Shortly after being imprisoned, Frances made a desperate attempt to escape. An alert guard spotted her and ordered her to halt. When she ignored his orders and continued to run, the guard raised his rifle and fired, wounding her in the leg. Frances was carried into the prison hospital where the doctor dressing her wound discovered that Pvt. Frank Henderson was a woman. She was assigned a separate room and given special treatment. The prison authorities placed her on the list of the next prisoners to be exchanged.
On February 27, 1864, Colonel Burke of the 10th Ohio Infantry went to Graysville, Georgia, under a flag of truce, with authority from General Thomas to exchange 27 Confederate prisoners for 27 Union prisoners. Pvt. Frank Henderson was one of the 27 Union prisoners exchanged. She was placed in a Nashville hospital until she recovered from her wound.
While in the hospital she revealed her story. She had evidently also revealed her story to the Confederate doctors after they discovered her gender. The Confederacy must have been quite impressed with her daring and courage, because while in the prison hospital she received a letter from President Jefferson Davis. He offered her a commission as Lieutenant in the Confederate army if she would switch sides. Her response to President Davis was that she would rather fight as a private soldier for the Union than to be honored with a commission in the Confederate army and that she would let herself be hanged before ever raising a hand against the Union.
Upon hearing this report, Dr. Mary E. Walker, a Union army surgeon, proposed that Frances Hook should be made a Lieutenant in the Union army. She also argued that Congress should assign women to duty in the army, with pay, as well as colored men because patriotism had no sex or color.
Frances Hook served her country well. She stood firm in battle and never wavered in her resolve to do her patriotic duty for her country.
8
Charlotte Hatfield: Woman Soldier
The true last name of Charlotte is unknown; her nickname was “Mountain Charley.” She used the name Charley Hatfield when she disguised herself to enlist in the Union army as a fighting soldier.
Charlotte was born in rural Iowa in 1840. Her mother died in 1858 when Charlotte was 18 years old, leaving her in the care of a step-father who treated her as a hired hand and discouraged any young men who seemed interested in her.
At the age of 19 she eloped with a young man who was relatively new to the area. They traveled to Des Moines, Iowa, where they were married. Her new husband was a gambler and his lifestyle kept him away from her for much of the time. One year after their marriage, Charlotte delivered their baby, which was stillborn. Her husband was quite angry with her for losing the baby. He beat her severely and left her alone without a means of support. Charlotte later found out that he had run off with another woman whom he had been seeing throughout their marriage. In her anger, Charlotte vowed that someday she would find them and get revenge for what they had done to her.
She set out looking for work hoping to be able to save enough to fund her quest for revenge. She found employment in St. Joseph, Missouri, and was able, over a period of time, to save enough money to begin her search for her husband. She heard rumors that he was headed west to Colorado. Intent on revenge, she set out for the gold fields around Pikes Peak, Colorado. In order to avoid the many problems of a woman traveling alone, she disguised herself as a man. Much to her surprise she fit the part very well; even her female friends did not recognize her.
While crossing the plains on her mule, she met an old friend named George West. West was a publisher by trade. He and his party were heading for Pikes Peak to search for gold. He did not recognize Charlotte in her disguise and she was allowed to ride with his company the rest of the way to Pikes Peak. She inquired about her husband in each town along the way and with small bits and pieces of information she was able to track him from town to town. Soon after her arrival in Colorado, she was finally successful in locating her husband and the woman he had run off with. She quickly changed into women’s clothing so they would recognize her. She faced them while they were together and took her revenge. What the revenge was is unclear. But afterward she was in quite a hurry to get away. As she fled the town a group of intoxicated young men spotted her and gave chase. Once they caught her they were determined to have their way with her. Just as she was about to be assaulted, her old friend George West came upon the scene and ran the young men off. She thanked him and after explaining what she was doing in Colorado, promised to give George her story on the condition that he would not publish it for 25 years. George agreed and Charlotte continued her escape into the night.
The next day George received a note from Charlotte asking him to saddle her mule and bring it with him to an isolated spot in the mountains where she would tell him her story. He complied with her request and met her on the trail. They rode together to a secluded cabin where, after building a fire, she revealed her story. As they parted company, they agreed to keep in touch with each other. George later returned to his home in Golden, Colorado.
In late 1860 George West received a letter from Charlotte stating that she was living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 1861, George went to see her in a casino in Denver, Colorado, where she was working as a dealer. She explained to him that she was working her way back to Iowa.
When the Civil War began in 1861, George West enlisted in the Union army and served in Colorado as an officer. During the war he stayed in touch with Charlotte.
In September 1861, at the age of 21, Charlotte enlisted in the 3rd Iowa Cavalry Regiment at Keokuk, Iowa, as Private Charley Hatfield. She was assigned as headquarters clerk for the regiment under General Samuel R. Curtis.
Pvt. Hatfield’s service as a spy for General Curtis began shortly after entering the army. He volunteered to infiltrate the Confederate lines dressed as a woman carrying eggs from her home. She would tell the Confederates that she got lost and found herself trapped between the two armies. She would be taken into the Confederate camps where she would be allowed to sell her eggs. She would go about selling the eggs and listening for valuable information.
On the day before the Battle of Westport, Confederate Major Arthur McCoy escorted the crying woman into the Confederate camp where she sold her eggs. He then assigned an escort to help her home. Just then, a courier rushed into the camp with an urgent dispatch. The entire camp reacted with excitement. As General Shelby mounted his horse to depart, a folded piece of paper fell from his jacket pocket.
Charley waited in the shadows until the soldiers had all fled, and then she grabbed the note and made her way back to the Union lines. The note contained vital information about the Confederate forces and their placements for the upcoming Battle of Westport.
On the eve of the Battle of Westport, an orderly reported to George West at his regimental headquarters with a message that he was to report to General Curtis. On the way to the General’s office, the orderly whispered to George West that she was his old friend Mountain Charley. George was quite amazed and when he looked closely at her he did indeed recognize his old friend. She told him that she had been in the army for two years without being discovered, and that she often acted as a spy for General Curtis. George West never saw Charley again.
In preparation for the Battle of Westport, on October 22, 1864, the 3rd Iowa Cavalry took positions along the Big Blue River to oppose Confederate General Sterling Price and Confederate General Joseph Shelby. On October 23, 1864, General Shelby attacked the Union forces under General Curtis at Westport, Missouri. General Price checked the Union advance on Shelby’s forces with a strong counterattack. The Union cavalry then broke through the Confederate rear defenses and forced them to flee down the border between Missouri and Mississippi. The Battle of Westport was a Union victory.
During the Battle of Westport, Charley carried dispatches throughout the camp and battlefield and was later commended for his bravery. During the second day of battle, however, Charley’s horse was shot out from under him and he was seriously wounded. Confederate Gener
al Joseph Shelby’s men found him lying on the battlefield next to his horse. Charley was weak from loss of blood as a result of a mini ball wound in the leg and a saber cut to the shoulder. He was taken to the Confederate hospital for treatment.
Confederate doctor Jesse Terry treated Charley’s wounds and discovered that Private Charley Hatfield was a woman. Charley begged the doctor to keep her secret. The doctor agreed and completed his care of Charley in secret. He also placed her name on the next prisoner exchange list. She was soon exchanged and transported to the army hospital in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, to recover from the wounds.
While in the hospital at Fort Leavenworth, she was notified that General Curtis had written the Governor of Iowa recommending that Pvt. Charley Hatfield be promoted to 1st Lieutenant. The request was approved and after returning to the regiment Charley was promoted to a 1st Lieutenant and made aide-de-camp to General Curtis.
Charlotte served as Lt. Charley Hatfield with the regiment for the rest of the war without her sex being discovered. She was mustered out at Des Moines, Iowa, on August 9, 1865.
On January 14, 1885, after keeping his promise to Charley for 25 years, George West published her story. Charley, who was living back home in Iowa, read the article. She wrote to George on February 8, 1885, and let him know that she had been married for eight years and had four children. She sent him a copy of her diary, which was an account of her life since they had last seen each other. Her husband was a man West had known in Colorado. She asked him not to reveal her name or address if he used her diary. George West kept her name and address secret as she requested.
Mountain Charley was one of the most courageous women of the Civil War. Her loyalty, bravery and patriotism make her one of American history’s great women.
9
Sarah Malinda Pritchard Blalock: Woman Soldier and Guerrilla Raider
As incredible as it seems, there was one woman soldier in the Civil War who fought for both the Union army and the Confederacy. She fought for the Confederacy disguised as a man and later fought for the Union army as a woman guerrilla and raider. Her name was Sarah Malinda Pritchard Blalock.
As guerrillas and raiders for the Union, Malinda and her husband Keith led raids throughout the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. They led their own guerrilla band of raiders under authority of the Union army. They acted as scouts and pilots, guiding recruits out of the South to the Union regiments in Kentucky and Tennessee. They guided Union escaped prisoners of war back to the safety of the Union lines. They acted as scouts and raiders for the 10th Michigan Cavalry Regiment under General George Stoneman’s Federal raiders and conducted raids across North Carolina.
Malinda, as she preferred to be called, was born in Alexander County, North Carolina, in 1839, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Pritchard. She was the sixth of nine Pritchard children.
At the age of 17, Malinda married her childhood sweetheart, William McKesson “Keith” Blalock. They were married in early April 1856 at the Presbyterian church in Coffey’s Gap in Watauga County, North Carolina. The marriage was unusual for the mountain area since it was between two feuding families, the Pritchards and the Blalocks, who had been enemies for over 100 years.
Keith Blalock was born on November 21, 1837, on Grandfather Mountain five miles from the home of Malinda. Keith and Malinda met in school and were childhood sweethearts.
As the Civil War drew closer and loyalties became stronger, the feelings about secession and an impending war were mixed for the mountain people. Many favored secession and becoming part of the Confederacy while others believed in the Union and keeping the nation united.
In April 1861, when the Civil War began, several of Keith’s family went North to join the Union army. Keith stayed in North Carolina and worked his farm with Malinda at his side.
On May 20, 1861, North Carolina adopted an Ordinance of Secession and the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States of America.
When Confederate recruiters pressured Keith to enlist he refused. He managed to stay out of the war until mid–June 1861, despite harsh criticism from the local people. Finally, two recruiters came to the Blalock home and told Keith that he would either enlist in the Confederate army or face the consequences. The consequences would be conscription, and if he refused he would be treated as a traitor.
Keith reluctantly enlisted for one year in Company F of the 26th North Carolina Infantry Regiment. He was allowed to delay his reporting date until November 15 in order to harvest his crops. Though reluctant, Keith enlisted mainly to keep the mountain people from retaliating against Malinda as the wife of a turncoat.
In November, as Keith was marching down the road to Newton to join his unit, he noticed a short soldier marching beside him. He was quite startled when he discovered that the soldier was Malinda. She had cut her beautiful long hair off with Keith’s hunting knife, put on baggy men’s clothing to hide her gender, and was carrying Keith’s own hunting rifle on her shoulder. She quickly explained to Keith that her place was with her husband and she was going to fight by his side. She had enlisted in the same company as Keith as Sam Blalock, brother of Keith, and gave her age as 20 years. Both Keith and Malinda had received $50 bounty for enlisting.
While with the 26th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, Keith and Malinda participated in three battles. During the third battle Malinda was wounded in the shoulder by a minié ball.
The engagement in which Malinda was wounded was the result of orders to track down a group of partisans who were aiding the Federal scouts for General Ambrose Burnside’s advancing army.
While the Confederate patrol was wading across the Neuse River, Keith suddenly had a feeling that something was wrong. He stopped the advance and the group headed back to the riverbank. When they had almost reached the riverbank the Union troops across the river opened fire. The Confederate soldiers threw their rifles upon the bank to keep them from getting wet and submerged themselves in the river to avoid the rifle fire till they reached the shore and could run into the cover of the woods.
Keith came up behind a large pine tree, which had fallen from the bank. He began to look for Malinda, who he found behind another tree. She was clutching her musket with one hand and her shoulder with the other. Seeing that she had taken a minié ball in the shoulder, Keith quickly pulled out his handkerchief and stuffed it into the hole. Keith carried Malinda back to the regimental doctor.
The regimental doctor discovered that Sam Blalock was a woman when he removed her shirt to treat the wound. Keith and Malinda pleaded with him to keep their secret. The doctor agreed to keep quiet for two days only until Malinda would be back on her feet.
Since Keith had planned to desert the Confederate army but found no opportunity to do so, he now decided to act. As he could not escape by slipping away, he decided to try for a medical discharge. He rubbed his entire body down with poison sumac and soon developed a bad rash.
Seeing his body covered with a rash and sores led the Confederate doctor to determine that Keith was unfit for duty. Keith received a medical discharge on April 20, 1862. Malinda immediately revealed her gender to the regiment’s colonel, Zebulon Vance.
When she revealed to Colonel Vance that she was Malinda Blalock, the wife of Keith Blalock and not his brother, the colonel demanded that she repay the $50 bounty. She repaid the bounty and was discharged on the same day as Keith. They had served with the Confederate army for six months and had fought in three battles.
Keith and Malinda returned to their home on Grandfather Mountain. Keith was treated for his poison sumac with brine baths and after an extended period of time he made a full recovery.
The State of North Carolina passed the Conscription Act while Keith was recovering from his illness. The area residents began to question Keith about returning to his regiment. Keith refused, stating that he had done his duty and had received a discharge.
When Keith was ordered to re-enlist or be considered
a traitor, he realized that under the Conscription Act he could be taken by force. Pickets were set around the Blalock farm to keep Keith from fleeing.
During the night, Keith and Malinda gathered food and provisions and waited for the pre-dawn mist to rise from the valley below to cover their escape. They quietly slipped past the militia who were guarding all routes from their home.
Keith and Malinda gathered a band of Unionist men who, like themselves, had escaped into the mountains. This band of Unionists stayed on top of the mountain until the militia discovered their hideout. When their camp was attacked, Keith was shot in the arm. All Keith’s men were captured. Keith and Malinda managed to escape into eastern Tennessee.
During the winter of 1862–1863, Keith and Malinda joined a band of Union guerrilla raiders and raided Confederate camps and depots, burned bridges across the Watauga River and destroyed Confederate railroads. Keith and Malinda were considered Yankee partisans by the Union, but were considered bushwhackers by the Confederacy.
During the winter months Keith and Malinda had helped several men escape from the area around their home to the safety of the Tennessee line where they joined the Union partisans. Also during the winter, two Union officers visited the camp and advised Keith and Malinda that they were seeking someone with knowledge of the mountains to guide potential recruits out of North Carolina. The purpose was to form a regiment of cavalry raiders, which would be designated the 10th Michigan Cavalry under General George Stoneman.
Sarah Malinda Pritchard Blalock. Courtesy of the Southern Historical Collection, the Library of the University of North Carolina.
Keith and Malinda volunteered. Keith was appointed recruiting officer and scout captain of the 10th Michigan Cavalry Regiment and Malinda was appointed his aide-de-camp. They were both provided with Federal uniforms.
Women in the Civil War Page 6
