Figure 3

Citation

photographer Unknown Photographer Photographer. “Kady Brownell.” 1861-65. Greg French Collection. Mirror of Race, 22 Jan. 2021, mirrorofrace.bc.edu/items/show/89. Accessed 18 May 2024.

Title

Kady Brownell

Subject

Kady Brownell

Creator

photographer Unknown Photographer Photographer

Date

1861-65

Type

Studio Portrait

Identifier

Figure 3

Rights Holder

Greg French Collection

Original Format

Carte de visite, albumen prin

Factual Commentary

Kady Brownell (1842-1915) was born in South Africa, in the camp of an officer of the British army, where she became used to military life. Around 1860, he immigrated to Providence, Rhode Island, where she worked in a factory and fell in love with the man she married, Robert Brownell. When Robert enlisted in a Rhode Island regiment, Kady insisted on joining him. She learned to shoot, use the sword, and bear the regimental flag. For a contemporary account of how she participated bravely in the battles of Bull Run and New Bern, see Women of the War: Their Heroism and Self-sacrifice (1866), by Frank Moore, pages 54-64. Brownell was the only woman in the Civil War to receive military discharge papers and, eventually, a veteran’s pension.