Hide Article Text (OCR)
ew York Tim#*.^tvdeJl/0T,^ravery' and head“* notary expedition*. 8he was 1 whenehe enlisted. Despite her wound#, * he managed to escape detection un-th*h5!lSUil 1,ln*M and detention in the hospital revealed her eecret, andfh?# wrfre aatoniahed to learnthat ..Private Robert Shurtleff* wasMias Deborah Sampson of Uxbridfce. General Knox gave her an honorable discharge; the Massachusetts legis-lature voted her an honorarium. Con-grass put her on the pension roll, and after her death voted a sum of money to her hail*, declaring that “the whole history of the American Revolution records no case like this, and furnished no other similar exampleof female heroism, fidelity, and courage.’*The War or Secession, however, wag full of auch cases, one of the best known being that of Frances Hook of Illinois, who at the age of 22 enlisted under the name of Frank Miller. Her brother enlisted with her, keeping her secret, and wafc killed by her side at Shiloh. Frances was taken prisoner in the Chattanooga campaign, when the Confederates discovered her sex. They exchanged her for a man. There were many others, Fanny Wilson of New Jersey, MaryOwens of Pennsylvania (who wentwtth her husband, saw him killed, was wounded In the same fight, and took part in three battles), and Major Belle Reynolds of Illinois, who gother commission for bravery, but she made no effort to conceal her sex. Most famous of all was Major Pauline Cushman, the union gcout and spy. On the confederate side the best known was Captain Belle Boyd, who got her commission at the hands of Stonewall Jackson after an exploitwhich saved h*s army from destruction. Next in celebrity on the southern side wag Mme. U J. De Velasquez, who disguised herself as a man, entered the army under the name of Harry Buford, and became a lieutenant through her bravery in action. After It was learned that she was awoman the confederate governmentemployed her In secret service work.Perhaps the advertisement meant ‘the first American woman soldier in this war.’* Even then it is open to doubt. One imitator of Deborah Samson and Frances Hook got nearly to France before she was discovered, and there may be others. How many enlisted in the war ofSecession will never be known, for usually the fact was never revealed until the woman happened to be wounded. In the New York Times of July 13, 1863, among the local items is the account of the arrest of a woman named Mary Scizgle for wearing a soldier’s uniform. It turned out that she bad a right to wear it, having jst returned from the battle of Gettysburg, In which she bad taken part with the 41M New York volunteers. In the New York Times of May 22, 1863, is a letter from a soldier telling of the surprise of his comrades of the 1st Kansas when they found that a sergeant, who had Just died, and “by the side of whom they had marched and fought for almost two years,” was a woman. She had fought, he said, In a dozen battles and skirmishes. She was as brave as a lion in battle, and never flinched
Newspaper Details
Lincoln Sunday Star
Lincoln, Nebraska, US
Sun, May 26, 1918
Page 20
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
PA, USA 09 Sep 2018
Other Publications Near Lincoln, Nebraska
Lincoln Evening Journal
Lincoln Daily Star
Lincoln Daily News
Lincoln Star
Lincoln Nebraska State Journal
