FEMALE CONFEDERATE NAVAL CAPTAINS

jdickey

Cadet
Joined
May 2, 2018
Recently, I read an article online about a female confederate naval captain. It was a very interesting story about a lady captain who had done battle with the Union Navy, and I think it was in New Orleans. However, I did not save the article, and of course, now I cannot find it again.

So I am reaching out to anyone who may have any background information about this encounter!!!
 
The subject of women serving in the armies during the conflict has come up frequently, as other threads show. I don't recall any cases mentioning a female warship's master. I'm looking forward to anything that turns up....
 
It turns out the Commodore Beverly Kennon was a gentleman that served for the USN, but was killed in an explosion while aboard the USS Princeton in 1844. Thanks for the tip, though!
 
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Correct; Junior was the one who 'Went South.'

If you happen to re-locate the article, I'd be interested in detecting the author's mistakes, since there have got to be some (unless it was intended to be entirely fictional to begin with). No female would be given a ship command by either navy, and it passes belief that a woman could "hide" in a command position the way some are supposed to have done in the ranks (and even there, many of those have been debunked).
 
Reference shows April 7, 1793 – February 28, 1844; I did edit the original thread to indicate time and place of his death.
 
National Parks Service does not list any female naval officers for the Confederacy.
 
Beverly Kennon, Jr served as an officer in the Virginia Cavalry under Robert E. Lee.
 
Becoming a ship's master was not a simple matter. It was a lengthy process, based largely on experience. One didn't just put on an officer's uniform and assume command. It is highly unlikely that a woman could masquerade as a man successfully for the years required to gain that experience.
If instead, a woman had openly gained the confidence of a shipowner through years of experience, she would have achieved a level of renown that ought to make finding her in the records a simple matter.
 
Still no results with my search. I reached out to the archivist with the HARPER'S WEEKLY, thinking that what I read was a fictional article. I may eventually stumble across it again!

Thanks for all the input.
 
Still no results with my search. I reached out to the archivist with the HARPER'S WEEKLY, thinking that what I read was a fictional article. I may eventually stumble across it again!

Thanks for all the input.


Don't give up, the ' what if's ' are fascinating. Have to say, era accounts of women in uniform are all over newspapers, more believable because the writers tend to be annoyed, how could a female do such a thing? Too funny, while worrying about how unwomanly it was, we read account after account where they were thrown in jail.

Harper's is an awesome source. Have you tried combing the issues yourself? Time consuming and fair warning, you'll get badly sidetracked ( too fascinating ) but it's crazy, what is there. Plus, early in the war , seem to have tried to cover North and South in a balanced way.

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000061498

I do agree it is unlikely but who knows? It was a crazy war, crazy stuff happened.
 
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