Mary Dennis - the tall, saucy lieutenant of Company B, 1st Minnesota Infantry. After her discovery in 1861, newspapers carried her brief entrance into history all over the country, like this one.
"Ludicrous incident." There really isn't anything "ludicrous" about women serving as soldiers during the Civil War. They did serve. But on to the purpose of this article.
When I encounter names in accounts of women soldiers, I attempt to conduct genealogical research to learn more about them. I want to know everything about them: who they were before the war and what happened to them afterwards. In some cases, such as that of Elizabeth Quinn/"Frances Hook," such research uncovers a previous unknown reason for enlisting. I learned through Quinn's family history that she had a crazy situation at home which is likely one reason why she joined the ranks. But it took a lot of work to find her.
There were similarities between Quinn and Dennis. Both came from the Midwest and neither could readily be found in the census. Recall that Quinn gave her name as "Frances Hook," which is how history more commonly remembers her and the name that I was searching for. So when I couldn't find Mary Dennis, I began to wonder if that, too, was an alias. Specifically, I pondered whether she could have really been Frances Clayton because of the similarities. Clayton was also tall with a connection to Minnesota. And the rough personality described in the newspaper article above matched Clayton's demeanor.
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| Frances Clayton |
Furthermore, at least one newspaper reported her first name as Mary instead of Frances.
Despite these similarities, there was one major difference between Elizabeth Quinn and Mary Dennis.
Elizabeth Quinn actually existed.
According to this newspaper article, Mary Dennis was the product of a mistake - a typo.
So in the end, the account of Mary Dennis was indeed ludicrous. C'est la vie
Until next formation.....rest.
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