6 . Joan of Arc, born into a French peasant family, disguised herself as a man and managed to convince Charles VII to let her lead the French army during the war with England at the age of 16.  Joan was captured by the Burgundians during an attack and was burned at the stake at age of 19.

Born around 1412 in a French peasant family, Jeanne d’Arc (or in English, Joan of Arc) was enjoying her teenage life before she was struck with a vision that changed her life goals. At the age of 13, she claimed that the voices of various saints in a vision inspired her to lead the French army to victory over the English.

At the age of 16, she put on armor and disguised herself as a man. Joan then somehow convinced Charles VII that she has been sent by the almighty God and would like to see him appointed as the ruler of France. Charles VII put his faith in her and provided Joan an army to lead to Orleans.

In 1430, when she was trying to defend Compiegne from an attack, Joan was captured and held captive by the Burgundians. She had 70 different charges against her, which included dressing like a man and witchcraft practices. In 1431, at the age of 19, she was burned at the stake in the marketplace of Rouen, after she was sentenced to death. (source)

Advertisements

7Sarah Edmonds from Canada escaped from her abusive father to Michigan in 1856 and disguised herself as a man named Franklin Flint Thompson to join the 2nd Michigan Infantry as a male field nurse and a spy.

Sarah Edmonds was one of the few females who actively served during the Civil War. Sarah, born in Canada in 1841, was desperately trying to escape from the torture of her abusive father, who was hoping for a son instead of a daughter. When Sarah finally made it to Flint, Michigan in 1856, she decided to join the military services out of a sense of civic duty.

She disguised herself as a man named, Franklin Flint Thompson, and enrolled herself in the 2nd Michigan Infantry as a male field nurse. As a field nurse, her responsibility was to take care of the casualties of the battle. Edmonds was involved in several battles that took place during the Maryland Campaign of 1862, including the Second Battles of Manassas and Antietam.

Sarah wasn’t just good in nursing, she showed her abilities in spying as well. It is believed that she served as a Union spy for some time, although there is no official record of it. In 1863, when Edmonds was diagnosed with malaria, she abandoned her work and left her colleagues, as she was worried about getting exposed in case she was admitted to a military hospital.

She was discharged with honor from the military, was awarded with financial support in the form of pension, and was admitted to the Grand Army of the Republic as its only female member because of her outstanding services to the American Civil War. (source)

8 The Bronte sisters, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte, from Yorkshire in the 19th-century, published their poetry collection and novels under male names: Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, respectively. The trio chose a male name to avoid prejudice existed against female writers.  

Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte, the three sisters from Yorkshire, published their collection of poetry, Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, under their male pseudonyms in 1846. After a year, Emily published the novel Wuthering Heights under her pen name, Ellis Bell. In 1847, Jane Eyre was published under Charlotte’s pen name, Currer Bell, and Agnes Grey was published under Anne’s pseudo name, Acton Bell.

Charlotte explained in the preface of Wuthering Heights why the sisters choose false male names over their original female identity to publish their works.

She said: “Averse to personal publicity, we veiled our own names under those of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell; the ambiguous choice being dictated by a sort of conscientious scruple at assuming Christian names positively masculine, while we did not like to declare ourselves women, because—without at that time suspecting that our mode of writing and thinking was not what is called ‘feminine’ – we had a vague impression that authoresses are liable to be looked on with prejudice.”

The three sisters remain as one of the most influential writers in English literature. (source)

9Hannah Snell, a British citizen disguised herself as James Gray to join British military services, where she managed to hide her identity and survived several injuries,  including a fatal groin injury. She revealed her true identity in 1750 and was discharged with honor and granted a pension.

This famous British soldier was born in Worcester, England in 1723. She had been fascinated with soldiers since she was a kid. In 1744, Hannah got married to a man named James Summs at a young age and gave birth to a baby girl.

Unfortunately, the child died after just one year and her husband disappeared suddenly. Snell managed to get the clothes of her brother-in-law, James Gray, and disguised herself with that name to join the British army after she heard the rumor about Summs’ involvement in military services. She decided to remain in military services as James Gray after she discovered that her husband was sentenced to death for murder charges.

Hannah had an adventurous and illustrious military career. During her time with the Marines, Snell was wounded 12 times, including a severe groin injury, which she treated herself to avoid being identified as a woman. Finally, in 1750, Snell disclosed her true gender to the other members of the unit.

Eventually, Snell revealed her secret identity to her colleagues and was discharged from services with honor and financial support. She lost her life in 1791, six months after being admitted to the asylum for dementia. (source)

10Margaret Ann Bulkley, born in Ireland, disguised herself as James Miranda Steuart to get admission to medical school. She later served as a military surgeon in British Army. Military officials were shocked when James’s identity was disclosed after “his” death and restricted access to all his documents.

Born as Margaret Ann Bulkley in Ireland, James Barry served as a military surgeon and inspector general for the British Army. She was in charge of the military hospitals during the early 19th century. Since the beginning, Margaret wanted to work in British military services.

Margaret adopted her uncle’s name and disguised herself as a man to get admission into a medical school. During her tenure, not only did she make the conditions better for the soldier patients, but also became the first-ever surgeon to perform a successful Cesarean section in South Africa.

Deteriorating health conditions forced her to retire in 1865. Barry’s real identity was not discovered, until her death in the same year. According to reports, the British Army was so shocked with the revelation that they forbade access to all the documents related to her until a historian reopened the case in the 1950s. (1, 2)

Read more: 10 Lesser-known Facts About Great Disasters in Human History