Women presenting as men — whether to escape the stifling construct of feminine life or to stay close to husbands or brothers ...

I Wanted to Do My Part': Women as Soldiers in Civil War America After discovering that ... had adopted men’s clothing and male personas in their teens, most frequently in order to obtain better ...

During the Civil War, black women used their well-developed ability ... needs of their families—hid secret dispatches among her clothing patterns, eventually conveying them to Union General ...