Notes & Queries

Notes & Queries EDITED BY BOYD B. STUTLER 517 Main Street Charleston, West Virginia this depabtment is designed as an open forum for researchers into Civil War themes and readers of Civil War History. It is open for questions on and discussion of phases of the Great Conflict and its personnel; also, we welcome notes on newly discovered, little known, or unrecorded sidelights of the war. Contributions are invited; address Notes and Queries Editor. QUERIES No. 43—Mary Owens, Alias John Evans, Combat Soldier: As a result of lax recruitment procedure and inadequate examinations, some 400 women managed to enlist in regularly organized regiments for service in the Civil War. Many of them were discharged soon after enlistment because of their inability to conceal their sex; others actually accompanied their outfits into battle. The following item from the DaUy Evening Gazette, (Pittsburgh, Pa.), dated February 6, 1863, tells of one woman who reached the battlefield: "A correspondent writing from Broadtop, Huntington County, (Pa.), relates an interview with a woman named Mary Owens, who had just returned from the Army, in full uniform. This remarkable woman accompanied her husband to the Army and fought by his side until he fell. She was in service eighteen months, and took part in three battles and was wounded twice; first in the face above the right eye, and then in her arm, which required her to be taken to the hospital, where she confessed to the deception. "She had enlisted in Danville, Montour County, Pennsylvania, under the name of John Evans, [giving] as her reason for this romantic under439 440BOYD B. STUTLEB taking the fact that her father was uncompromising in his hostility to her marriage to Mr. Owens, threatening violence in case she disobeyed his commands; whereupon, after having been secretly married, she donned the United States uniform, enlisted in the same company with her husband , endured all the hardships of the camp, the dangers of the battlefield , saw her husband fall dead by her side, and is now wounded and a widow. Mrs. Owens looks young, is rather pretty, and is the heroine of the neighborhood. She is of Welsh parentage." Query: Can any one furnish further material on this couple, Mary Owens and her husband, or identify the regiment in which they served? Jack Feeley No. 44—First Attempt at Camouflage Uniforms: A diary of a New England soldier stationed in West Virginia in the spring of 1864 tells that the new uniforms issued his company were of a pea-green color. This diary, once read, cannot now be located. Query: Can any one identify the combat unit? Also, was this the first attempt at camouflage uniforms? Kyle McCormick No. 45—Original Form of Lee's "Lost Dispatch": The text of General Lee's Order No. 191 to his Corps Commanders, dated September 9, 1862—the famous "Lost Dispatch"—is readily available in contemporary copies and in printed texts, but I am interested in knowing the exact physical form of the order as it was prepared at Lee's Headquarters. Query: How many pages did it contain? What were the size and color of paper? Was it written on one side of separate sheets or written on both sides? In brief, what is an exact and complete description of the order? Donald J. Sobol NOTES Stephen A. Douglas Papers: An important work, and one long needed, is a collection of the correspondence and papers of Stephen A. Douglas. This project has been undertaken by Professor Robert W. Johannsen, Department of History, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, who is at present concerned with locating all existing original Douglas material for publication in a series of volumes. The work is being supported by a grant from the Unversity of Kansas General Research Fund. Professor Johannsen would like to hear from any readers who have, or know of the existence of, any Douglas material. Carried Civil War Bullet in Heart 37 Years: For thirty-seven years a West Virginia Civil War veteran carried a bushwhacker's bullet in his heart with no apparent ill effect. He lived a Notes 6- Queries441 normal life, operated a farm, and apparently was not disturbed by the pellet after...