The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1880-09-08
Female Soldiers,
WOMEN WHO HAVE PREFERRED BATTLE
FIELDS To HOME.

| The Elector Macmillan Emmanuel Of
Bavaria, who died in 1925, left several nat
ural children, one OF whom was daughter
named Maximilian de Leithorst Her pa
| rents seem to have been neglectful of her
but the girls character was resGlate. She
dressed as a man, called herself Monster lie
| Baron de t.eithorst, and became page to the
| Baron de Halden in Regensburg, the EN-
| bassador of the bishop of Wurtzburg to the
court in that town. Afterward she went to
Vienna and enlisted as a soldier in the i'm
perial army She served seven years as a
cadet in the regiment of Francis de Lor-
ralne, in Hungary, and only during sick
ness was her sex discovered. She became
lieutenant and was dismissed from the SER
vice with life penalty. She dressed in
male attire until her death, in 174S.
I.eonora Prohaska fell in an engagement
on the Gorde September Is, 1919, a bullet
having pierced her breast. When she felt
that she was dying she revealed to her COM
rades that she was a woman, and that her
name was Leonard Prohaska. and not
Charles REM. Her friend, Caroline Peters,
known as Charles Peterson, was more for
tunate, She participated in the campaigns
Of 1913 and 1914; was decorated with the
order of the Iron Cross on account cf her
Drawer, and was honorably discharged from
the army at the end Of the war, when she
declared hef sex. She wal afterward mar
r;;cd to the captain OF an English trading
vessel, whom she accompanied on his travels
and with when she visited her relatives at
Stettin in 1914.
In the pages Of ''All Year Round" 1874,
we cad oil one woman making her ''field of
fame" on the deck of British man-of-war.
On the 18th of April, 1881, in the West In
dies Lord Rodney gained his great victory
over the French fleet, commanded by Adj
miral the Count de Grasse, and daughter
of England shared in the honors of that
memorable day. After the surrender of the
French flagship Vile de Havre, one hun
dred guns, to kodney's flag ship, Formula
bic, siXty-four guns, 'a woman who had,
| contrary to the rules of the navy. secreted
| herself in her husbands cabin, and fought
| a quarterback gun in the room of her hus-
band who was down in the cockpit, was dis
covered Lord Rodney severely repriman-
ded her for breach of orders, but gave her
| Immediately afterwards ten guineas for so
valliantly sustaining the post of her wound
ed husband"
The life of Mary Ann Talbot, an illegit.
mate daughter of the Earl of Talbot, was
one of remarkable adventure. Porn in
| London on February 2, 1878, she was we'll
educated at the expense of her father
When only about fourteen she was induced
| to run away from school by Captain Bowen,
dom She then went with his regiment TO
| the West Indies, served afterward as a drum
| mer at the seige of Valenciennes, where the
captain was killed, and the intrepid girl left
| friendless. She contrived TO reach the
coast, and shipped as a boy on board a
French privateer. This vessel was captured
| by one of the ships of Lord Howe's feet,
| and. the opportunity being open to her.
| Mary Talbot entered the British navy. she
| served in many actions, was several times
prisoner of war, and finally, in 1896 when
suffering from shattered leg was commits
| stoned a midshipman and discharged from
the service. Subsequently Queen Char
lotte granted her pension go. When re-
covered of her wounds she went to America,
| working her way thther as steward OF
merchant ship, on board of which it Is said
she was obliged to reveal her sex IN order to
| repel the amorous advances of the captains
daughter, After long absence, little being
known of her exploits in the meantime, she
again appeared in London. From this
point her subsequent life was one OF great
| wretchedness aud poverty, and she was tre-
quentlY in Newgate undergoing lmPrlson-
ment for debt Out of prison she assumed
variety of characters, being sailor, actress,
peddler and foOtpad by turns. The date OF
| her death is unknown. A few years ago
there was a portrait in existence OF Mary
Talbot in a naval uniform, likely enough as
a midshipmaD, and the artist has presented
her possessing a handsome appearance
This picture is said to be now in the United
States.