Tales of Fighting Women

In a recent article Dale Cox reached back in history, as he does so well, and cited the possibility that during the Civil War Battle of Marianna some local housewives took up arms against the Union invaders. This started my mental wheels turning, and I went back to some research done by my wife Theresa that clutters my office. Please note that my research, though giving the appearance of "clutter" is well ordered and properly piled on certain assigned floor spaces.
Theresa was born in Palatka, and that is where her Southern heritage began. Her father was born in the state of Washington, the son of immigrants from Sweden. Her mother’s family was from Kentucky, that "Dark and Bloody Ground" of feuds and fighting and good sipping bourbon. Because Kentucky was split during the War, it is difficult to trace ancestors from there to either side. Lord knows, though, she tried valiantly to find at least one Confederate in her lineage. I particularly recall one evening when she proudly announced that one of her grandmother’s ancestors was "most certainly a Rebel". She retired to the computer and our books. Then suddenly through the night came the cry: "DAMN, HE WAS A BLUECOAT!"
To compensate for this, she handled my ancestral research quite well, finding many men that fought in units from South Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi. One of them, my great uncle Samuel Calhoun White, listed on his application for a pension that he had served in "Gordon’s Brigade, Jackson’s Corps, Lee’s Army". Theresa’s comments was that "it didn’t get any better than that", and she meant it. John B. Gordon, "Stonewall" Jackson and Robert E. Lee far surpassed any other military leaders ever, at least in our minds.
Gradually, she became interested in women that fought as men in the "War", as we both referred to the conflict. Many readers will recall Mary Chestnut’s Diary and similar writings, but these were by women who watched the conflict, usually from their homes as the invading army neared, or as they did their duty as nurses.
But Theresa found story after story of wives and girlfriends, mostly Southern, who would disguise themselves as men and enlist alongside their menfolk. In an army that accepted practically anyone who could walk or ride a horse, there was little need to determine if the rather petite person who lined up with the other recruits was truly a man. This laxity is not so strange if you consider young boys, seeking the glory of the battle, would write the number "16" on a piece of paper, put it in their shoes so that they could truthfully reply to the sergeant’s query "How old are you?" with a quick "I’m over 16". So quite a few females marched away with their loved ones into some of the fiercest fighting ever known on this continent.
Usually this would last until the woman found out that she was not suited for the rough camp life or for the eye-to-eye conflict inherent in the style of warfare that was the mode in those days. Some, however, would be discovered by the physician who would treat a battle wound, while others would reveal themselves when their men were wounded or killed, and would, of course, be released to return home.
One of the Union’s female soldiers was Frances Hook, who fought as Frank Martin. She and her brother, orphans both, enlisted in the 65th Illinois Home Guard, and then moved over to the 90th Illinois. One description said:\"the medium- height maid with hazel eyes, dark hair and rounded features deceived everyone." She was wounded and captured during the Battle of Chattanooga and held captive in an Atlanta prison. Her sex was revealed when her wound, in the leg, was revealed. It is reported that Jefferson Davis admired her pluck and offered her a lieutenant’s commission if she would join the Confederacy. She respectfully declined, and was ultimately sent home in feminine attire. She immediately tried to reenlist.
On July 21, 1861, the first large scale battle between the two armies was fought at Bull Run (Manassas) Virginia, and on the Confederate side, eager for battle, was a young "independent" lieutenant, Harry T. Buford. The lieutenant was not formally attached to a specific unit, but served as a courier for General Barnard Bee, who was famous for coining the name "Stonewall" for General Thomas J. Jackson. By the end of the day the lieutenant felt that "no man on the field fought with more energy or determination than the woman who figured as Lieutenant Harry T. Buford". The lieutenant was a woman, whose name was in reality Lorera Janeta Velazquez, a resident of New Orleans, but a Cuban by birth. She moved from one unit to another, fighting at Ball’s Bluff, Manassas, and Pittsburgh Landing. Soon she sought thrills by serving as a spy, but then returned to her disguise and fought through some more battles. After the war she married, had a child and became estranged from her husband. She traveled in Central and South America and eventually wrote her memoirs.
There is one story told that Laura J. Williams from Arkansas dressed as a lieutenant and assumed the name of Henry Benford, and was able to raise and command a company of Texans early in the war She fought at Shiloh and elsewhere in the Western area.
One of the saddest stories of a female in combat occurred at Gettysburg in July of 1863. A written report first described a young soldier, with "the pale face of a boy", sleeping on the ground, being guarded by an older soldier, assumed to be the young one’s father. Later in the day the famous charge by Pickett’s Virginians began, and the young soldier, following close behind the standard bearer, picked up the flag when the man carrying it fell. In a minute the young one died, also, and, as one written account tells it "husband and wife lay dead on the blood soaked ground." The fallen heroes were never identified, but were buried together in Pennsylvania soil.
My favorite female soldier of all was Private Bill Thompson, born as Lucy Matilda Thompson on November 21, 1812. When her husband left Douglas, Georgia, to fight in the War for Southern Independence, she dressed as a man, enlisted as Bill Thompson, and stayed with him in Company B of the Bladen Light Infantry until he was killed near Bennettsville. She continued serving the Confederate Army until she herself was struck in the head by a piece of shell in the Siege of Richmond. She returned to Georgia. Her first child was born on January 21, 1864. After the War she married a northern veteran and had six more children, born respectively in 1868 (twins), 1873, 1876, 1879 and 1881, when she was almost 69. Her last picture shows her at the age of 108, seated in a rocking chair and looking tough as a piece of fat pine log. Her motto was "Hold your head up and die hard".
It is truly difficult to imagine any better motto for all of these courageous women.