The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1870-12-30
WOMEN AZ WARRIORS.

VuM ES NS w n II u HOhDs
The Paris women are actually arm
ing and organizing for the defence of
the ramparts of the city-one hum
dred thousand strong. or weak, as the
case may be-under the military title
Of The Amazons Of the Seine" They
are To dress in short rough Bloomer
costume. and to be armed with light
muskets carrying two hundred yards.
with cartridgeboxes and full equip
ments. The first battalion Of twelve
hundred is now being drilled by re-
tired officer.
II the startling project should be
actually carried out to practical effect
Iveness, it will certainly present new
picture to the civilized world of thia
century. Yet it will not be entirely
new. The King of Siam at this pres
ent moment has body-guard of four
hundred women, armepd with rifles
and lances. When the inyincible Da-
homian army marched upon Abeokuia
in 1851, they numbered ten thousand
men aud six thousand women. The
women were placed III front at the
critical hour of assault, aud thousand
Of their brave were left dead before
the walls. Aud do we not read that
The wives of the ancient Britons ming
led in tho wars fearlessly, aid rushed
to the battle at the side of their hus-
bands and brothers?
The Spartan women who strung
their braided hair upon their husbands
battle-i ows were not the first of the
women of war; nor WAS Joan or Moll
Pitcher the last. II Diodorus in to be
believed, the Asiatic Amazons who
were wont 10 hover among tho noun
tains OF Caucasus not only learned to
fight, but they nonopoliked the bust
ness. Taey rangled nine boys ont
of every ten at the moment of birth,
and sent all the girls to the Military
Academy. they drove their husbands
and other masculine parasites 10 the
caves of the earth; and when these
gentlemen timidly emerged TO break
their prolonged fast. they were hunt
ed like So many "A bits. The women
marched to battle under their chosen
queen, aud overrun aud subdued the
whole of Asia. They built Smyrna
aud Ephesus. They whipped These
u rn1 put the Greeks to fight. And
didL'. the African Amasons of nntiuu-
ity subdue the Gorgons and Atlantis
whoever they were? In fact, If the
profane history of five thousand years
ago is worth anything, the women of
that day we're accustomed to "strike
from the shoulder" in fashion that
was really terrific.
And in later days, ferocious women
of war have appeared from time to
time. In South America, around the
confluence of the Japura with the Am-
azon, the traveller Orellana, in 1910,
found d we'll equipped and powerful
republic of women, whose fierce fem
mime army successfully resisted his
European soldiers in b5ttle. No men
were permitted to live in the nation,
but the men of the adjacent countries
were received and entertained with
much hospitality IN April of each
year. At the be- ginning of the festiv-
tiles, the queens chose their favorite
Gallants from the royal guests The
male children were drowned; but the
girls were carefully reared for the
army. The women built their own
houses. killed their own game. made
their own slight clothing, and found u
"helpmeet quite necessary. They
had five temples of the Sun, built OF
stone and gorgeously plated with gold.
They fourished and maintained their
independence for several hundred
years, as is attested by the nsratives
of all vigilant travellers from Orellana
to Humboldt.
Several woman received pensions
for their servi ,es as soldiers in the
ranks during the American Revolu-
ton; and during the recent war for
the Union, it is estimated that not le IS
than one hundred women fought in
disguise as private soldiers. Some
are known to have been killed in bat
tie; the sex OF others was detected by
the surgeons who dressed their
wounds; while at least one fought
gallantly OF the side of the man she
loved for four years, and finally
passed proudly in review with Sher-
man 8 army.
It seems, then, that women, under
certain circumstances, can fight
How does this disclosure affect her
political status?- = Western Monthly for
December.