Frances Clalin
Encyclopedia
Frances Clalin Clayton, was a woman who disguised herself as a man named Jack Williams in order to fight for Union forces
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...

 during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. She served in the Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

 artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

 and cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

 units for several months.

Early life

Clalin was born in Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

 in the 1830s. She later married Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

-born Elmer L. Clayton, with whom she would have three children. They had a farm in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

.

Civil War involvement

Clalin' story as a woman who disguised herself as man to fight in the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 was the subject of several newspaper reports, and several contained conflicting information. Most agreed that Clalin, disguised as a man, and using the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

 "Jack Williams" enlisted with the Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...

 alongside with her husband during the fall of 1861. Both Clalin and Elmer were born and lived in the North, but despite living in the state of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

 they enlisted in a Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

 regiment. It is unknown which units specifically they fought in, but Clalin is said to have served in both cavalry and artillery units.
Clalin served side by side with her husband until he died in battle in 1862. Clalin is known to have fought in the Battle of Fort Donelson
Fort Donelson National Battlefield
Fort Donelson National Battlefield preserves Fort Donelson and Fort Heiman, two sites of the American Civil War Forts Henry and Donelson Campaign, in which Union General Ulysses S. Grant and Admiral Andrew Hull Foote captured three Confederate forts and opened two rivers to the Union navy...

 in Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

, February 13, 1862, where the Union won after three days of fighting. During this battle Clalin was wounded, but was not discovered because of her injury. Clalin was engaged in seventeen battles other than Fort Donelson. Reports say she was wounded a total of three times for her country, and even taken prisoner once.

It was during the Battle of Stones River
Battle of Stones River
The Battle of Stones River or Second Battle of Murfreesboro , was fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, in Middle Tennessee, as the culmination of the Stones River Campaign in the Western Theater of the American Civil War...

 (or Murfreesboro), on December 31, 1862, that her husband died. He was only a few feet in front of Clalin when he died, but some sources say that she did not stop fighting - she stepped over his body and charged when the commands came.

Disguise

It was not that hard for Clalin to convincingly play the part of Jack Williams. She was tall and masculine, and had tan skin. She had also worked on perfecting manly activities
Masculinity
Masculinity is possessing qualities or characteristics considered typical of or appropriate to a man. The term can be used to describe any human, animal or object that has the quality of being masculine...

 such as smoking, drinking, chewing tobacco, swearing and gambling. Clalin was quite fond of cigars as well. By doing these things, Clalin increased her manly character so that she would fit in and others wouldn’t see past her disguise. This plan was clever and effective, as some news reports state that Clalin was never discovered to be a woman, but instead was discharged when she confronted her superiors.
Clalin was also reported to be a good ‘horse-man’ and ‘swordsman’, and the way she carried herself in stride was soldierly, erect, and masculine. She was well trained and knew her duties well, but was also a respected person who commanded attention in the way she acted. It was said of Clalin in one report that she did her duties at all times and was considered to be a fighting man.

Discovery

There are two stories about how Clalin was discovered to be a woman. One is that after the battle at Stones River, Clalin decided to let her true identity become known and she was discharged a few days later in Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

, 1863. The other is that Clalin was wounded in the hip at Stones River, and was discharged after being discovered that way. Clalin did fix the mistakes, but this error creates doubts about what really happened.

After being discharged Clalin tried to get back to Minnesota, and then decided to collect the bounty
Bounty (reward)
A bounty is a payment or reward often offered by a group as an incentive for the accomplishment of a task by someone usually not associated with the group. Bounties are most commonly issued for the capture or retrieval of a person or object. They are typically in the form of money...

 owed her deceased husband and herself, as well as to get some of Elmer’s belongings. It is also speculated that she wanted to reenlist, but she was unable to. Her train was attacked by a Confederate guerrilla party, and she was robbed of her papers and her money. Clalin then went from Missouri to Minnesota, then to Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...

, and on to Quincy, Illinois
Quincy, Illinois
Quincy, known as Illinois' "Gem City," is a river city along the Mississippi River and the county seat of Adams County. As of the 2010 census the city held a population of 40,633. The city anchors its own micropolitan area and is the economic and regional hub of West-central Illinois, catering a...

. In Quincy a fund was created to aid her quest for payment by former soldiers and friends. Frances was last reported to be headed for Washington, D.C.

Popularity with the press

Clalin became popular with the newspapers of the time
History of American newspapers
The history of American newspapers goes back to the 17th century with the publication of the first colonial newspapers.-Colonial period:-The New England Courant:...

. Her story was published in about six different papers, but they got her story jumbled up. In some articles it was stated that Clalin had been wounded and discovered at Stones River where her husband died, but others said she was wounded at Fort Donelson, and was able to keep her identity a secret until her husband died and she went to her superiors with her secret.

According to Clalin, she was actually wounded at Donelson and was able to keep her secret unknown, and she corrected these misunderstandings in her last interview but she never stated what specific regiment she had served in. This was probably never asked of Clalin, because the reporters were more interested in the story of a devoted wife, rather than the actual details of Jack Williams’ soldier life.

See also

  • Crossdressing during wartime
    Crossdressing during wartime
    Many people have engaged in cross-dressing during wartime under various circumstances and for various motives. This has been especially true of women, whether while serving as a soldier in otherwise all-male armies, while protecting or disguising their identity in dangerous circumstances, or for...

  • Deborah Sampson
    Deborah Sampson
    Deborah Samson Gannett , better known as Deborah Sampson, was an American woman who impersonated a man in order to serve in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. She is one of a small number of women with a documented record of military combat experience in that war...

    , impersonated a man to fight during the American War of Independence

External links

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