Women fought on both cides in the War Between the States (Civil War), some of them disguised as men. Loreta J. Velasquez, a New Orleans girl of Cuban descent, entered the Confederate Army under the name Harry T. Buford and rose to be a lieutenant. Another Southerner, Rebecca Stevenson, organized a women's battalion togavenge the death of her fiance and fought valiantly in the defence of Chattanooga.
The first known women warriors were the Amazons of Asia Minor, of whom the Greek historian Herodotus has left us a detailed account.
Records of the Middle Ages likewise abound in exploits of female warriors. Mohammed's favourite wife, Ayesha, was a redoubtable fighter, as was Tuta-Kina, the wife of the Mongol conqueror, Genghis Khan. During the second half of the eleventh century the armies of Pope Gregory VII and his successors were commanded by Countess Matilda of Tuscany, who fought repeatedly against German forces. The most famous of medieval women warriors, however, was Joan of Are, the Maid of Orleans, Who led the French armies against the English in the Hundred Years War.
In modern times France can boast the great. est number of women soldiers. At the outbreak of the French Revolution several women battalions were organized. They fought in the front lines against the Prussian, Austrian and German armies and many rose from the ranks by reason of gallantry. A few continued to serve under Napoleon during his campaigns.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.