Women Disguised in American Civil War Armies, 1861–1865

Military enlistment was formally male, yet surviving pension files, arrests, newspaper reports and memoirs show that women entered both Union and Confederate forces under male identities. Some sought wages or adventure, some followed family members, and others acted from political conviction.

Women also worked openly as nurses, relief organisers and physicians, although medical education and military authority remained heavily restricted. Discovery could bring dismissal, ridicule or the erasure of service from official records.

The Velvet Shadow uses this history for Flanna O’Connor, a medical student who disguises herself and moves south with the Union Army. Her fictional experience connects the hazards of combat with the struggle to be recognised as both soldier and doctor.