Female Warriors, Vol. 2 (of 2): Memorials of Female Valour and Heroism, from the Mythological Ages to the Present Era.Clayton, Ellen C. (Ellen Creathorne)
History
Female Warriors, Vol. 2 (of 2): Memorials of Female Valour and Heroism, from the Mythological Ages to the Present Era.
Clayton, Ellen C. (Ellen Creathorne)
Amazons; Women -- Biography; Women soldiers
The father of this heroine, William Roberts, was a bricklayer,
and used to employ his little girl, dressed in boy's clothes, as a
labourer. When she was about fourteen years old, being tall of her
age, Miss Roberts enlisted in the 15th Light Dragoons. In the course
of two months she learned the drill sufficiently for all purposes of
parade; and the rough-riding master told her she was the best rider in
the squad he was teaching. Private William Roberts was promoted in the
course of a few years, first to be a corporal, and then a sergeant;
and at the expiration of her twenty-one years' service, the colonel
tendered her discharge. She demurred accepting it; but being under
size, was, with her own consent, transferred to the 37th foot; which
she joined at the island of St. Vincent, in the West Indies.
At St. Vincent the heroine was attacked by the yellow fever; and this
being the first time in her life that she was ever laid prostrate by an
illness, her sex was soon made known. On her recovery she was obliged
to resume (or rather put on) female habilaments. But being still
enamoured of a soldier's life, she married, in May, 1801, a private
in the 37th, named Taylor. She followed her husband through various
climates; and in time became the mother of three children. She was
imprisoned for two years with her husband in France, and they were only
set free at the general peace of July, 1815. Her husband died the same
day they landed in England; leaving his widow in great distress.
During the course of her military career, Mrs. Taylor visited the East
and West Indies, and fought in Flanders, Spain, Italy, and Egypt.
She received many wounds, none of which, however, were serious,
though they left their scars all over her body. Her head was graced
by a sabre-wound, while her leg showed where a musket-ball had been
extracted. Yet despite the dangers and hardships of war, this woman
sighed after the life of a soldier to the very last. She said that the
only really miserable part of her life was the two years' imprisonment
in France; which, she said, did her constitution more harm than even
the terrible march, under a blazing African sun, from the Red Sea
to Egypt. Like a brave old veteran, she kept up her spirits even in
adversity, "fought her battles o'er again," and loved to "shoulder her
crutch and show how fields were won." Like most old soldiers, she was
very fond of relating anecdotes about her past career--the battles she
had fought in, the wounds she had received, and the various noble or
distinguished officers she had seen.
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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