newberrylibrary:Kady Brownell, pictured above, was one of 250 women who fought in the Civil War.Brow
newberrylibrary:Kady Brownell, pictured above, was one of 250 women who fought in the Civil War.Brownell was born Kady Southwell in Kaffraria, South Africa, to a French mother and Scottish father. Shortly after her birth, Brownell moved to Providence, Rhode Island, where she would become a weaver in textile mills. When the Civil War began, Brownell’s soon-to-be husband, Robert Brownell, enlisted in the 1st Rhode Island Infantry; Brownell was determined to join him. Rhode Island Governor William Sprague accepted her into his unit.Once in Washington, Colonel Ambrose Burnside made Brownell a Color Bearer and Daughter of the Regiment. She was charged with carrying the flag into battle (considered a great honor), and was an active participant in several battles—both as soldier and nurse. Brownell won the admiration of her contemporaries, lauded as a “skillful sharpshooter and expert swordsman.”When her husband was wounded and discharged, she, too, returned home.This portrait, taken after the war’s conclusion, was featured in Frank Moore’s Women of the War: Their Heroism and Self Sacrifice, published in 1866. Brownell posed for the photograph, which was subsequently transformed into a steal engraving. -- source link
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