FAQ's

1.  How many were there?  We don't know and never will because they fought disguised as men.  Estimates range from the hundreds to the thousands.  When considering the fact that over two million men fought, this number is insignificant.  However, they made the ultimate sacrifice alongside men, and we should remember and honor them all the same.  Click on the following link to read an article I wrote dealing with the number of women soldiers, https://forbiddenhiddenforgotten.blogspot.com/2019/10/how-many-women-soldiers-were-there.html

2.  Why did they do it?

• Avoid being separated from loved ones

• Escape oppressive situations

• Patriotism

• Adventure

• Vengeance

• Improve economic, legal, and social status

3.  What were their military experiences like?

• Women soldiers performed the same duties, carried the same gear, marched the same distances, and suffered the same hardships as male soldiers.

4.  How did they get away with it?

• Many had a working class or farming background, so they already possessed the skills necessary to become successful soldiers.

• Men's and women's spheres in Victorian society were strictly defined.  War was the domain of  men.  Nobody thought women would even attempt to step outside their domestic sphere and become a soldier.  You often don't see what you're not looking for.

• Clothing-women didn't wear pants, so nobody was accustomed to seeing them without dresses.  Uniforms were ill fitting and hid the feminine figure.

• Women soldiers engaged in activities that were considered masculine in order to fit in, such as drinking, swearing, gambling, brawling, chewing tobacco (which some women in rural areas did anyway).

• There was a large number of boys who served on both sides.  These youths were unable to grow facial hair and had higher pitched voices.  It was easy to mistake a woman soldier for a young boy.  And this is evident in newspaper articles about them that described them as "looking like a lad of 15," for example.

•  Medical exams required for recruits were sometimes cursory.

•  Males helped women into the ranks and continued to assist them once they were soldiers.

5.  How were they discovered?

•  Mannerisms

•  Recognition by others

•  Discovered after becoming a casualty (POW/KIA/WIA)

•  Discovered after dying of disease

•  Betrayed themselves while intoxicated

•  Gave birth while in the ranks

6.  What happened to them after discovery?

•  Imprisoned for alleged espionage

•  Discharged - some women then reenlisted in other units.

•  Service continued in some other capacity, such as a nursing

•  Service continued as a soldier in the same unit; male soldiers sometimes turned a blind eye due to lack of manpower or loyalty or respect for the woman and her abilities as a soldier.

7.  What happened to them after the war?

•  Resumed feminine lifestyle

•  Maintained masculine identities

•  Edmonds and Velazquez published memoirs; some, however, didn't talk about their experiences until late in life, if ever

•  Joined local GAR post and given military funerals

•  Received pensions; some however did not seek compensation and spent the remainder of their days in poverty

8.  How do we know about them?

• Only two women published memoirs, which have proven to be a bit romanticized and fictionalized.  Only a few are known to have written letters.  Service  records were often nonexistent or may have been expunged by officers who were embarrassed after being fooled by a woman  who was discovered serving in his command.  Furthermore, if a woman served as a hired servant, there would be no service records.  Researchers then must rely on letters and diaries  from male soldiers, newspaper accounts, and records found in publications such as the Official Records and other military documents.

9.  Were they transgendered or homosexuals?

• There is no evidence of any of these women being transgendered or homosexual.  If anything, research argues against it.  A vast majority of these women were following a male sweetheart or husband off to war.  Or they married a man after the war.   None of these women gave any indication that they were attracted to other women, or that they actually wanted to become a man.  There are many accounts, however, of them expressing the desire to obtain the freedom that living as a man in Victorian society would bring them: freedom to make their own decisions for their lives, freedom of leaving one's house unescorted, freedom to own land, freedom to vote, freedom to make a better living, making more money working at a better job.....all of which were denied to them as Victorian women.  If these women were transported to our time, with all of the freedoms that women have now that they didn't have then, I seriously doubt any of them would feel the need to become a man.