Mary Burns (soldier)

Mary Burns or John Burns was an American woman who disguised herself as a man in order to fight in the American Civil War.[1] She enlisted in the 7th Michigan Volunteer Cavalry Regiment in order not to be parted from her lover, who was in the same regiment.[2] Her sex was discovered ten days after being recognized by an acquaintance,[3] before her company had left Detroit. [4] She was arrested in uniform, held in the city jail, charged with masquerading as a man, and sent home. The account of the incident in the Detroit Advertiser and Tribune (February 25, 1863) described the defendant as "a very pretty woman".[5]

Mary Burns
Birth nameMary Burns
Other name(s)John Burns
Unit7th Michigan Volunteer Cavalry Regiment

See also

References
  1. Nofi, Albert A. (22 March 1995). A Civil War Treasury: Being A Miscellany Of Arms And Artillery, Facts And Figures, Legends And Lore, Muses And Minstrels And Personalities And People. Hachette Books. p. 357. ISBN 978-0-306-80622-3. OCLC 31078934.
  2. DeAnne Blanton and Lauren M. Cook, They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the American Civil War. LSU Press, 2002. ISBN 0-8071-2806-6, pp. 31 and 124.
  3. Leonard, Elizabeth D. (1999). All the Daring of the Soldier: Women of the Civil War Armies. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 208. ISBN 0393047121.
  4. Mary Elizabeth Massey, Women in the Civil War. University of Nebraska Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8032-8213-3. p. 80, citing the Detroit Advertiser and Tribune, February 25, 1863. Available on Google books. Accessed 8 January 2008.
  5. Cited in Michigan Women in the Civil War. Michigan, 1963. p. 33.


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