The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1901-02-12
woxEN SOLDERING AS MEN.
Many OF Them I'm the Armies Of the
North and the south.


Inc diaoovery following the uoatn IN
New York, the other day OF Murray Hail
that this well-known Tammany poffti-
oian, roistarer, and "all-around sport"
OF thirty years standing was not man
at all, but woman, has brought 20 light
numper OF revelations concerning
women who have successfully maEquerad-
ed as men in pace and war.
A Washington man who has been In the
War Department for more than forty
years. and who during the Civil War
kept n record Of all the cases that came to
his notics wherein women were discov-
cred under arms In both services, Federal
and Confederate, gave the writer hereof
access to his women soldiers data the
other day, and the matter Is both pecu-
liar and interesting.
Physical examinations for enlistment
during the Civil war did not amount to
much more than the recruiting officers
easy measurement OF the applicants
inches. II the applicant Appropriated
feet In height and was not obviously
blind, halt, or deaf and dumb admission
to the ranks was given, and this was
| D PARTICULARLY the case when the war had
been IN progress for a couple OF years.
The wonder does not, therefore. seem SO
great that considerable number OF
women actually soldiersd Ms unifor med
men during the Civil war. A majority
or These adventurous women enlisted on
the Union SIDE and their sex In most
cases was only revealed when they were
wounded In action. There were doubtless
many more women who enlisted in the
armies on both sides as men than the
records show--women who having escaped
wounds and detection, were mustered out
at the close OF their enlistments. or at the
conclusion of the war, without their so-
4 taal sex becoming known to their officers
or comrades Ii seems almost incredible
| that some OF thete women, whose cases
are we'll authenticated, should have oar
risd out their receptions with such sue
cess under difficult circumstances, but
the fact remains that very few OF than
were discovered to be women through
their poor acting OF their soldierly roles
A girl Of twenty-five. named Frances
Hook, who is described as "of about
medium height, with dark hazel eyes,
DARK brown hair, rounded features ami
feminine voice and appearance, enlisted
| with her brother in the Sixty-ffth Illinois
Home Guards shortly alter the beginning
of the Civil war. She and her brother
were orphans. In enlisting the girl as
| sumed the name of Frank Miller. she
served three months and was mustered
out with out the slightest suspicion as TO
| her sex having arisen. Hor brother was
killed In action soon after he enlisted.
After receiving her three months dis
1 a Ekn aEAt Ii NNre..
in the Union army, this time In the
Ninetieth Illinois.
She was taken prisonsr In battle near
| Chattanooga In attempting TO escape
she was ahot through the calf OF the right
leg, The Confederate soldiers who picked
her up searched her for papers and aiscoy-
cred her sex, The Confederates respected
her sex and gave her separate room in
the military prison at Atlanta, Inc girl
claimed that during her captivity she
received letter from Jefferson Davis
Offering her lieutenant'B commission II
she would accept the Confederate service,
but this fact has never been verified. The
girl had no home and no relatives, but
sns said that she would rather hight as
private soldier for the stars and Stripes
than accept any commission up to that
of Northumberland In the Confederate
army. She was eventually exchanged
She said upon reaching the North that
her oaptors had tried to extort from her a
promise that she would go home and not
enter the Union service again.
30 homeS' she replied, go home
and my brother, the only relative l had
in the world, killed by my side at Pitts
burg Landing? I've got no home, and
would not 60 to 1t even II had one, un-
I'll the war is over"
This young woman's subsequent career
In the service II, indeed she again re-
enlisted, is not known,
no nf a Ohio
enlisted. ana she determined to join him
she was inspected, accepted and sworn
In with the rest of her company. The
company marohsd to Camp jackson,
Ohio, and drilled there for several days,
| when the girl was sent with the Third
Ohio regiment to Camp Dennison, near
Cincinnati. Here she assisted In jail the
duties OF forming new camp. handling
lumhe doing sentry duty, esc. for a
oour lie OF weeks. when, ascertainfng for
the first time that there were Two Camp
Dennisons, and that her brother was
stationed In the other one, near Lanoas-
ter, Pa she went TO her commanding
officer, Col. Morrow, and requested co be
transferred to the Camp Dennison In
Pennsylvania, giving as her reason that
she preferred TO associate with Americans
and that most of the men in the Quilt to
which she was attached were foreigners.
Col Morrow, q shrewd man. discovered
the girls sex, and dismissed her from
the camp.
A bright little girl of 10 years OF age
enlisted as a drummer boy In one OF the
PennsyIvania regiments in the early
period off the war. She gave the name
of Charles Martin. She was OF good stock
apparently. and had evidently enjoyed
the advantages of an education, for she
wrote an excellent hand, and made herself
useful to the officers of the regiment in
the capacity of clerk. She was involved
in the chances OF i've battles. but she
escaped unframed, The officers never
dreamed of any question a. to the the
ohild's sex. she was finally taken III
with typhoid fever, and was removed to
tne Pennsylvania hospital In Philadel-
phia, Here one OF the female nurses dis
covered her sex, and the brave little CIR
was returned to her own people, who had
mourned hsr as dead.
A girl named Fannie Wilson enlisted In
the Twenty fourth New Jersey, In order
to follow her sweetheart, who was mem.
Der OF the same regiment, into the held.
He knew nothing OF her aStion, but she