James Anderson, prisoner of war, 1862
In the American Civil War, both sides of the conflict included female-bodied soldiers fighting as men. James Anderson fought on the Confederate side and was captured by Union forces at the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky, on 8 October 1862.
What’s interesting here is that Anderson appears to have been content to be identified by this name; newspaper stories at the time often included the individual’s baptismal name, which is lacking here. (“She-sesh” is an overly clever play on “secesh,” which refers to someone loyal to the Confederacy.) This is the only mention of Anderson in newspapers.
On Saturday afternoon. Louisville Daily Democrat [Louisville, Kentucky] 2 December 1862; p. 2.
On Saturday afternoon, as the rebel prisoners were about leaving the military prison for Portland, Capt. Watkins made the discovery that a she-sesh was in the party, dressed in male attire of a butternut color. As she came with them some time ago, she naturally expected to go with them to Vicksburg, but in this she was disappointed. She gave her name as James Anderson, and says she belonged to the 5th Tennessee regiment, with whom she has been in the service near fifteen months, and was captured at the battle of Chaplin Hills.
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