Video: Women Soldiers Brought to Life

 I've been working on this project for a while now and finally got to a point where I could wrap it up and share it.  I took some images of women soldiers, colorized and animated them using AI.  If you have worked with AI, you know it can be fickle.  I can't tell you how many times I had to redo something because it just didn't turn out the way I wanted despite composing very specific prompts.  And I will say that there are some details that still aren't what I wanted.  I'm sure down the road I will still tweak this video, or make a complete new one.  But, until then, here it is:  

 

 

The Jackson, Mississippi Arsenal Explosion

Recently, I came across Raina's Facebook page and found her information interesting.  She is writing a book on women working in arsenals, some of whom perished in explosions at various sites.  The working title is In the Midst of Youth and Beauty:  Women in Civil War Arsenals.  You can visit her Facebook page by clicking (HERE) and blog (HERE).  In reading some of her material, I learned that there was an explosion at the arsenal in Jackson, Mississippi which I wasn't aware of.  Because I also enjoy learning about and sharing my own state's history, I asked her to write an article about this event, which she graciously did.  It appears below.   Thanks, Raina!  Following her article, I include information about women soldiers who worked in arsenals....or attempted to.

Aiming to Do Her Part-Mercy Street's Woman Soldier

A new character made an appearance on the latest episode of Mercy Street, a soldier named Private Ames who came in with a sick comrade.  The youngster seemed extra protective and concerned.  As events began to unfold, we learned that Private Ames was a woman soldier disguised as a male.  What gave her away?  The French illustrator said she knew because, as she put it, her adeptness at anatomical drawings allowed her to pick up on the woman soldier's bodily nuances.  As for everybody else.....well, she kind of betrayed herself  with the extreme hand holding and the kissing, which would have NEVER happened in public!!  The real women soldiers were discovered after becoming a casualty, or falling ill, or putting their stockings on in a feminine way, wringing out a dishrag in a feminine manner, sneezing like a girl, wearing clothes that were too big, instinctively trying to catch apples with nonexistent aprons, "giving a woman's squeal," trying to don trousers over the head.  But they were never detected while smooching on a man.  While many women soldiers enlisted to be with a husband or sweetheart, they kept their emotions in check because they were terrified of being discovered, and that was one sure fire way of being outed. Sarah Emma Edmonds, alias "Franklin Thompson" of the 2nd Michigan Infantry, offered perhaps the best illustration of this fear when she wrote that she would rather have been shot dead than to have been discovered and sent away from her regiment like a criminal (Edmondson file, RG 15, National Archives).

Review of "Inventing Loreta Velazquez" by William C. Davis

Published by Southern Illinois University Press in October 2016, William C. "Jack" Davis' book, Inventing Loreta Velazquez:  Confederate Soldier Impersonator, Media Celebrity, & Con Artist, discusses the controversial woman who claimed service in the Confederate army.

The Images of Loreta Janeta Velazquez

Cuban-born Loreta Janeta Valezquez is only one of two women soldiers known to have published her memoirs.  Sarah Emma Edmonds was the other.  The Woman in Battle, Velazquez's narrative, appeared originally  in 1876 and details daring exploits of the lady lieutenant and double agent.   Some of her adventures were embellished.  Jubal Early condemned her as a liar.  James Longstreet, however, seemed to corroborate some of story at least in a letter he wrote in 1888 to a Miss Park in Massachusetts where he says that he met Valezquez in New Orleans after the war.  Even though he "...had not known of her in the ranks..." he was able to "...attest of points she gave for identification."  (Richard Hall, Women on the Civil War Battlefront, p. 311)  Furthermore, historians have been able to confirm at least part of her exploits through newspaper articles and documents in the national archives.  Edit to add:  William C. "Jack" Davis wrote a book about her called Inventing Loreta Velazquez (2016) in which he concluded that she was a hoaxer.  I found flaws in his research, and you can read my critical review of his book by clicking [HERE].