Never a lady, Lizzie Compton became
one of Union’s best fighting soldiers

By Drs. Judy Pierce, Pamela Jukes

During the Civil War, women played many different roles. Some remained on the home front to care for children and elderly parents while others chose to become nurses, laundresses or “ladies of the night.” Still other women were looking for adventure or trying to escape from some domestic or life crisis.

One such woman was  Lizzie Compton.

The records are unclear as to where Lizzie was born. Some historians believe she was born in 1847 in London, Ontario, Canada. Others believe that her birth occurred near Nashville, Tenn. Her parents died in a rural area near Nashville when Lizzie was still an infant. She was left in the care of people whom she said were “unfeeling wretches.” At an early age, she was put into the field to work and never received an education or any religious training and was never taught the duties of running a household.

While growing up, Lizzie wore a frock, which is a coarse, tow-linen long shirt, and didn’t learn how to put on the five layers of clothing that some women wore every day. When she reached the age of 13, Lizzie escaped the day-to-day drudgery of the life forced on her. Since it was much easier to dress as a boy, she left home wearing boy’s clothing and found work as a deck hand on steamboats on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.

Lizzie was only 13 when the War Between the States began. At age 14, she enlisted in the Union army by falsifying her age and using a male name. The alias she used is unknown, but  Lizzie really liked the army and became one of the best fighting soldiers in her company.

Pvt. Jack (sometimes referred to as Johnny) Compton quickly learned how to use a musket and sword. She memorized the rules and regulations in the army manual and could recite them better than any soldier in her company. Lizzie loved camp life and enjoyed being with her comrades.

Lizzie stood 5-foot-1, weighed 155 pounds and had a stout build. She had light hair and a fair complexion and when in her military uniform with high boots and pants tucked in the tops, she had the appearance of a rosy-cheeked soldier boy of 15 years.

Compton’s first battle was in Kentucky at the Battle of Mill Springs on Jan. 19, 1862. She watched the fall of Confederate Gen. Felix Kirk Zollicoffer who was killed during his first battle. During the conflict, Lizzie and her entire company were captured by the Confederate guerilla John Hunt Morgan and later paroled at Gallatin, Tenn.

Pvt. Compton later fought in the Battle of Fort Donelson on Feb. 15-16, 1862 and later at the Battle of Shiloh on April 6-7. She is known to have served in seven or eight different regiments in the 18 months she was in the army. She served in the 11th Kentucky Cavalry, 21st Minnesota Infantry, the 8th, 17th, and 28th Michigan Infantry, the 79th New York Infantry and the 3rd New York Cavalry.

While serving in the western theater, Lizzie accepted a dare from her comrades to ride a horse which none of them were brave enough to try. She accepted the challenge and mounted the horse without a saddle. Lizzie was thrown to the ground and injured and the doctor who was tending her injury discovered she was a woman. After her recovery, she was discharged.

Lizzie usually changed regiments when she was in fear of being discovered, but this was the first time a doctor discovered her secret.

After this incident, Lizzie moved to the eastern theater and went to the Army of the Potomac where she was mustered into the 79th New York Infantry Regiment. Lizzie fought at Fredericksburg, Va., which was the final battle of 1862 in the eastern theater.  She was among the 9,600 Union casualties inflicted by the Confederates during the Dec. 13 battle, in which Gen. Burnside ordered a suicidal charge up Marye’s Heights against a well-entrenched enemy. Compton was wounded and, again, detected as a female when the surgeon pulled off her jacket. That led to an army discharge when she recovered.

Finally, serving with the 25th Michigan, Pvt. Compton saw action again in Kentucky at the Battle of Tebbs Bend on the Green River. On July 4, 1863, Compton’s 25th Michigan (200 soldiers) combined with 40 men of the 8th Michigan and the 79th New York Highlanders to defend against an assault by more than 2,400 men under the command of Gen. John Hunt Morgan. Outnumbered, the Union troops won the day, but suffered casualties of nine killed and 26 wounded.

Lizzie took a minie ball in the shoulder and a surgeon in the field hospital detected Compton’s sex when he cut open her shirt. She later was sent, under escort, to Bardstown where she convalesced in a Union hospital. After recovering, she was mustered out of the army.

Compton, however, promptly returned to the Green River area and joined a regiment encamped there.

In the spring of 1863, Lizzie was arrested in Louisville while serving in a Minnesota regiment. The regiment commander suggested she take a job as a hospital attendant, but Compton said “she would rather die.” After a brief confinement at Park Barracks, she was released and sent on her way.

Lizzie left Kentucky and traveled to Rochester, N.Y., where she was arrested while trying to enlist in a cavalry regiment in January 1864. She was thought to be an adventurer by the police and, like many women who had appeared in disguise, she was regarded as a disorderly person.

The police chief first noticed her talking to a young man in a local saloon and told her the local magistrate wanted to see her. Lizzie agreed to report to the magistrate, but asked if she could be allowed to leave the saloon alone so that she wouldn’t appear to be under arrest. Her request was granted and she soon reported.

Lizzie explained to the magistrate that she was not a camp follower and did not ever want to act like those women who did bad things. She advised the magistrate that she did not want to be a woman and that maybe someday she would be a gentleman, but she could never be a lady.

The magistrate advised her that it was against the law for a woman to wear men’s clothing and that she must abandon such activities.  Lizzie replied that she would rather take any punishment, even death, than be forced to act the role of  a woman.

Bail was entered for Lizzie’s good behavior and cooperation and she was released. She boarded a train for Louisville where she joined the 11th Kentucky Cavalry, but was immediately detected as a female and mustered out of the army.

Lizzie was last seen caring for Union soldiers wounded in the Atlanta campaign.