Woman Soldier Who Died at Overton Hospital in Memphis

Women soldiers suffered the same fate as their male counterparts, which included succumbing to disease as is the case of an unknown woman from Missouri serving in a Federal unit.

In 1863, the Memphis Argus carried the following article:

 "DEATH OF A CAVALRY SOLDIER WHO PROVES TO BE A WOMAN.  "A short time since a soldier, belonging to a Missouri cavalry regiment, was entered at the Overton Hospital for treatment for fever contracted in camp. Two or three days ago the soldier died, but not before it had been revealed that the supposed young man was a woman. It seems that she entered the army early in the war, and served her time faithfully as a soldier, until mustered out. During all this time she was enabled to retain the secret of her sex. A short time after leaving the service she re-entered it again as a veteran, and had been with the regiment to which she was attached a month or two when sent to the hospital in this city. Her real name, we learn, could not be ascertained, but her experience, as related by herself, was the old story over again. She had followed her lover into the army, and to be near him had willingly braved the dangers of the battle-fleld and borne the hardships and exposures of campaign life. Her years could not have been more than twenty ; though who can estimate those in bitter experience which had been her lot? Poor girl !"

(The United States Service Magazine, vol. III, 1865,  p. 271)



I looked through the burial records of Memphis National Cemetery but did not see any reference to the location of her grave there.  So she's either buried somewhere else.  Or she is buried there as one of the many unknowns with no notation made in the ledger about her true gender.  Now, the article was reprinted in the United States Service Magazine in 1865 and  only said that it originally appeared in the Memphis Argus in 1863.  Unfortunately, I have not been able to track down the newspaper and, therefore, cannot confirm the 1863 date.  Incidentally, there was another cavalry woman who died at Overton Hospital in 1864, but she was with an Illinois regiment.  And she is indeed buried in Memphis National Cemetery.

(Click on the pictures to enlarge them.)

post-war photo
www.historic-memphis.com

Overton was scheduled to open as a hotel when the war broke out.  However, those plans changed when the space was needed to care for the sick and wounded soldiers.  Both sides used it as a hospital.  In 1866, Overton reverted back to its original purpose as a hotel.  Since then, it has also served as a courthouse, which was demolished in 1925.  The Memphis Ellis Auditorium was built on the location.

www.historic-memphis.com

The top floor had been removed when this image was taken in 1910.

Photo by Mark Hidlebaugh

A convention center is currently located there.  It is at the intersection of Main Street and Poplar Avenue in Memphis.

I  took the 1910 photo and attempted to blend it with the photo of the current location: