Women who disguised themselves as men and went to war

[BettyO]

Interesting article - but found at least one error to wit:

The Confederacy never actually established an age requirement.

The Confederacy DID have an obvious age requirement - one had to be 18 years old and a lot of boys claimed that they were "over 18" while standing on a piece of paper marked "18" placed inside their shoe. Lew Powell was one who had to receive parental permission in order to enlist at age 17.

However, the fact of female enlistment in the Union army seemed to be more prevalent or better documented than that in the Confederate army. There are many instances where women successfully "pulled off" their enlistment and managed to hide it from just about everyone. One woman (I think it was Francis Clayton) comes to mind as she maintained her "male ruse" years after the war and was not discovered until she was struck by an auto in the early years of the 20th Century, injured and taken to the hospital where her actual sex was discovered.

Women still continued to "battle" for their respective sanctions - North and South as women, working as spies as well. This seemed more prevalent in the South than in the North....

One who insisted on wearing quasi-male costume (i.e. "Bloomer" Costume - still ultimately feminine dress despite it's connotations) was of course, Dr. Mary Walker. Although she insisted on wearing controversial dress and riding astride as only men did in the Victorian era, a divorced woman, (also scandalous for that era) she did NOT pass as male. Later in the century, however, she insisted strictly on male dress; i.e. complete male three-piece suits.