Charlotte Hope: Facts and Fiction

The story of Charlotte Hope as reported is heart breaking.  She first enters the historical record when she assisted the 1st Virginia Cavalry with reconnaissance about the area surrounding her residence.  While helping guide the troopers, she met and fell in love with Billy Wilds.  However, the budding romance came to a tragic end when the young lieutenant was killed during a raid.  The distraught Charlotte sought to avenge his death by sending 21 Yankees into eternity, one for each year of her beloved's life.  In order to accomplish this gory goal, Charlotte Hope assumed the alias, "Charlie Hopper," and joined the regiment. It is reported that the captain, Charles Irving, was aware of her true identity as well as her mission, and looked after her.  Despite his attempts to protect the young girl, however, Hope ultimately suffered the same fate as her love when she, too, was killed.

Women Soldiers Fought in the American Revolution, too.

Women's participation in combat can be traced as far back as ancient times.  Closer to our own history, you can find them fighting in every major battle of the Civil War, with the exception of Franklin.  But before the War Between the States, women soldiers joined in the struggle for liberty against Britain when they fought in the American Revolution.

Perhaps the most famous was Deborah Samson (or Sampson) who enlisted in the 4th Massachusetts as Robert Shurtliff.  During her adventures, she received a saber wound to the head and two balls to the thigh, one of which she removed herself; the other she left.  Upon her discovery during treatment for a fever, she was honorably discharged and even received a pension.

You can read more about her and other women soldiers of the Revolution by clicking here.

150th Anniversary of the Battle of Nashville

Today and tomorrow, December 15th and 16th, mark the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Nasvhille.  There was at least one woman soldier who participated: Jennie Hodgers, alias Albert Cashier, of the 95th Illinois Infantry.

Hodgers was an Irish immigrant who lived in male disguise before, during, and after the war.  With the 95th, she participated in over 40 battles and skirmishes yet somehow managed to escape unscathed and undetected, mustering out with her disguise intact.  Her true identity wasn't discovered until 1911 when she was accidentally backed over by a car, breaking her hip.  She died in 1915 due to complications of her injury.

Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel William Avery, the 95th Illinois was assigned to Colonel Leander Blanden's 2nd Brigade, General Jonathan B. Moore's  Third Division, General A.J. Smith's corps.

Video Showing an Image of Perhaps a Previously Undocumented Woman Soldier

What do you think?  Is this image in the Library of Congress that of a woman in Company C, 11th Virginia Infantry?

Click here for the image on the LOC site.

Mrs. Colonel Smith

The Battle of Franklin is special to me.  I had quite a few relatives who experienced the terror of that ordeal.  They were with Loring's division and ended up advancing across the yard of Carnton plantation and through the McGavock cemetery, which would eventually become the final resting place of 424 Mississippians, more than from any other state.

I tried miserably to imagine what my relatives faced that evening as I stood in the yard of Carnton, exactly 150 years after them.   Instead of a battle line, though, I stood in an incredibly slow-moving single file line comprised of people who came from all over in order to participate in events commemorating the battle of Franklin.  In this case, we were all waiting to get into the mansion for a candlelight tour, followed by a walk to a nearby field adjacent to the cemetery in order to observe over 9,000 luminaries, one for each casualty of the battle.