Silvey, Anita.
I'LL PASS FOR YOUR COMRADE : WOMEN SOLDIERS IN THE CIVIL WAR
New York : Clarion, 2008
IL 5-8, RL 7.3
ISBN 0618574913

In I'll Pass for Your Comrade: Women Soldiers in the Civil War, by Anita Silvey, we may find the answer as we are treated to a look inside the lives of a few of these women. What people such as Martha Lindley, Sarah Edmonds, and Mary Ellen Wise endured is hard to believe, but through their letters and diaries, along with the colorful accounts of those who knew them, their exploits come alive.  Their male comrades lived and fought along side them, and the shocking secret was out if these women made a wrong move.   A few got caught--Lizzie Cook of Iowa displayed table manners that seemed too refined, while Sarah Collins of Wisconsin made the mistake of putting her shoes and stockings on in a way that caused suspicion.

Then there's Jennie Hodgers, who went on to live as a man for forty years after the war. When she died and her true identity was discovered, they gave her a burial with full military honors anyway.

Were they brave or crazy?  Maybe Rosetta Lyons? Wakeman provides a clue. In a letter to her family she wrote, 'I am as independent as a hog on the ice' One thing is sure, this little known piece of history is a tasty slice of American pie.  (Deann, dcarpenter@dclibraries.org, librarian)