Civil War Soldiers: Sarah Rosetta Wakeman

 

Historians estimate that between 400 and 1,000 women—on both Union and Confederate sides—disguised themselves as men to enlist and fight in the American Civil War.

Many served undetected for months or years, participating in major battles, enduring camp life, and facing the same risks as their male comrades.

Sarah Rosetta Wakeman (1843 to1864) enlisted in 1862 as Private Lyons Wakeman in the 153rd New York Infantry. She served nearly two years, participating in the Red River Campaign. Her letters home—discovered decades later—provide rare primary insight into a female soldier's experiences, including pride in her service and hopes for family support.

Wakeman died of dysentery in a New Orleans hospital in 1864 and was buried under her male name in Chalmette National Cemetery. Her sex remained undiscovered during her service.

Women Doctors in the Civil War

The Civil War Wedding

Civil War Soldiers: Frances Clayton

 

Historians estimate that between 400 and 1,000 women—on both Union and Confederate sides—disguised themselves as men to enlist and fight in the American Civil War.

Many served undetected for months or years, participating in major battles, enduring camp life, and facing the same risks as their male comrades.

Frances Clayton enlisted with her husband in a Missouri Union unit as Jack Williams. She reportedly fought in 18 battles, including Fort Donelson (where she was wounded), Shiloh, and Stones River (where her husband was reportedly killed in front of her). She continued fighting afterward.

The Confederate Woman: Soldier and Spy

Women Doctors in the Civil War

Women Soldiers in the Civil War: Jennie Hodgers

 

Historians estimate that between 400 and 1,000 women—on both Union and Confederate sides—disguised themselves as men to enlist and fight in the American Civil War.

Many served undetected for months or years, participating in major battles, enduring camp life, and facing the same risks as their male comrades.

Jennie Hodgers (1843 to 1915), an Irish immigrant, enlisted in 1862 as Albert D.J. Cashier in the 95th Illinois Infantry. She fought in approximately 40 engagements, including the Siege of Vicksburg, and served until the war's end without detection.

Cashier continued living as a man postwar, working as a laborer and drawing a pension. Her identity was only revealed in 1913 during a medical examination for dementia.

The Confederate Woman: Soldier and Spy

The Civil War Wedding

Women Soldiers in the Civil War: Sarah Edmonds

 

Historians estimate that between 400 and 1,000 women—on both Union and Confederate sides—disguised themselves as men to enlist and fight in the American Civil War.

Many served undetected for months or years, participating in major battles, enduring camp life, and facing the same risks as their male comrades.

One of the best-documented and most celebrated is Sarah Emma Edmonds (1841 to 1898). Born in Canada, she fled an abusive home and lived as a man before the war. In 1861, she enlisted in the 2nd Michigan Infantry as Private Franklin Thompson.

Edmonds served as a nurse, mail carrier, and spy. She participated in key campaigns, including First Bull Run, the Peninsula Campaign, Fredericksburg, and Antietam. She deserted in 1863 after contracting malaria, fearing discovery in a hospital. After the war, she married, had children, and successfully petitioned for a veteran's pension in 1886—the only woman known to receive one for Civil War service.

The Confederate Woman: Soldier and Spy

Women Doctors in the Civil War

The Confederate Woman: Soldier and Spy

These fictional memoirs are based on the true story of a southern belle who defied convention to become a front line soldier and spy for the Confederacy. Follow Laura as she fights in some of the bloodiest battles of the war, breaks hearts, and extends the limits of glory.


This story is based on the life and writings of Loreta Janeta Velazquez. Almost everything known about Loreta Velazquez comes from a six hundred page book she published in 1876 entitled The Woman in Battle: A Narrative of the Exploits, Adventures, and travels of Madame Loreta Janeta Velázquez, Otherwise Known as Lieutenant Harry T Buford, Confederate States Army. The Woman in Battle is written in the popular romantic style of the 19th century and is similar to books portraying the lives and adventures of wild west heroes such as Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp. (Velazguez talks about her own western adventures for several hundred pages after wrapping up her Civil War reminiscences). When the book first appeared, Velázquez stated that she had written the book primarily for money so she could support her child.

Shortly after its appearance, former Confederate General Jubal Early denounced The Woman in Battle as an obvious fiction. Historians are divided concerning the truth of Velazquez’s claims to have served as a Confederate soldier and spy, citing the improbability of her many adventures and her vagueness and inaccuracies regarding names and places. Most historians have found it difficult to corroborate her claims from existing written evidence, although there have been some tantalizing finds that lend some credence to the Velazguez story. Notwithstanding the criticisms, some historians note that Velazquez seems extremely familiar with key events of the time, in short, there is at least a seed of truth in her story.

Brave soldier and spy, or literary opportunist? History’s jury is still out on the case of Loreta Velazguez.

The Confederate Woman: Soldier and Spy

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Women Officers in the Confederate Army

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Lucy Mina Otey, a sixty year old widow, organized five hundred women of Lynchburg, Virginia into the Ladies’ Relief Society. The duties of the members of the Society included preparing and delivering food to the wounded in hospitals, making bandages, mending clothes and assisting surgeons in any way possible. Women would write letters for soldiers and keep patients comfortable. One morning when arriving at a hospital, Mina Otey was denied access by order of Dr. W.O. Owen, the head of Lynchburg military hospitals. Dr. Owen ordered the removal of Otey and all women from the hospitals stating, “no more women or flies are to be admitted.”

Otey immediately traveled to Richmond to talk to President Jefferson Davis to get his personal permission to found her own hospital, run entirely by female nurses. Davis agreed. Corruption and mismanagement became a frequent issue in Confederate hospitals. The Confederate government eventually ordered the shutdown of all medical institutions that were not under direct government control. If a hospital was not headed by a commissioned officer, who was least a captain, then patients had to be moved. Because of the excellence of her hospital and her service to the Confederacy, Mrs. Otey was named a Captain in the Confederate Army by President Jefferson Davis. Only one other woman received a commission in the Confederate Army. This other woman was Sallie Tompkins, who ran a hospital in Richmond, Virginia.

Women Doctors in the Civil War

A quick look at women doctors and medicine in the Civil War for the general reader. Technologically, the American Civil War was the first “modern” war, but medically it still had its roots in the Middle Ages. In both the North and the South, thousands of women served as nurses to help wounded and suffering soldiers and civilians. A few women served as doctors, a remarkable feat in an era when sex discrimination prevented women from pursuing medical education, and those few who did were often obstructed by their male colleagues at every turn.

Cuban Woman and Confederate Soldier (Women in the Civil War)

Link to:

The Confederate Woman: Soldier and Spy

Civil War re-enactors have been challenged by some women in recent years to allow them to “join the ranks”. If re-enactors today find this problematic, how must men have reacted in the Civil War? But life and history are both complex.

Cuban-born Loreta Velasquez, disguised as a man, enlisted in the Confederate army as Lieutenant Harry T. Buford in 1860. According to military records, under the name Harry T. Buford, she raised a company of volunteers from Arkansas and fought in the battles of 1st Manassas, Ball’s Bluff, and Fort Donelson. In 1862 her disguise was discovered and she was discharged from the army. Velasquez then enlisted with the 21st Louisiana Infantry regiment and went on to fight at Shiloh. Velasquez's disguise was discovered yet again and she was once again discharged. The resourceful Velasquez then became a spy for the Confederacy, often posing as a man.

After the war the now widowed Velasquez moved to Nevada, where she authored a book, "The Woman in Battle", a non-stop thriller patterned after the tales about famous gunfighters. She was married and widowed three more time before her death in 1897 at the age of fifty five (?) .

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