I'll Pass for Your Comrade

I'll Pass for Your Comrade, by Anita Silvey

March is Women's History Month and I'll Pass for Your Comrade by Anita Silvey is a great look at women soldiers in the Civil War. At a time when women could not serve in the military, they fought for the right to do their part during the war. Some women were laundresses and there were also women nurses for the Union Army, organized by Dorothea Dix. Others were Daughters of the Regiment, described as "mascots" who drilled with the men and who were there to provide moral support for the soldiers, often taking part in the battles. But the heart of this book is a look at the women who took the risk to disguise themselves as men to enlist and be a soldier with the troops. It is a look at who these women were and why these women enlisted. Some, like Martha Parks Lindley and Malinda Blalock, disguised themselves to be with their husbands during the war. Lindley became "Jim Smith" and continued on in the war two years after her husband was discharged. Blalock and her husband fought first for the South and then for the North, and Blalock left the war only temporarily to have her baby before returning to their unit. Author Anita Silvey tells many of the stories of these women--the stories of sisters who enlisted with their brothers, women who were searching for their loved ones. But it also tells of the women who secretly enlisted just to have the chance to fight as a soldier, the right to fight for their country. The photos of many women are included in the book and these and additional war photos bring the Civil War to life for the reader. Grades 5 and up.
-Deirdre