Brita Hagberg
Encyclopedia
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
19 March 1825), was a woman who served as a soldier in the Swedish army during the Russo-Swedish War (1788-1790)
Russo-Swedish War (1788-1790)
The Russo-Swedish War of 1788–90, known as Gustav III's Russian war in Sweden, Gustav III's War in Finland and Catherine II's Swedish War in Russia, was fought between Sweden and Russia from June 1788 to August 1790.-Background:...
. She is one of two confirmed women to have been decorated for bravery in battle in Sweden before women were allowed into the military in the 20th century.
Biography
Brita is believed to have been born in FinnerödjaFinnerödja
Finnerödja is a locality situated in Laxå Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden with 692 inhabitants in 2005....
. She arrived in Stockholm in 1777, where she married Anders Peter Hagberg (1753-1816), a soldier of the guard, in 1785. Her husband was called to serve in the war in 1788. She enlisted in the army dressed as a man under the name Petter Hagberg in search for her husband, because she had heard nothing of him since the beginning of the war.
She participated in the Battle of Svensksund (1790)
Battle of Svensksund (1790)
The Battle of Svensksund was a naval battle fought in the Gulf of Finland outside the present day city of Kotka on 9 July 1790. The Swedish naval forces dealt the Russian fleet a devastating defeat that resulted in an end to the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–90...
and in the Battle of Vyborg Bay
Battle of Vyborg Bay
The Battle of Viborg Bay was a naval battle fought between Russia and Sweden on July 4, 1790, during the Russo-Swedish War...
as a marine soldier. At this battle, there was "at least one woman in a fighting position", and that was Brita. She was stationed to serve on the ship Styrbjörn. According to a story, Admiral Kurt von Stedingk
Kurt von Stedingk
Curt Bogislaus Ludvig Kristoffer von Stedingk was a count of the von Stedingk family, and a successful Swedish army officer and diplomat who played a prominent role in Swedish foreign policy during several decades....
once called out for "Hagberg", and at this call, two soldiers reported to him; one was Brita, and the other was her husband. They kept her sex a secret, and this is known from her own words many years later.
It was said that several of the soldiers who received medals for bravery in battle after having served in the Swedish army in the wars of 1788-1790 and the Finnish war
Finnish War
The Finnish War was fought between Sweden and the Russian Empire from February 1808 to September 1809. As a result of the war, the eastern third of Sweden was established as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland within the Russian Empire...
of 1808-1809 were discovered to have been women disguised as men. Brita Hagberg was one of these women.
She was not the only woman to have distinguished herelf in the war of 1788-90. A maid from Färnebo in Västmanland
Västmanland
' is a historical Swedish province, or landskap, in middle Sweden. It borders Södermanland, Närke, Värmland, Dalarna and Uppland.The name comes from "West men", referring to the people west of Uppland, the core province of early Sweden.- Administration :...
, Anna Maria Engsten
Anna Maria Engsten
Anna Maria Jansdotter Engsten was by King Gustav III of Sweden awarded with a medal in silver for Valour in Battle at Sea for her acts during the Russo-Swedish war of 1788-1790....
, the maid Major P. H. Scharff, distinguished herself at the same occasion in 1790; when the ship she travelled on was evacuated, she refused and stayed on, and singlehandedly steered the ship back to Sweden at night during Russian fire, for which King Gustav III
Gustav III of Sweden
Gustav III was King of Sweden from 1771 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Adolph Frederick and Queen Louise Ulrica of Sweden, she a sister of Frederick the Great of Prussia....
gave her a pension and decorated her with the medal För tapperhet i fält
För tapperhet i fält
För tapperhet i fält and För tapperhet till sjöss are two Swedish military medals awarded to officers and soldiers of the Swedish Armed Forces who have—as the medal names suggest—shown valour in the field or at sea in wartime...
for bravery. Hagberg and Engsten were the only two women confirmed to have received a decoration for bravery at sea; another woman, Elisa Bernerström
Elisa Bernerström
Elisa Bernerström , , was a woman who served in the Swedish army dressed as a man during the Finnish War between Sweden and Russia 1808-1809...
, is confirmed to have received a medal for bravery in battle on land. A third woman, Dorothea Maria Lörsch, wife of officer Theslöf, took command over the ship Armida and directed it back from the battle after the officers of the ship had fallen, and for this, she was given the title of a Captain of the Swedish fleet.
Brita Hagberg was later in her service wounded in battle at Björkö Sund, and was ordered to go below deck to have her wounds tended to. She was unwilling, but was forced to obey this order, and thus, her gender was revealed. Brita Hagberg was given a military pension of three riksdaler a year, also something which was a very rare thing for a woman to receive. She was recommended for the pension by Carl Olof Cronstedt
Carl Olof Cronstedt
Carl-Olof Cronstedt the elder was a Swedish naval commander responsible for the overwhelming Swedish victory at the Second Battle of Svensksund, one of the largest naval battles in history...
.
After the war, Brita Hagberg was given the personal privilege (unusual for a married woman) to trade in food (1793), and she had a spot reserved for her at the square of Oxtorget in Stockholm (1802), which was renewed the last time in 1819. Her husband died in 1816. She had at least two children (at least, these are the only ones confirmed to have reached adulthood); a son born in 1792, and a daughter born in 1797.
In 1864, she was mentioned in a reference book about famous Swedish women in history. Here, it was said that;
"For about thirty years ago, on the Oxtorget square in Stockholm, one could see an old woman selling ginger-bread cookies on a stand with a medal of bravery on her chest. She had been married to a guardsman by the name of - if this is correct - Hagström, and found a life filled with loneliness after her husband had been called out to serve at the war of 1788. She therefore had herself enlisted in the navy dressed in the clothes of a man."
The name Hagström was a misspelling, and it would, counted from 1864, have been forty rather than thirty years ago. In 1828, the life of Brita Hagberg was celebrated in the poem Fruktmånglerskan med Tapperhetsmedalj (The fruitseller woman with a medal of bravery) by the female poet Euphrosyne, (Julia Nyberg
Julia Nyberg
Julia Kristina Nyberg , was a Swedish poet and songwriter. Nyberg grew up as the adoptive daughter of a mill owner, named Adlerwald, in the parish of Skultuna in Västmanland County...
) who tells the tale of the female soldier, who dresses herself as a man and enlists in the army in search of her husband.
Brita Hagberg was not the only woman in Swedish history to have disguised herself as a man to serve as a soldier, but she may be the only one to have received a military pension for military service in an age where women were officially barred from military service, and is as such unique. After her death, she was given a military burial, which was probably unique for her time.