Before Mary Surratt.....

Mary Surratt; from Surratt House Museum

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the hanging of the Lincoln conspirators.  Among the condemned sent into eternity on July 7th, 1865, was Mary Surratt, the first woman executed by the Federal government.  But a little over a year-and-a-half prior, another woman nearly went down into history for that distinction.

Sometime in either October or November, 1863, Jane Ferguson enlisted in the 13th Kentucky Cavalry as John F. Tindsley, the surname being her maiden name.  I have also seen the alias spelled Lindley and Findsley.  Regardless, I have not been able to find service records for her.  Perhaps that is because the day after she "jined the cavalry," she was arrested for alleged espionage.  This was not her first military stint, however.  Prior to enlisting in this Federal unit, Jane and her husband were serving the Confederacy in Captain Oliver P. Hamilton's cavalry company, which was organized in Jackson County, Tennessee "...for the local defense of the border counties lying up the line of Tennessee where the counties and mountains strike the Kentucky line..." (Source:  http://www.tngenweb.org/civilwar/csacav/csahamil.html).  From my research, it does not appear that she was formally enlisted in this company because I have not been able to find service records for her.  Furthermore,  she claimed at trial on November 23rd, 1863, that she stayed "...part of the time in camp, and part of the time at a boarding house."