Malinda Blalock... *Fascinating!*

Discussion in 'Civil War' started by Kate, Nov 17, 2014.

  1. Kate

    Kate Active Member

    I was using the 26th North Carolina roster this morning and came across a totally fascinating story!

    It is a story of desertion, fighting for both sides in the Civil War, this woman disguising herself as a man to fight with her husband (and boy did she surprise him!), premeditated poison ivy for the husband in order to leave CSA and turn Union, and so much more! Let's just say that I would tremble to meet up with Malinda in a dark (or any!) alley. Spunky gal!

    Here's the story if anyone wants ten minutes of an intriguing read:
    http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/485/entry

    And this one has a photo:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malinda_Blalock
     
  2. DancingLady

    DancingLady Member

    That is quite the story. I would not have the guts to do something like that, not at all. It's interesting that they didn't just try to get to the north in the first place.
     
  3. Kate

    Kate Active Member

    North Carolina was an extremely pro-confederacy state... plus soldiers were sent around to conscript people who didn't enlist. If I'd have to guess, I'd say that she and Keith didn't feel like being shot or hung for desertion at the moment. ;)

    Doing it like they did bought them some time... she was discharged for her gender, and he made himself get the poison.

    That's what alerted me to the story this morning... the roster said that the soldier was discharged for being a woman. :D
     
  4. DancingLady

    DancingLady Member

    That does make sense. I suppose it was harder than we may think it would have been to get out of a confederate state without being caught. There were probably people watching the roads.
     
  5. Kate

    Kate Active Member

    It wouldn't have just been getting out of a state... this would have been choosing to be cut off from your family, most likely forever. Passions ran very deep, and you would have been literally putting your life on the line to decide to desert.

    You would have needed to also understand that you were going to the side of the enemy who were most likely going to be killing your brothers, neighbors, friends... never just a matter of "I think I'll visit New York today and join the Army" not to mention the length of time it would have taken to get to another state in the 19th century.

    There are countless stories of brothers meeting up with each other on some battlefield or another because they happened to live in different states... expected to KILL each other. To have chosen to desert to the other side was treason just as it is today. That's why the people choosing to do that often faced a firing squad or hanging.
     

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