FReeper Canteen ~ Part IX of Women Warriors: Women Soldiers and Sailors ~ March 16, 2004

Part IX: Women Soldiers & Sailors

In 1428 a 16 year old peasant girl named Jehanne la Pucelle convinced the Dauphin of France to put her in charge of his army by promising to reclaim Orleans from the English and have him crowned at Riems. In May 1429 she led the army in the battle that returned Orleans to the French and two months later watched the Dauphin crowned Charles VII of France in the Cathedral of Reims. In May 1430 the girl who became known to the world as Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians during her attack on Compiegne and sold to the English. She was charged in an ecclesiastical court with heresy, blasphemy, idolatry, and sorcery. In May 1431 she was burned at the stake in the market place of Rouen as a relapsed heretic. Her relapse consisted of donning the men's clothing she had worn throughout her career and which she had earlier agreed to abandon in order to save herself from the stake.

There are accounts, verified by multiple official sources, of more than 20 women who dressed as men and served in the British Royal Navy or Marines from the late 17th to the early 19th centuries. In 1690 Anne Chamberlyne joined her brother's ship and fought in the battle against the French off Beachy Head. A tablet to her memory was placed in the wall of the Chelsea Old Church, London, along with other Chamberlyne family memorials. The English translation of the original Latin read, "In an adjoining vault lies Anne, the only daughter of Edward Chamberlyne, Doctor of Laws, born in London, the 20th January 1667, who having long declined marriage and aspiring to great achievements unusual to her sex and age, on the 30th June 1690, on board a fireship in man's clothing, as a second Pallas, chaste and fearless fought valiantly six hours against the French ...".

It was also not unusual for the wives of crewmen to live aboard both English and French warships. During battles they would deliver water and carry gun powder from the magazine to the cannons as well as assisting the ships' surgeon.

John Nichols, a seaman aboard the HMS Goliath wrote of the women aboard during the Battle of the Nile on Aug. 1, 1798, "There were some of the women wounded, and one woman belonging to Leith died of her wounds and was buried on a small island in the bay. One woman bore a son in the heat of the action; she belonged to Edinburgh." The names of four of the women aboard the Goliath during the battle were listed in the ship's muster book which stated they were "victualed at two-thirds allowance in consideration of their assistance in dressing and attending on the wounded, being widows of men slain in the fight with the enemy on the first day of August."

In 1847 the British government decided that Queen Victoria would award a Naval General Service Medal to all living survivors of the major battles fought between 1793 and 1840. Mary Ann Riley and Ann Hopping, who had been aboard the Goliath during the Battle of the Nile, and Jane Townshend, who was aboard the Defiance at Trafalgar in 1805, applied and were originally approved by the Admirals reviewing the claims. They were later refused the medal on the basis that, "There were many women in the fleet equally useful, and it will leave the Army exposed to innumerable applications of the same nature." [Italics in original]. More than 20,000 men received the medal including at least one who was an infant at the time the ship he was on engaged in battle.

Kit Cavanagh, better known as "Mother Ross" was one of several women who served as dragoons in the British Army. She fought during the 1690's at first disguised as a man and later openly as a woman. She was wounded several times but survived and received a military burial when she eventually died of old age. Ann Mills was another British dragoon who fought on the frigate Maidstone in 1740.

Phoebe Hessel's gravestone in Brighton churchyard Sussex, tells of her having, "served for many years as a private Soldier in the 5th Reg't of foot in different parts of Europe and in the year 1745 fought under the command of the Duke of Cumberland at the Battle of Fontenoy where she received a bayonet wound in her arm. Her long life which commenced in the time of Queen Anne extended into the reign of George IV, by whose munificence she received comfort and support in her later years."

Angelique Brulon defended Corsica in seven campaigns between 1792 and 1799. At first she fought disguised as a man, by the time her gender was discovered she had proved so valuable in battle that she was allowed to remain in the military fighting openly as a woman. She commanded male troops at Calvi who later drew up a testimonial which read in part, "We the garrison at Calvi certify that Marie-Angelique Josephine Duchemin Brulon, acting sergeant, commanding the attack on Fort Gesco, fought with us with the courage of a heroine". They went on to commend her skill with a sword and in hand to hand combat. She was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in 1822 and personally presented the French Legion of Honor by Napoleon III.

Marie Schellinck, a Belgian, fought for France in the Napoleonic Wars. She was wounded at Jemmappes, Austerlitz and Jena. She received the French Legion of Honor and a military pension in 1808. Virginie Ghesquiere who fought under Junot in Portugal and Angelique Brulon were two other women awarded the French Legion of Honor in the 18th century.

In 1807 Napoleon removed the French Legion of Honor from his own chest and awarded it to Ducaud Laborde, who fought openly as a woman with a troop of hussars at the battles of Eylau, Friedland and Waterloo. Although she was wounded at Friedland she continued to fight and captured 6 prisoners. At Waterloo her husband was killed and her military career ended when a cannon ball destroyed her leg.

Elizabeth Hatzler wore the uniform of a French dragoon and fought beside her husband in several battles in 1812. She carried him during the army's retreat after he was wounded in a losing battle against the Cossacks.

Sylvia Mariotti served as a private in the 11th Battalion of the Italian Bersaglieri from 1866 to 1879. She fought the Austrians in the Battle of Custozza.

Next Tuesday Part IX of Women Warriors:

Women Revolutionaries

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on March 16:
1739 George Clymer US merchant (signed Declaration of Independence, Constitution)
1751 James Madison Port Conway VA, (D-R), 4th US President (1809-17)
1787 Georg Simon Ohm physicist (discovered Ohm's Law)
1802 George Archibald McCall Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1868
1806 Norbert Rillieux inventor (sugar refiner)
1812 Henry Dwight Terry Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1869
1822 John Pope Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1892
1832 Charles Camp Doolittle Brevet Major General (Union volunteer)
1836 Andrew S Hallidie inventor (cable car)
1839 René François Armand Sully Prudhomme France, poet, 1st Nobel winner (1901)
1849 Reverend James E Smith became father at 100 with woman 64 years younger
1868 Maxim Gorki USSR, playwright (The Lower Depths, Night Asylum)
1878 Reza Sjah Pahlawi [Reza Chan], shah of Iran
1884 Harrison Ford Kansas City MO, silent screen actor (Just Married, Vanity Fair, Love In High Gear , Rubber Tires)
1903 Mike Mansfield (Senator-Democrat-MT) majority whip
1906 Henny Youngman London England, comedian (Take my wife please)
1920 Leo McKern Sydney Australia, actor (Rumpole of the Bailey)
1926 Jerry Lewis [Joseph Levitch] Newark NJ, entertainer/fund raiser (MDA), especially loved in France
1927 Daniel Patrick Moynihan US ambassador to UN/(Senator-Democrat-NY, 1977-2001)
1927 Vladimir M Komarov Moscow Russia, cosmonaut (Voshkod I Soyuz 1)
1932 Ronnie Walter Cunningham Creston IA, Colonel USMC/astronaut (Apollo 7)
1933 Ruth Bader Ginsberg justice (US Supreme Court)
1942 Chuck Woolery Kentucky, TV game show host (Love Connection)
1954 Nancy Wilson San Francisco CA, rocker (Heart-These Dreams, Never, What about Love)
1956 Ozzie Newsome NFL tight end (Cleveland Browns)
1959 Michael J Bloomfield Flint MI, Major USAF/astronaut (STS 86)
1963 Phung Vuong Saigon Vietnam, murderer (FBI Most Wanted List)
1976 Michelle Rae Collie Miss Bahamas-Universe (1996)

Deaths which occurred on March 16:
0037 Tiberius Claudius Nero emperor of Rome (14-37), dies at 77
1838 Nathaniel Bowditch astronomer & navigation expert, dies at 64
1881 Modest P Mussorgsky Russian composer (Boris Godunov), dies at 42
1882 Charles R Darwin English naturalist (Origin of species), dies at 73
1914 Gaston Calmette editor (Le Figaro), killed by Madame Caillaux at 55
1933 Alfred Her Hungarian mathematician, dies at 47
1935 John J R Macleod Scot/Canadian physiologist (Nobel 1923), dies at 58
1957 Mosa Pijade Yugoslavian MP (communist), dies at 67
1959 John Sailling last documented Civil War vet, dies at 111
1970 Tammi Terrell singer (Ain't No Mountain High Enough, You're All I Need), dies from brain tumor at 23
1971 Thomas E Dewey US Presidential candidate (R 1944, 48), dies at 68
1975 T-Bone Walker blues guitarist (Funky Town, Well Done), dies at 64
1978 Aldo Moro 5 times Prime Minister of Italy, assassinated by terrorists
1979 Jean Monnet French economist/CEO (ECSC), dies at 90
1983 Arthur Godfrey TV host (Arthur Godrey Show), dies at 79
1991 7 members of Reba McIntire's band killed in a plane crash
1996 Peter Clemoes Anglo-Saxon scholar, dies at 76

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1962 NAU GEORGE---PACOIMA CA.
1966 UNDERWOOD PAUL GERARD---HORNELL NY.
[REMAINS RETURNED - ID 02/04/98]
1968 ERICKSON DAVID WAYNE---MINNEAPOLIS MN.
1968 KRAUSMAN EDWARD L.---BURBANK CA.
1969 BARNES CHARLES R.---FULLERTON PA.
1969 BATT MICHAEL L.---DEFIANCE OH.
1969 BOBE RAYMOND E.---TARRANT AL.
1969 FOSTER MARVIN L.---HUBBARD TX.
1969 SMITH DAVID R.---DAYTON OH.
1971 SCRIVENER STEPHEN RUSSELL---TAMPA FL.
1971 SEELEY DOUGLAS MILTON---MARIETTA OH.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
1079 Iran adopts solar Hijrah calendar
1190 Jews of York England commit mass sucide rather than submit to baptism
1345 Holy spirit glides above fire; "the miracle of Amsterdam" (legend)
1517 Pope Leo X signs 5th Council of Lateranen
1521 Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reaches Philippines
1527 Battle at Khanua: Mogol Emperor Babur beats Rajputen
1621 Native American chief visits colony of Plymouth MA
1641 General court declares Rhode Island a democracy & adopts new constitution
1660 English Long Parliament disbands
1690 French king Louis XIV sends troops to Ireland
1731 Treaty of Vienna: Emperor Charles VI of England & Netherlands
1792 Murder attempt on King Gustavus III by count Ankarstrom at opera
1802 Law signed to establish US Military Academy (West Point NY)
1802 US army Corps of Engineers established (2nd time)
1829 Ohio authorizes high school night classes
1830 London's re-organised police force (Scotland Yard) forms
1830 New York Stock Exchange slowest day ever (31 shares traded)
1833 Susan Hayhurst becomes 1st US woman grad of a pharmacy college
1836 Texas approves a constitution
1850 Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter" published
1861 Arizona Territory votes to leave the Union
1861 Confederate government appoints commissioners to Britain
1862 Battle at Pound Gap KY: Confederates separate battles
1865 Battle of Averasboro NC (1,500 casualities)
1869 Hiram R Revels makes the 1st official speech by a black in the Senate
1871 1st fertilizer law enacted
1876 Nelly Saunders & Rose Harland fight 1st female boxing match (New York)
1900 American League meets in Chicago, Ban Johnson announces that an American League teams will be in Chicago, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Detroit, Cleveland & Buffalo
1900 Sir Arthur Evans finds old city of Knossus
1910 Barney Oldfield sets land speed record of 131.7 mph at Daytona
1912 Mrs William Howard Taft plants 1st cherry tree in Washington DC
1915 British battle cruisers Inflexible & Irresistible hit mines in Dardanelle
1915 Federal Trade Commission organizes
1918 Geoffrey O'Hara's "K-K-K-Katy" song published
1922 Sultan Fuad I crowned king of Egypt, England recognizes Egypt
1926 Robert Goddard launches 1st liquid fuel rocket, goes 184' (56 meter)
1930 USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) floated out to become a national shrine
1934 Congress passes Migratory Bird Conservation Act
1935 Hitler orders German rearmament, violating Versailles Treaty
1939 Germany occupies Czechoslovakia
1939 Hungary annexes republic of Karpato-Ukraine
1940 German air raid on British fleet base Scapa Flow
1941 Blizzard hits North Dakota & Minnesota killing 60
1941 Dmitri Shostakovich receives the Stalin Prize
1941 National Gallery of Art opens in Washington DC
1944 Vichy Internal minister Pucheu sentenced to death
1945 US defeats Japan at Iwo Jima
1952 1870 mm rain in Cilaos, Réunion (world record)
1952 Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins LPGA Titleholders Golf Championship
1953 American League rejects Bill Veeck's request to move St Louis Browns to Baltimore
1959 Iraq & USSR sign economic/technical treaty
1962 1st launching of Titan 2-rocket
1962 US Super-Constellation disappears above Pacific Ocean, kills 167
1964 Paul Hornung & Alex Karras reinstated in NFL after 1 year suspension(gambling)
1966 Gemini 8 launched with Armstrong & Scott, aborted after 6.5 orbits
1968 My Lai massacre occurs (Vietnam War); 450 die
1968 Robert F Kennedy announces Presidential campaign
1969 Peter Stone & Sherman Edward's "1776" premieres at 46th St Theater NYC for 1217 performances
1971 KDCD TV channel 18 in Midland TX (IND) suspends broadcasting
1972 John & Yoko are served with deportation papers
1977 US President Carter pleads for Palestinian homeland
1978 Amoco Cadiz tanker spills 68.7 million gallons of oil off French coast
1978 Red Brigade kidnaps former premier Aldo Moro in Italy, 5 killed
1978 Soyuz 26 returns to Earth
1978 US Senate accepts Panamá Canal treaty
1979 CBS-TV airs "Wings Over the World" with Paul McCartney
1984 Terrorists kidnap William Buckley, CIA station chief in Beirut
1985 Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson taken hostage in Beirut
1985 Denny McLain, pitcher; convicted of racketeering, sentenced to 25 years
1988 Federal grand jury indicts Marine Lt. Col. Oliver L. North & Navy Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter in Iran-Contra affair
1988 North-Ireland Protestant fires on Catholic funeral, 3 killed
1988 US sends 3000 soldiers to Nicaragua's neighbor Honduras
1991 7 members of Reba McEntire's band are killed in a plane crash
1991 Members of Irish Gay & Lesbian Organization march in NYC parade
1994 Moravcik forms Slovakia government
1994 Tonya Harding pleads guilty to felony attack on Nancy Kerrigan
1995 Mississippi House of Representatives ratifies 13th Amendement-formally abolishes slavery
1996 In his weekly radio address, President Bill Clinton accused the Republican-controlled House of bowing to "the back-alley whispers of the gun lobby" by gutting anti-terrorism legislation he'd submitted in response to the Oklahoma City bombing.
1996 For the first time, ordinary citizens were allowed inside the central archives of the Stasi, the former East German secret police.
2000 White house denied that Hillary Rodham Clinton or senior White House officials had sought FBI background files of Republicans.

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Surinam : Holi Phagwah
Umatilla OR : Curlew Day
US : Daffodil Days (Day 3)
US : Straw Hat Week (Day 3)
National Women's History Month

Religious Observances
Christian : Feast of fictional St Urho, patron of Finland
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of SS Abraham, hermit, & Mary, penitant
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St John de Brébeuf & companions/martyrs

Religious History
597 BC According to certain archaeological calculations, the first conquest of Jerusalem by Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar occurred. In the Bible, the event is recorded in 2 Kings 24:1ff. and in 2 Chronicles 36:5-8. It is also implied in the early chapters of Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
1621 Birth of George Neumark, German educator. Twice in life he lost everything: once by robbers and once by fire. As a poet, Neumark is best remembered as author of the hymn, "If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee."
1915 Birth of Dr. Robert H. Bowman, missions pioneer. In 1945, along with John Broger and William J. Roberts, Bowman helped found the Far East Broadcasting Company. Today FEBC reaches thousands of Pacific island clusters with the Gospel through Christian radio.
1952 The first religious program on TV, "This Week in Religion," debuted on Dumont television. It was the only ecumenical program of TV's early religious offerings, and ran for two years, last airing in October 1954.
1970 The complete text of the New English Bible was published, simultaneously, by the Oxford and Cambridge Presses. (The New Testament of the NEB had been first published in 1961.)

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"He is truly wise who gains wisdom from another`s mishap."

Word of the day...
inoculatte (-nk'y-lät)
(v.) To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

New State Slogans
Oregon: Spotted Owl ... It's What's For Dinner

Amazing Fact # 45...
The Hundred Year War actually lasted 116 years (1337 to 1453).

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