Civil War Figure. Florena Budwin was a soldier of the American Civil War, and is believed to be the first woman soldier buried in a national cemetery. After the war, various oral traditions were to spring up concerning her. It was asserted that she had enlisted alongside her husband, an officer named Budwin from Pennsylvania - even though no officers named Budwin served for Pennsylvania; that her officer husband had died at Andersonville – even though the officer prison in Georgia was located at Macon; that her female identity was discovered at Florence, at which point she was taken from the Stockade and allowed to nurse the sick in the prison hospital; that local ladies brought her feminine clothing to wear after her identity was discovered; and that she eventually fell sick and died in the same hospital where she had nursed the sick.
A careful examination of unpublished prisoner diaries from the time of the Florence Stockade fails to reveal any mention of a female soldier. This is especially significant given that the most outrageous rumors were regularly repeated as fact by the prisoners in their diaries. Numerous official Confederate reports also survive from this time period, none of which make any mention of the discovery of a female soldier.
One should probably conclude that her tentmates kept her secret, and that her identity was only discovered by the burial crew. Her remains were placed in a trench amid the bodies of other soldiers. An early twentieth-century postcard showing the marble posts that originally marked the graves of the Unknown reveals that a discreet space was left on either side of Florena's body, doubtlessly as a final act of respect.
A careful examination of unpublished prisoner diaries from the time of the Florence Stockade fails to reveal any mention of a female soldier. This is especially significant given that the most outrageous rumors were regularly repeated as fact by the prisoners in their diaries. Numerous official Confederate reports also survive from this time period, none of which make any mention of the discovery of a female soldier.
One should probably conclude that her tentmates kept her secret, and that her identity was only discovered by the burial crew. Her remains were placed in a trench amid the bodies of other soldiers. An early twentieth-century postcard showing the marble posts that originally marked the graves of the Unknown reveals that a discreet space was left on either side of Florena's body, doubtlessly as a final act of respect.
Civil War Figure. Florena Budwin was a soldier of the American Civil War, and is believed to be the first woman soldier buried in a national cemetery. After the war, various oral traditions were to spring up concerning her. It was asserted that she had enlisted alongside her husband, an officer named Budwin from Pennsylvania - even though no officers named Budwin served for Pennsylvania; that her officer husband had died at Andersonville – even though the officer prison in Georgia was located at Macon; that her female identity was discovered at Florence, at which point she was taken from the Stockade and allowed to nurse the sick in the prison hospital; that local ladies brought her feminine clothing to wear after her identity was discovered; and that she eventually fell sick and died in the same hospital where she had nursed the sick.
A careful examination of unpublished prisoner diaries from the time of the Florence Stockade fails to reveal any mention of a female soldier. This is especially significant given that the most outrageous rumors were regularly repeated as fact by the prisoners in their diaries. Numerous official Confederate reports also survive from this time period, none of which make any mention of the discovery of a female soldier.
One should probably conclude that her tentmates kept her secret, and that her identity was only discovered by the burial crew. Her remains were placed in a trench amid the bodies of other soldiers. An early twentieth-century postcard showing the marble posts that originally marked the graves of the Unknown reveals that a discreet space was left on either side of Florena's body, doubtlessly as a final act of respect.
A careful examination of unpublished prisoner diaries from the time of the Florence Stockade fails to reveal any mention of a female soldier. This is especially significant given that the most outrageous rumors were regularly repeated as fact by the prisoners in their diaries. Numerous official Confederate reports also survive from this time period, none of which make any mention of the discovery of a female soldier.
One should probably conclude that her tentmates kept her secret, and that her identity was only discovered by the burial crew. Her remains were placed in a trench amid the bodies of other soldiers. An early twentieth-century postcard showing the marble posts that originally marked the graves of the Unknown reveals that a discreet space was left on either side of Florena's body, doubtlessly as a final act of respect.
Bio by: Albert Ledoux
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