I felt I owed it to my Olson forbears to watch the Vikings: Valhalla series on Netflix. It's quite entertaining. There's something for everyone. Blood and guts. Sweaty hot bodies. Cool ships. And facial hair that would put ZZ Top to shame.
The series takes place about a thousand years ago, and boy, does it show. My Viking ancestors live up to their barbaric reputation. Let's just say if you're at a shindig where pretty much everyone is carrying an axe, and a dude rolls in a big wooden chopping block, it's probably time to ghost.
But in other aspects, ancient Scandinavian culture was downright civilized. Take gender equality, for example. Some women were allowed to own property. Some held positions of political power. And we all know about shield maidens and Valkyries.
Here we are a thousand years on, and there's still plenty of cultures where women can't own property, or drive a car. But it's the aspect of military service that really captured my attention. In the Netflix series, both this one and its predecessor, women were often allowed to join the menfolk on the battlefield. In real life, not so much.
So when I unearthed a link to an article about the estimated 400 women who fought in the American Civil War - 900 YEARS LATER - only got away with it because they were disguised as men, that got me thinking. If there were 400 that we know of in that war alone, there had to be more, right?
Of course there were! Throughout the ages. Lots of different times and places.
They tended to fall into a couple of different categories. One I'll call 'Til Death Do Us Part. When their man got called up, they insisted on tagging right along with him. But instead of joining in a more traditional female role as a cook or laundress for their husband's fighting unit, they opted to masquerade as men.
Frances Clayton aka Jack Williams and her husband apparently had one of those marriages that they did everything together. When I say they fought a lot, I don't mean bickering about leaving the toilet seat up. They served during the American Civil War in the Union Army together for nearly two years, until hubby got shot during the Battle of Stones River and died right next to her.
Loreta Janeta Velaquez really gives off a spoiled brat, Scarlett O'Hara vibe. The whole time I was reading about her, I got the feeling she thought of the entire escapade as a lark - especially when I learned her hero was Joan of Arc. When her husband joined the Confederate cause, she insisted on accompanying him. He refused, of course. So she waited until after he left, then purchased a custom fit uniform and fake facial hair and traveled to Florida as 'Lieutenant Harry T. Buford' looking for him. Her husband was stunned when she showed up. But because she showed up with a regiment of over two hundred volunteers, that somewhat ameliorated his dismay. Cue the happy ending - except the husband died soon after.
Hannah Snell aka James Gray had a little bit different motivation than being separated from her true love. Soon after their daughter was born, her no-good husband dumped her and joined the British military. I guess he figured that's one place she wouldn't come looking for him. He was wrong. Sadly, their daughter didn't survive very long. After she died, Hannah enlisted in the British Army, bent on tracking him down. I don't know about you, but I have zero trouble imagining her towering inferno of rage at this point. When she had a close call being discovered, she switched gears and joined the British Marines instead. She saw plenty of military action, as far away as India, where she got shot multiple times in the lower body. Legend has it that rather than risk having a doctor discover her true gender, she opted to dig the bullet out of her groin area herself. Hannah retired from the military in 1750 after she discovered her ex was literally an ex, having been executed after being convicted of murder. I'm starting to see a pattern here.
Not every impersonator was chasing her man. Revolutionary War hero Deborah Sampson fought against the British as 'Robert Shurtleff' for nearly two years before being discovered. Her sole motivation appears to be patriotism, pure and simple.
Some, like Sarah Edmonds and Oronata Rondiani, sorta fell into it. They dressed as men to aid in escaping an unfortunate situation (for Sarah, an arranged marriage; for Oronata, forced to go on the lam for murdering her attacker during a rape), and found their disguise offered many unanticipated benefits. For Margaret Ann Bulkley, dressing as a man may have been the only way she could achieve her dream of becoming a physician. Their new identities led them to stints in the military. Edmonds eventually married, one hopes with a more palatable match, and had a family. Rondiani died in combat; Bulkley spent the rest of her life as Dr. James Barry, a career military surgeon.
Former slave Cathay Williams doesn't really fit into either of my two categories. She may have been just an extraordinarily practical sort. She was initially impressed into service in the Union Army as cook/washerwoman. Something about military life must have appealed to her. After the Civil War ended, she enlisted as a man, William Cathay, and served a few more years. She is more famously known as the only female member of the Buffalo Soldiers.
Click-O-Rama
Not all of the hardy masquerade crew I discovered down this rabbit hole served in the military.
- Writer and explorer Isabelle Eberhardt 'carried a gun, but not a toothbrush'
- It's a helluva New York Times obit for the 'swashbuckling, one-eyed stage coach driver' Charlotte 'Charley' Parkhurst
- I have always loved the story of the cross-dressing pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read.
- I mentioned Oronata Rondiani earlier. Check out the comic strip style of storytelling about her and other dynamic women from history at this website. It is absolutely delightful.
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