Are These Women Soldiers?

I was browsing the Library of Congress website and came across these photos of unknown soldiers, which gave me pause.  One of the questions about women soldiers is how many served without ever being discovered.  Are these photos of some of those women?  What do you think?

Annie Wittenmyer's Encounter With a Woman Soldier

From Wikipedia

Born in Sandy Springs, Ohio in 1827,  Annie Wittenmyer became active in social reform and relief work after marrying and moving to Keokuk, Iowa in 1850.  During the Civil War, she traveled to hospitals to provide aid and improve the horrible conditions she found there.  It was during her journeys when she encountered the same woman soldier on two occasions, events she recorded in her memoirs.

The woman, a Union soldier, initially refused to tell Wittenmyer her name or where she was from for fear of the newspapers learning her identity and publishing the information.  But she did share her story with Annie.

Unlike many women soldiers, she did not follow a loved one off to war.  As a matter of fact, she claimed that she didn't know anybody in her regiment.  Her reason for enlisting: "I thought I'd like camp-life, and I did."  Wittenmyer described her as ".....stout and muscular, with heavy features, high cheek bones, and her black abundant hair ....cut very close.  She was perhaps twenty-six or twenty-eight years old, but when in her military rig looked like a beardless boy."

Charlotte Hope: Facts and Fiction

The story of Charlotte Hope as reported is heart breaking.  She first enters the historical record when she assisted the 1st Virginia Cavalry with reconnaissance about the area surrounding her residence.  While helping guide the troopers, she met and fell in love with Billy Wilds.  However, the budding romance came to a tragic end when the young lieutenant was killed during a raid.  The distraught Charlotte sought to avenge his death by sending 21 Yankees into eternity, one for each year of her beloved's life.  In order to accomplish this gory goal, Charlotte Hope assumed the alias, "Charlie Hopper," and joined the regiment. It is reported that the captain, Charles Irving, was aware of her true identity as well as her mission, and looked after her.  Despite his attempts to protect the young girl, however, Hope ultimately suffered the same fate as her love when she, too, was killed.

Women Soldiers Fought in the American Revolution, too.

Women's participation in combat can be traced as far back as ancient times.  Closer to our own history, you can find them fighting in every major battle of the Civil War, with the exception of Franklin.  But before the War Between the States, women soldiers joined in the struggle for liberty against Britain when they fought in the American Revolution.

Perhaps the most famous was Deborah Samson (or Sampson) who enlisted in the 4th Massachusetts as Robert Shurtliff.  During her adventures, she received a saber wound to the head and two balls to the thigh, one of which she removed herself; the other she left.  Upon her discovery during treatment for a fever, she was honorably discharged and even received a pension.

You can read more about her and other women soldiers of the Revolution by clicking here.

150th Anniversary of the Battle of Nashville

Today and tomorrow, December 15th and 16th, mark the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Nasvhille.  There was at least one woman soldier who participated: Jennie Hodgers, alias Albert Cashier, of the 95th Illinois Infantry.

Hodgers was an Irish immigrant who lived in male disguise before, during, and after the war.  With the 95th, she participated in over 40 battles and skirmishes yet somehow managed to escape unscathed and undetected, mustering out with her disguise intact.  Her true identity wasn't discovered until 1911 when she was accidentally backed over by a car, breaking her hip.  She died in 1915 due to complications of her injury.

Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel William Avery, the 95th Illinois was assigned to Colonel Leander Blanden's 2nd Brigade, General Jonathan B. Moore's  Third Division, General A.J. Smith's corps.

Video Showing an Image of Perhaps a Previously Undocumented Woman Soldier

What do you think?  Is this image in the Library of Congress that of a woman in Company C, 11th Virginia Infantry?

Click here for the image on the LOC site.

Mrs. Colonel Smith

The Battle of Franklin is special to me.  I had quite a few relatives who experienced the terror of that ordeal.  They were with Loring's division and ended up advancing across the yard of Carnton plantation and through the McGavock cemetery, which would eventually become the final resting place of 424 Mississippians, more than from any other state.

I tried miserably to imagine what my relatives faced that evening as I stood in the yard of Carnton, exactly 150 years after them.   Instead of a battle line, though, I stood in an incredibly slow-moving single file line comprised of people who came from all over in order to participate in events commemorating the battle of Franklin.  In this case, we were all waiting to get into the mansion for a candlelight tour, followed by a walk to a nearby field adjacent to the cemetery in order to observe over 9,000 luminaries, one for each casualty of the battle.

History Detectives Investigates a Photo of a Louisiana Soldier

In episode 7 of season 3 (2005), the History Detectives traveled to Shreveport, Louisiana to visit Tom Pressly who claimed that the Civil War soldier in a photo that he owned was a woman in disguise.  

Tom mentions that the photo appeared in a book called Even More Confederate Faces published in 1983 and that the caption claims that the soldier is an unidentified member of the 2nd Louisiana.

Ultimately, it was decided was that the photo is legitimate, but that this soldier was more than likely male due to measurements taken of the face and that the height was calculated using the rifle as a reference to be 6'.

I was not able to find a video of the episode, but you can read the transcript here.

Talks for the Poplarville Rotary Club and PRCC-Forrest County Branch

I gave my last two scheduled talks of the year this past week.  On Wednesday, I spoke at the Poplarville Rotary Club meeting.  It was challenging because I was told that I only had 15-20 minutes.  My presentation generally runs over an hour, so yikes!  I ended up just giving a brief version of the FAQ's page I have posted here on my blog and showing a couple of visual aids in lieu of my power point presentation.

William Faulkner's Connection With Women Soldiers

A collection of Faulkner's short stories were originally published as a whole in 1938 as The Unvanquished.  Mississippi serves as the setting for the stories, which revolve around the Sartoris family during the war and Reconstruction.  One of the characters is Drusilla who goes off to fight with her uncle in order to avenge the deaths of her fiancee and father.


The book is available for purchase as a hard copy, Nook, or Kindle versions.

(Warning:  "insensitive" language) 

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