Those Panting Women

Editors sometimes displayed a sense of humor when reporting on women soldiers.  The following blurb appeared in newspapers throughout the country and across the pond in England as well.

Vermont Transcript, June 17th, 1864

Of course, the writer is playing on "pants," which women were not allowed to wear.  Doing so was both socially unacceptable and illegal.  When he refers to them "having a pair of pants," women had to acquire a pair somehow since they just didn't own the article of clothing.  Most of them more than likely secretly commandeered trousers from a male relative or even purchased them when they decided to go as a soldier.  And because Victorian women didn't typically wear pants, nobody really knew what they looked like wearing them.  That made a woman soldier more secure from detection.

Until next formation......rest.

"Miriam Rivers" - A Civil War Novel (1865)

Published by Barclay & Co. from Philadelphia, this 1865 novel, Miriam Rivers, The Lady Soldier or General Grant's Spy, is set in an unnamed Midwestern town.  From the beginning, readers will note contradictions in reality and that things aren't what they seem.  For instance, the furniture of Miriam's cottage appears costly but isn't.  Miriam's sister, Edith, is wearing a plain dress when the author introduces the reader to the family.  Yet, there is nothing plain about her beauty.  Miriam is slightly above medium height, but doesn't appear to be that tall.  She isn't stout but yet her appearance exudes "strength and endurance."  The author is using these contradictions to foreshadow things to come with Miriam.  And while Rivers defies societal norms, her actions show that she is nevertheless able to remain within the sphere of Victorian womanhood.