Behind the Rifle: Women Soldiers in Civil War Mississippi

BEHIND

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BEHIND

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Women Soldiers in Civil War Mississippi

SHELBY HARRIEL

University Press of Mississippi • Jackson

The University Press of Mississippi is the scholarly publishing agency of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning: Alcorn State University, Delta State University, Jackson State University, Mississippi State University, Mississippi University for Women, Mississippi Valley State University, University of Mississippi, and University of Southern Mississippi.

www.upress.state.ms.us

Designed by Peter D. Halverson

The University Press of Mississippi is a member of the

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Copyright © 2019 by University Press of Mississippi

All rights reserved

Manufactured in the United States

First printing 2019

∞

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Harriel, Shelby, 1974– author.

Title: Behind the rifle : women soldiers in Civil War Mississippi / Shelby Harriel.

Description: Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index. |

Identifiers: LCCN 2018041165 (print) | LCCN 2018044142 (ebook) | ISBN 9781496822024 (epub single) | ISBN 9781496822031 (epub institutional) | ISBN 9781496822048 (pdf single) | ISBN 9781496822055 (pdf institutional) | ISBN 9781496822017 (cloth : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Women soldiers—United States—History—19th century. | United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Participation, Female. | Women—United States—History—19th century. | United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Women.

Classification: LCC E628 (ebook) | LCC E628 .H376 2018 (print) | DDC 973.7/408209762—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018041165

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available

For my loving parents, Shelton and Cindy Harriel, who have always encouraged me and facilitated my interest in learning from a very young age. To my patient and devoted fiancé, Mark Hidlebaugh, whose love, support, and knowledge in all things military are invaluable. To Mark’s parents, John and Dixie Hidlebaugh, who raised him to be the true gentleman he is. And, to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to whom I give all the honor and the glory.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

It is a challenging task trying to find individuals who do not want to be found, whether they are in our current time or existed in the past. Such is the case for researching women soldiers. Their defiance of not only the law but societal standards of the time by wearing male clothing and enlisting in the military typically earned them a trip to jail, as well as a fine and a tarnished reputation for themselves and their families. Unsurprisingly, some of these women upon discovery bluntly refused to provide information that they knew would find its way into newspapers nationwide. Either that or they supplied not only false male aliases but incorrect feminine ones as well.

Female combatants were not the only ones who could find themselves in trouble when they defied societal norms and an unwritten military law barring them from serving. Enlisted men and officers alike could be—and were—court martialed whenever women were discovered in their units, whether they were aware of them or not. Such was the fate of Lieutenant Amandus Schnabel, who was found guilty of creating a false muster roll and defrauding the government of an able-bodied soldier when Caroline Newcom was discovered in Colonel William Gilpin’s Missouri Infantry Volunteers during the Mexican War. Likewise for Private H. C. Steele of the 3rd Illinois Cavalry, Private William Scott of the 13th Indiana Cavalry, Captain Jerome Taft of the 59th New York Infantry, and Captain William Boyd of the 1st New York Cavalry, who all faced charges for conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline when women were discovered in their units. And so when women decided to slip quietly into the ranks, it proved to be a risky venture for all, men and women alike. As there certainly was a motive present, it would not be surprising to learn that officials may have expunged service records. And there are accounts that point towards this possibly being the case. For example, Mary Scaberry’s medical record listing her service in the 52nd Ohio Infantry as Private Charles Freeman survives, yet she does not have service records. Nor does she appear on the unit’s roster. Likewise for Frances Hook, whose medical records show that she served in the 90th Illinois Infantry. But as with Scaberry, no service records exist for Private Frank Miller.

So there appears to have been a concerted effort from many involved to have eradicated the record of women’s service as soldiers during the Civil War. Governmental officials after the war even denied that records ever existed at all. Of course, this is untrue as evidenced by the medical documents mentioned above found in the National Archives. How, then, does a researcher navigate his or her way through this forgotten and hidden history? Unfortunately, one cannot turn exclusively to the women themselves since only five are thus far known to have written letters. Only two published memoirs, and they have proven to be at least somewhat fictionalized and romanticized in some instances. With so few sources available, a researcher must therefore look to accounts recorded by others, specifically military or governmental officials, newspaper reporters, or male soldiers who wrote about them in either letters or diaries. This approach is no different from what researchers must do to fill in the blanks when documenting the service of their own male relatives who left no first-hand accounts of their experiences because of illiteracy or the loss of their journals and letters. It is just a part of the methodology researchers utilize in order to find the ghosts of the past, even those such as women soldiers of the Civil War who wished to remain nameless in the shadows.

I have been extremely blessed by individuals who have helped me chase phantom identities over the last ten years. Among these are friends who generously passed along accounts from soldiers’ diaries or letters that they found while conducting their own unrelated research. There have also been complete strangers who graciously donated their time and energy in providing me with copies of various documents housed in libraries, archives, and historical societies. Without the assistance of these people, this book would not have been possible, and I am grateful for them more than they can ever know.

First, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my wonderful colleagues at Pearl River Community College for their unwavering support. Cynthia Wetzel (retired) and the PRCC library staff worked tirelessly to provide me with materials I requested. In no particular order, I would also like to thank DeAnne Blanton at the National Archives along with Lauren Cook Wike; Kate Scott, Indiana Historical Society; Michael Vetman, Indiana State Archives; Carol Mc Gee, Bureau County Genealogical Society; Patrick Kerwin, Library of Congress; Carolyn Ravenscroft, Duxbury Rural & Historical Society; Marvin Steinback, ranger at Port Hudson State Historic Site; Anna Selfridge, Allen County (Ohio) Museum and Historical Society; Elizabeth Joyner, Vicksburg National Military Park (retired); Jeff Giambrone, Joe Wise, Mike Allard, and Jim Woodrick, Mississippi Department of Archives and History; Tom Parson, ranger at the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center; Nan Card, Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center; Karalea Clough, Nevada Historical Society; Greg Wade; Richard Holloway; Dr. J. Ransom Clark; Pat and Jim Swan; Mancil Milligan Jr.; Shane Christen; Aaron Rowland; Phil Hinderberger; Elmer Divens; Tom Travis; Sean Ezra Cowger; Wendy Ramsburg; Audrey Scanlan-Teller; Tracey McIntyre, Janine Delcamp; Bob Welch; Sammy Lievsay; Anita Henderson; Melinda Cordell; Dwayne Bremer; Mark Flotow; Lucas Bernard; Kathy Kroeger; and Kevin Frye. There are others who allowed me to use photographs or documents in their private collections. Their names appear in the bibliography. And then there are individuals whose contributions did not appear in this volume but will in the next one.

And, of course, this book would not have been possible without the vision, patience, and guidance from Katie Keene, Mary Heath, Robert Norrell, and the wonderful staff of the University Press of Mississippi.

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Battles involving women in Civil War Mississippi. Created by Hal Jespersen.

Vicksburg Campaign battles involving women. Created by Hal Jespersen.

INTRODUCTION

War upsets a good many customs and traditions and proves among other things that the strictly human element rather than the feminine comes first in women in emergencies just as it predominates in men.

Women as Soldiers, Indianapolis Star, August 29, 1917

During the Civil War, both armies were acutely aware of the strategic importance of Mississippi. The Father of Waters, the Gulf of Mexico, and the system of railroads in the interior provided vital supply routes and military access. The state’s Civil War history is filled with innovative and daring deeds undertaken in an effort to control these resources, from Nathan Bedford Forrest’s aggressive use of cavalry, to Ulysses S. Grant’s attempt to reroute the Mississippi River, to common soldiers’ display of uncommon valor while behind the rifle. All of these brave men helped shape the state’s history. However, Mississippi’s chronicle of military involvement in the Civil War is not one of men alone. Surprisingly, there were a number of women disguised as men who joined them on firing lines across the state.

The cannons had barely fallen silent across the war-torn country when writers began recounting the stories of female fighters who were determined to share the burden in the struggle for their respective country’s cause. Readers of the time could learn of the heroic feats of these women by perusing such publications as the United States Service Magazine, Volume 3 (1865), Frank Moore’s Women of the War (1866), Richard Miller Devans’s The Pictorial Book of Anecdotes and Incidents of the War of the Rebellion (1866), and History of Woman Suffrage, Volume 2 (1887) by the trio of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Matilda Gage. Most of these earlier works were summaries of wartime newspaper articles with some merely containing complete reprints of them. Yet, these pieces nevertheless demonstrated the widespread reach of the stories of women soldiers while providing a glimpse of the Victorian authors’ perception of them, which often proved to be favorable despite the social impropriety involved in their decision to unsex themselves. As a matter of fact, Henry Coppée, editor of the United States Service Magazine, defended women soldiers and even cautioned his readers against judging them for enlisting. He declared, Those who generalize on the impropriety and unladylikeness of such conduct … know very little of the vast variety of the phases which humanity assumes, or of the strange and wonderful moulds into which it is forced by Nature and circumstances.¹

As time marched on into the twentieth century and more wartime historians began to fade away, so too did public support and interest in women soldiers. According to authors Blanton and Cook, this decline was because of cultural backlash stemming from the broadening of women’s economic and legal status. As a result of changing social views, the public no longer revered the sacrifices of female soldiers and even began to renounce them. Inevitably, historians started to portray women who defied societal standards as sexually and mentally abnormal. For example, readers can find such disparaging depictions of Civil War female combatants in Mary Elizabeth Massey’s Bonnet Brigades: American Women and the Civil War (1966), republished as Women in the Civil War in 1994, and Bell Irvin Wiley’s The Life of Johnny Reb and Billy Yank (1952), the former declaring that Victorian society viewed them as mentally unbalanced or immoral while the latter indirectly referred to them as freaks and distinct types.² Neither offered definitive evidence to support their claims.

As the end of the twentieth century neared and women’s military roles began to expand, historians started to take a fresh new scholarly approach to studying women soldiers and presented them in a more realistic light as opposed to fanciful, romantic heroines or lustful harlots. Among those making contributions to the body of research included Wendy King in Clad in Uniform: Women Soldiers of the Civil War (1992), Richard Hall in Patriots in Disguise: Women Warriors of the Civil War (1993), Lauren Burgess in An Uncommon Soldier: The Civil War Letters of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, Alias Private Lyons Wakeman, 153rd Regiment, New York (1993), Linda Grant DePauw in Battle Cries and Lullabies: Women in War from Prehistory to the Present (1998), and Elizabeth Leonard in All the Daring the Soldier: Women of the Civil War Armies (1999). Then in 2002, DeAnne Blanton and Lauren Cook published their exhaustive research in They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the Civil War. The following year, Bonnie Tsui released She Went to the Field: Women Soldiers of the Civil War and Larry G. Eggleston Women in the Civil War: Extraordinary Stories of Soldiers, Spies, Nurses, Doctors, Crusaders, and Others. Expanding on his own research and that of others, Richard Hall returned in 2006 with Women on the Civil War Battlefront. Subsequently, Anita Silvey and Melinda Cordell published works geared towards young adults in I’ll Pass for Your Comrade: Women Soldiers in the Civil War (2008) and Courageous Women: Soldiers, Spies, Medics, and More (2016) respectively. While all of these publications contribute to the history of women soldiers in the Civil War, albeit minor in some cases, Blanton and Cook’s They Fought Like Demons, has endured as the seminal work on the topic. Therefore, the body of research has remained fairly stagnant since 2002. Furthermore, with the exception of Blanton and Cook, King, and Silvey, none of the aforementioned authors focus exclusively on women soldiers, including nurses and spies in their works as well.

As for Mississippi history, such notable researchers as Edwin C. Bearss, Michael B. Ballard, Terrence J. Winschel, Timothy B. Smith, Thomas E. Parson, and Jim Woodrick have made significant contributions in documenting the state’s role in the Civil War. While some highlight the experiences of civilian women, only Woodrick references the participation of women soldiers in Mississippi battles, specifically the siege of Jackson. This is not surprising considering the volume of material researchers must navigate. Furthermore, the topic of female soldiers is still relatively untapped and in need of serious study, with their stories unexposed to those scholars who do not specifically go in search of them. So it is understandable that authors would overlook an obscure part of Mississippi Civil War history.

This book helps fill in the gaps by providing a reader with a more complete understanding regarding the makeup of the soldiery on firing lines across the state. Furthermore, the research herein enhances the body of knowledge of women soldiers in general by providing new details of formerly recorded female fighters, debunking some cases, and introducing previously undocumented ones.

The accounts of these female fighters are not singular in history. Researchers can trace tales of women warriors from various cultures back to ancient times. For example, Hatshepsut chose to forego feminine clothing and donned traditional male regalia when she became pharaoh of Egypt. Thus attired, she led a campaign into Nubia during her reign in the fifteenth century BC. Two hundred years later in China, Fu Hao led thousands of men into battle during the Shang Dynasty. Weapons that archaeologists excavated from her tomb revealed her status as one of the most powerful military leaders of her time. During the first century AD, Celtic Queen Boudica led a brutal revolt against the oppressive Roman army occupying Britain. Though a failure, the uprising resulted in the Romans eventually easing their harsh rule. The warrior queen’s legacy of resisting a tyrannical foreign power procured her status as a cultural icon. Then, during the Renaissance, Joan of Arc became a heroine for leading the French to victory over the English at Orleans in 1429. She was captured the following year while wearing male clothing and burned at the stake for heresy. Her role in the Hundred Years’ War and sacrifice served as an inspiration for adventurous and bold women who followed in her footsteps by taking up arms for their respective causes. Beyond Joan of Arc, others undoubtedly would have heard of Hannah Snell, who enlisted as James Gray in the Royal Marines and served for over two years. In 1750, she surprised her male comrades when she revealed to them that their young, beardless compatriot was really a woman in disguise. Upon their urging, Snell sought and received a pension for her military service. Not only did she reveal her secret to her fellow Marines, Snell also told her story to London publisher Robert Walker, who chronicled her tale in The Female Soldier, or, The Surprising Life and Adventures of Hannah Snell, which he released in 1750. In July of that year, The Gentleman’s Magazine also printed her exploits, and Snell herself appeared on stage in uniform recounting her experiences as a Marine while demonstrating military drill maneuvers and singing songs.

As for United States history, women engaged in battle from the country’s inception. One such female soldier of the American Revolution was Deborah Samson (or Sampson) of Massachusetts, who was one of seven children from a poor family headed by a widowed mother. At the age of ten, she became an indentured servant and worked in that capacity until she turned eighteen, when the self-educated Samson began a career as a teacher and weaver. With the outbreak of hostilities, Deborah started to entertain the notion of joining in the struggle for independence as a soldier. Then, in 1782, she put her plan into motion when she enlisted in the 4th Massachusetts Regiment of the Continental Army. As Robert Shurtliff, she suffered multiple wounds and even removed a musket ball herself in order to avoid detection that would result from a surgeon performing the operation. The determined Deborah was able to maintain her disguise for two years until Dr. Benjamin Binney discovered her secret while caring for her after she fell ill. Samson received an honorable discharge on October 23, 1783, and returned home to Massachusetts, where she married and had children. Upon the support of Paul Revere, the state issued her a pension for her military service. And following her death in 1827, her husband, Benjamin Gannett, successfully petitioned Congress to issue him a pension as a soldier’s spouse for his wife’s service in the Revolutionary War.

Nearly thirty years after the cessation of hostilities with the British, the newly formed country faced off once again against its old adversaries in the War of 1812. According to newspaper articles, at least two women participated as soldiers in the conflict that historians have called the second war of American independence. These unknown women were wives of farmers who served in the militia called to defend the border with Canada. The stalwart female fighters went with them and were discovered among the volunteers who had fought in the Battle of Lundy’s Lane.³

Twenty years following Revolutionary heroine Deborah Samson’s death, another woman soldier followed her path of military service. On September 26, 1847, Elizabeth Caroline Newcom enlisted at Fort Leavenworth in Company D of the Missouri Mounted Volunteers, a unit raised to protect the Santa Fe Trail from Indian attacks. As Bill Newcom, she marched with the regiment to Fort Mann in Kansas, where she was ultimately discovered. Following this revelation, military officials sent Newcom back to Fort Leavenworth, where she was discharged. After the Mexican War, she married and received a pension for eight months’ military service.

On December 1, 1847, the Cincinnati Enquirer carried an article from October 11 written by J. G. H. Tobin, a Mexican War correspondent with the New Orleans Delta, detailing the peculiar story of a soldier named Luke Surrey. Tobin noted that the Vicksburg native was a smart, dapper little fellow whose service with the 2nd Mississippi Regiment ended prematurely. But his dismissal was not due to incompetence or misbehavior. Indeed, the youngster performed all his soldierly duties admirably. Rather, Surrey was discharged when his true gender was revealed after giving birth. Following this revelation, Tobin quipped that the Mexicans declared that it was hard enough to fight the Americans when they sent men against us, but when the women come, and bring little soldiers with them, we must be beaten. He further joked that this event led the 2nd Mississippi to seek a patent for the discovery that female fighters giving birth in the ranks would save Uncle Sam the expense of forwarding any more soldiers to Mexico. A search of the roster of the 2nd Mississippi Regiment failed to locate an individual named Luke Surrey. There are several possible reasons. Officials expunged her records; she served as an officer’s servant and was not a formally enlisted soldier, which means she would not have had any service records; or this was a hoax.

Not long after the cessation of hostilities with Mexico, the winds of war began to blow once again—just a whisper at first, and then escalating into a hurricane whose roar fell on the ears of many more women as the country marched towards another conflict. But unlike the previous wars, in which the young nation faced foreign powers, this was a war with itself—a civil war. Scholars have often referred to it as a war of brother against brother. As this book unfolds, the reader will also learn that it pitted sister against sister.

Chapter 1

MOTIVATIONS

Her patriotism outran her discretion.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of women fought on the front lines of both armies in the Civil War. Historians will never be able to determine their exact number because they served while disguised as men. The Washington, DC, newspaper, The National Republican, claimed in its July 23, 1864, edition that official records