Trivia 11-20-19 Nameless Heroine

Status
Not open for further replies.

Trivia Master

The Keeper of Knowledge
Forum Host
Joined
Mar 21, 2012
Question: New York Tribune reporter Albert Richardson was part of a party of escaped Union prisoners attempting to make their way back to the North during January 1865. The party was led by scout Daniel Ellis, who enlisted a sixteen-year-old girl and expert horsewoman to help them across the Nolichucky River without running into Confederate patrols. The young lady rode across a long bridge, reported back that the coast was clear, and headed back home. When the reporter eventually reached safety, he wrote an article about the incident, but fearing that the girl might be subject to reprisals if her identity were known, he originally referred to her as the “nameless heroine.”

He later wrote a book about his experiences and finally revealed the nameless heroine’s identity. What was her name?

credit: @hoosier
 
She is to quote: “Nameless no more. The substantial closing of the war, while these pages are in press, renders it safe to give her name—Miss Melvina Stevens.
A little more trivia - Musical composer, Benjamin Russell Hanby, (1833 – 1867) wrote a song in her honor “The Nameless Heroine”, and while most of us may be unfamiliar with that particular song, most of us are probably most familiar with one of his other songs - “Up on the Housetop” - original title “Santa Claus” written in 1864 and the 2nd oldest secular Christmas song with "Jingle Bells" being the oldest.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/44865/44865-h/44865-h.htm#nameless_pilot
(footnote #19)
 
Miss Melvina Stevens of Tennessee
1574256776686.png
 
Melvina Stevens

Here is the link to the publication Albert Richardson wrote after his escape, titled "The Secret Service, the Field, the Dungeon and the Escape". A footnote reveals her name:

1574257650752.png


1574257399746.png

 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top