Hidden Women, Hidden History by Eileen Charbonneau

 For details and purchase information click to visit Eileen Charbonneau's BWL author page

I’m delighted to be blogging with my fellow BWL authors.  

By way of introduction, allow me to share my passion for researching the nooks and crannies of history.  My new historical novel Seven Aprils details seven years (1860-1866) in the life of Tess Barton, during which she disguises herself as a man and serves in the Union medical corps during the American Civil War.

As in my fictional account, women were so eager to fight for the cause that they cross-dressed to enlist as soldiers. But both the Union and Confederate armies forbade the enlistment of women. But by estimates ranging from 400 to 800, women shed their bonnets and dresses for a cap and trousers, passed a cursory medical exam, and went off to war. And most succeeded in their deception.

Much of this history is ignored, suppressed, hidden. It is still being discovered in family stories and letters in attics. I found it fascinating.

Here are some of the women Seven Aprils was inspired by.

One was Kate Warne, part of the team that uncovered an alleged plot to assassinate Lincoln en route to his inauguration. She was so good at keeping her secrets that there are no verified images of her…male or female!

Is this Kate?

Kate in a Union cavalryman disguise?

Another was Sarah Edmonds, who, like Seven Aprils' Tess, escaped parental abuse and a forced marriage in male disguise, served as a soldier, then mustered out on her own terms, marrying the man of her choice and starting a family after the war.  

Sarah as a man..

Sarah after the war

Some who served may not have been women at all, but transgendered men.  Here’s Albert Cashier, who was born Jennie Hodgers, loved as "one of the boys" and the shortest member of the 95th Illinois infantry. 

He continued to live as a man until 1910 when in hospital for a broken leg. The doctors tried to make him wear a dress, but his old soldier comrades came to his defense, and got the decision reversed. Here's his grave, still lovingly kept...

What extraordinary lives!  I hope my Tess Barton and her journey through Seven Aprils honor them all.