Battle of Allatoona Pass - 155 Years Later

A woman soldier lost her life in a horrifying manner 155 years ago during a nasty little fight just north of Atlanta. She and a few other of her sister soldiers fell in the Battle of Allatoona Pass, which can be viewed as a footnote to the Atlanta Campaign or an introduction to the ill-fated Franklin-Nashville venture.

Atlanta fell to the Federals a month prior, on September 1st.  However, John Bell Hood continued to lurk in the area and decided to attack the Federal supply base at Allatoona, located along Western and Atlantic railroad.  William T. Sherman ordered Brigadier General John Corse stationed in Rome to defend the pass and the stores at Allatoona.  There, on October 5th, 1864, he clashed with Confederate troops commanded by New Jersey native Major General Samuel French.

Samuel French's map of Allatoona
From Two Wars:  The Autobiography of Samuel G. French (1901)

Battle of Port Gibson

The Battle of Port Gibson was a delaying action undertaken by Confederates to show General Ulysses S. Grant's advance to Vicksburg.   Outnumbered approximately three to one, General John S. Bowen commanded Confederate forces consisting of a few brigades that faced two Federal corps under John McClernand and James McPherson.

battlefields.org

Video: Follow in the Footsteps of a Female Participant in Thayer's Assault at Vicksburg

Today is the 156th anniversary of the Federals' second assault at Vicksburg and the last before Grant laid siege to the river city. During this assault , Brigadier General John M. Thayer attacked a Confederate fort across challenging terrain. Check out the video Mark and I made in which we navigate Thayer's approach. Interestingly, a woman soldier serving in the 3rd Missouri Infantry (US) was among the Federal element of Woods' brigade providing support.

We made this video in October 2018 prior to the release of my book, Behind the Rifle. But now that it's out, you can read all about "Charles Junghaus." She is buried in Chattanooga National Cemetery.

Until next formation....rest.

Woman Soldier Who Died at Overton Hospital in Memphis

Women soldiers suffered the same fate as their male counterparts, which included succumbing to disease as is the case of an unknown woman from Missouri serving in a Federal unit.

In 1863, the Memphis Argus carried the following article:

 "DEATH OF A CAVALRY SOLDIER WHO PROVES TO BE A WOMAN.  "A short time since a soldier, belonging to a Missouri cavalry regiment, was entered at the Overton Hospital for treatment for fever contracted in camp. Two or three days ago the soldier died, but not before it had been revealed that the supposed young man was a woman. It seems that she entered the army early in the war, and served her time faithfully as a soldier, until mustered out. During all this time she was enabled to retain the secret of her sex. A short time after leaving the service she re-entered it again as a veteran, and had been with the regiment to which she was attached a month or two when sent to the hospital in this city. Her real name, we learn, could not be ascertained, but her experience, as related by herself, was the old story over again. She had followed her lover into the army, and to be near him had willingly braved the dangers of the battle-fleld and borne the hardships and exposures of campaign life. Her years could not have been more than twenty ; though who can estimate those in bitter experience which had been her lot? Poor girl !"

(The United States Service Magazine, vol. III, 1865,  p. 271)

The Real Ellen Levasay

Ellen Levasay is a woman soldier mentioned as having served in a Confederate Missouri unit and captured at Vicksburg.