On the American version of civil war this time: arriving in my inbox a review of Thomas P. Lowry. Confederate Heroines: 120 Southern Women Convicted by Union Military Justice. And it looks like it contains some great characters, as in this example:
Readers also learn of the remarkable case of Mary S. Terry of Maryland, who was arrested for smuggling when she was found in possession of nearly $2000.00 worth of contraband goods. Even though this was not the first time she had come to the attention of the military justice system for such offenses, the military commission trying her case initially decided to impose a fairly light punishment, requiring only that she take the oath of allegiance, accept a parole on her honor, and stay north of New Jersey’s southern border. When the commission’s decisions were sent to Gen. Lew Wallace for review, however, they provoked an exasperated and interesting response. Wallace complained that the court had imposed much too light a sentence for a woman who was demonstrated to be “an intelligent, bold, defiant, energetic, masculine Rebel, bent on mischief,” and he asked how the commission could possibly “give faith to the honor of such an unsexed merchant” (pp. 50-51), before compelling the commission to reconsider its findings. The commission responded by revising the sentence to a one-year imprisonment in a female prison in Salem, Massachusetts. As if this was not enough, it was soon thereafter discovered that there was no female prison in Salem. Consequently, Terry ended up being sent to the female prison in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, an institution that saw a number of the women whose experiences are chronicled in this book pass through its gates.
Full review here.
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