That original song was written to be sung as though a male soldier was narrating it. Joan Baez made this HER song for good. Her performance was fine enough to make sticklers for historic detail overlook the inaccuracy of a female voice telling the story. It suddenly didn’t matter anymore.
I praise her talent as a separate issue from her politics.
Some people did the same thing with Richard Wagner, writer of many operas in the late 19th century. Wagner wrote among many pieces the “Ride of The Valkyries”. Wagner was controversial because of the type of people who were among his ‘fan base’.
Joan Baez did a credible job with it, but her voice was a sad echo of its former glory by then.
She has bad judgment all around. She embraced communism and lost Dylan over that. Then she smoked ... well everything people smoked in the sixties and seventies and tried to sing outside of her range.
If she had used some sense she could have preserved her voice and had a stronger career.