Elizabeth Caroline Newcom (sometimes misspelt as Newcome; born c. 1825) was an American woman who enlisted to fight in the Mexican–American War. She served in Company D of the Missouri Volunteer Infantry as Bill Newcom,[1] and became the first female soldier to cross the Santa Fe Trail. She marched 600 miles from Missouri to the winter camp at Pueblo, Colorado, before she was discovered to be a woman and discharged. Newcom sued the government for land promised to her in return to her fighting, and was granted 160 acres by Congress.[2] Newcom enlisted on September 16, 1847, to follow her lover, Amandus V. Schnabel.[3] She participated in the conquest of New Mexico, and served for about ten months before being discharged.[4]
References
edit- ^ "Adventures in Feministory: Women in the US Military". Bitch Media. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
- ^ Bellafaire, Judith (2011-01-26). Women in the United States Military: An Annotated Bibliography. Routledge. ISBN 9781136854057.
- ^ Frank, Lisa Tendrich (2013-01-17). An Encyclopedia of American Women at War: From the Home Front to the Battlefields [2 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781598844443.
- ^ "Women in the U.S.-Mexican War - Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
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