Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-01-14
WOMEN SOLDIERS IN FUTURE

WOMEN SOLDIERS IN FUTURE
May Form Important Part OF Every
Army of the World.
II coming events are always to be
discerned from the ST tadows cast be-
fore, the advent Of the woman soldier
must be pretty nearly one Of the things
that are bound to happen; for women
demanded to be enlisted as soldiers
during the Spanish war. and
they have made the same claim in the
Balkans during the past few weeks.
Writing as an old soldier who has
had a great deal Of war experience. l
must say that I have seen nothing In
war that a woman could not do as we'll
ds a man.
Every woman could not be turned
into an efficient soldier, Of course; but
neither can every man. And / have no
doubt whatever as to woman's bravery,
powers Of endurance, and adaptability
to military training; but l must con-
fess to some slight misgivings as to
whether the kind of women who have
other soldierly qualities would be
amendable to discipline.
That individual women have made
good soldiers is we'll known. The
cases Of Mary Anne Talbot, Mrs.
Walsh, Hannah Smell and others have
been written about so often that there
Is no excuse for telling their stories
over again; but there are some inter-
esting instances Of women having
served as soldiers that are not familiar,
and space may well be taken to relate
some Of them.
There was, for instance, fine story
of a Turkish girls self -abnegation
brought to light in 1893. In that year
a conscript, named Ali Reshib, who had
served in the army for three years,
was discovered to be woman.
The reason for the girls assumption
Of male identity is full Of human inter-
est. There was a real Ali Reshib. and
he was her brother. He was the only
support of his widowed mother, and
when he was drawn in the conscription
there seemed to be nothing In front
of the family but starvation.
Then a brilliant idea came to Hako,
the young mans twin sister. She
could not earn money to keep the house
together but she could manage, she
thought, to take her brothers place in
the army, and leave him free to work
for his mother And she did 1t, too,
keeping up the deception for more than
three years.
1t was a good thing for that family
that the girls secret was discovered.
for the story Of her remarkable self
sacrifice got to the ears of the sultan
himself, and he was so touched with 1t
that he ordered her a pension Of five
pounds, two shillings and sixpence a
month-a living that put her In the
millionaire class in her village-par-
doned her deception and released her
brother from any obligation to serve.
Then, also, in the early nineties,
there was the strange case Of Serge
ant Henry Armstrong, veteran Of the
American civil war, who died at Chat
tanooga, in the state of Tennessee.
Armstrong was, and had been for 80
years, a farmer, and was much re-
spected. When he died 1t was discov-
cred that "he" was a woman, whose
real name was Myra Lawrence, and
further investigation Of the dead
mans" papers and inquiries revealed
q romance such as no fiction writer
would dare to submit to an editor or
publisher.
In the early days of the great strug-
gle between north and south. Myra
Lawrence's sweetheart went to the
war. She pined for his society until
she could not bear absence from him
any longer. Then she dressed herself
in male rig and enlisted in the same
regiment in which her lover was serv-
ing.
Now, here comes the incredible part
of the story. She did not disclose her
identity to her sweetheart, but he
grew strangely attracted to her, and
they became fast friends. There came
a day when the real man was shot
down in battle. Then the disguised
sweetheart knelt down by his side and
whispered into his dying ears that she
was in fact, the very girl to whom he
was asking his friend" to send his
last message. There was no occasion
to send any last message, she told him,
for she was there to receive 1t herself.
The writer finds 1t very hard to be-
lieve that part but 1t Is the account
found in the diary Of the dead per-
son.
Fanny Wilson was another heroine
Of the American civil war. She, like
Myra Lawrence, enlisted to be near
her sweetheart, and also. like Myra, 1t
Is said that, although she got into the
same regiment as her lover and saw
him every day he had no suspicion OF
her identity. Then Fanny's young man
OH
to nurse her "comrade." Still she did
not let him know that she was the Fan
ny about whom he was always talking,
and it was not until a moment or two
before his death that she sobbingly re-
vealed herself.
After the death of her lover, she
herself became Ill, and in the hospital
her sex was discovered. This, OF
course led to her being discharged
from the army; but finding that ballet
dancing was harder than soldering
she enlisted again, this time In
cavalry regiment. Her run this time
was short, for she was challenged In
about a week after her enlistment, and
was accused of being a Confederate
spy. She had no difficulty In clearing
herself of the spy accusations; but she
had to admit her sex, so she was dis
charged again. This time she stayed
out of the army and married.
In q military hospital during the
same war drummer boy, aged IL, lay
Ill of typhoid fever. Charlie Martin,
though so young, had seen great deal
Of fighting, for he had been In five big
battles and many smaller fights. The
nurse in charge was very much inter-
ested to discover that the drummer
boy was a girl
A still more recent example of fe-
male martial ardour Is the case Of Miss
Sophia Yovanovitch, who fought vail
antly by her lovers side in the Servian
army during the great struggle be-
tween the Balkan allies and the Turks.
At the end Of the war this modern Jo-
an of Arc Is to marry her lover. II
both have survived the bullets Of the
anemy