women were frequently scoffed at so just eventually shushed.
 
It appears the soldier's name was Florena Budwin, not Florindo Budworth. See:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1865-newspaper-female-woman-civil-war-prison-pow

"A FEMALE SOLDIER BURIED AT FLORENCE SOUTH CAROLINA" - Letter from Colonel J. P. S. Tobin of the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers dated Charleston, SC September 29, 1865 to the editor of The Press [a Philadelphia Newspaper] - the letter notes Tobin's recent discovery while at the stockade at Florence - he found the grave of a female from Philadelphia, she had been brought with a number of other prisoners but her sex was not discovered until shortly before her death, she stated her name to be Florindo Budworth and that she resided in Philadelphia, Tobin could not learn to what regiment she belonged - she is buried among other victims of rebel cruelty.

Women's Studies - Women in the Military - "Standing alone amidst the rows of trench burials from the Florence Stockade in the Florence National Cemetery is the headstone of Florena Budwin. Her story has been told many times throughout the years, but the truth as to how she ended up as a POW in the Florence Stockade may remain a mystery forever. As the story goes, Florena was a Philadelphia woman who disguised herself as a man to be with her husband during the war. Both her and her husband were captured and were held captive at Andersonville, GA where husband was killed [Andersonville is not mentioned in this article]. She was transferred, along with other prisoners, to the Florence Stockade. During a routine examination, her identity as a female was discovered by a Confederate doctor. She was then removed from the stockade. She was given a private room and the ladies of Florence donated food and clothing. She helped to care for the sick, but died of pneumonia on January 25th, 1865 at the age of 20. She lies buried in grave D-2480. Unfortunately, all efforts to positively identify her or her husband have come up empty. However, it is no doubt that she was woman who was held captive at Florence and probably deserves the right to be known as the first woman to be buried in a National Cemetery."
Florena Budwin's story can be seen at http: ///~florencestockade/florena. htm


Thank you! What an awful yet somehow nice story, the ladies of Florence taking her under their wing. Had gotten whiffs of this level of kindness through so many, many civilian stories North and South, good to have one in this case.

And rats. Somewhere in the plethora of accounts by men who were in Andersonville is one who spoke of a woman, wonder if it was she or yet another?

3 women fought in the CS ranks @ Allatoona Pass. A Sgt gave birth in the AoC. A young woman fighting as a private soldier with the Irish Brigade died at Gettysburg. The stories are out there and most are rather intriguing.

There were women in the ranks, legitimate evidence exists. Estimates range from 700-1400 on the US side alone. We will never know how many.

Most I have seen researching the subject have/are making honest scholarly efforts with little in the way of ulterior motives.


Yes, most researchers seem amazing, don't they? There's some incredible work out there, goodness. We all know books do not exactly make most wealthy, in general, the work going into that level of research always seems to me to be based a love of the topic, as motive.

Now I'm distracted, had not heard a female soldier was with the Irish Brigade at Gettysburg, thank you! Knew it is surmised possibly the Confederate woman killed in Pickett's Charge was from a Virginia regiment, and a soldier's letter home speaks of a female soldier in the hospital there- I don't think she is the same one as the Louisiana woman wounded in the foot.

As you said, we'll never know how many? 700 - 1400, one side alone is staggering, and just makes the topic more intriguing.
 
By far one of the most interesting Civil War stories wish this was a movie

Even more interesting is how eager some are to embrace anything like evidence of these "soldiers" but at the same time scoff at any mention of the equally elusive and equally mythical black Confederates.
 
Even more interesting is how eager some are to embrace anything like evidence of these "soldiers" but at the same time scoff at any mention of the equally elusive and equally mythical black Confederates.
I'd say that there were at least two occasions that the latter you speak of came the closest to happening: 1. The Louisiana Native Guard which was made up of Louisiana free blacks but never used in battle and 2. Patrick Cleburne's emancipation proposal which was to use blacks (free and slave) as soldiers in the Confederate Army.
 
I'd say that there were at least two occasions that the latter you speak of came the closest to happening: 1. The Louisiana Native Guard which was made up of Louisiana free blacks but never used in battle and 2. Patrick Cleburne's emancipation proposal which was to use blacks (free and slave) as soldiers in the Confederate Army.
No, I've just found yet another very brief contemporary reference in a book of letters originally published around 1960 I intend to share soon.
 
Now I'm distracted, had not heard a female soldier was with the Irish Brigade at Gettysburg, thank you! Knew it is surmised possibly the Confederate woman killed in Pickett's Charge was from a Virginia regiment, and a soldier's letter home speaks of a female soldier in the hospital there- I don't think she is the same one as the Louisiana woman wounded in the foot.

Story I read had a pair of fraternal twins joining the Brigade. The sister was lightly wounded at Marye's Heights and was found out by a Sgt in the company. The Sgt was so impressed with the soldier he kept his mouth shut. They were both killed at Gettysburg. 20 years or so later the brother was at a Reunion at Gettysburg and pointed to the cemetery saying "My sister is buried there." Never found a name and had initially thought the story was a bit of fiction. Several years ago I got in a conversation with an Irish Brigade fanatic and he assured me he had also read of the incident and it dated to an 1880's reunion. He promised to pass me the names but I've never heard back from him.
 
Even more interesting is how eager some are to embrace anything like evidence of these "soldiers" but at the same time scoff at any mention of the equally elusive and equally mythical black Confederates.


Finding this post unworthy of your level of scholarship. No idea how high a bar you set on documentation but women who served certainly are documented. They were not Bigfoot sightings. . Lincoln took a hand in one case where a pension was received. .

And if I wished to create on thread about black men serving as soldiers for the Confederate army, I would do so. We seem to have an ample supply.
 
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