Mary Ann Brown (June 30, 1840 – March 15, 1936) was a nurse and soldier in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

who served alongside her husband in the 31st Maine Infantry Regiment.

Biography

Mary Ann Berry was born on June 30, 1840, in

Lewiston, Maine Lewiston (; ; officially the City of Lewiston, Maine) is List of cities in Maine, the second largest city in Maine and the most central city in Androscoggin County, Maine, Androscoggin County. The city lies halfway between Augusta, Maine, August ...

, to William and Lydia Berry. She met her husband, Ivory Brown in 1861, and they married on August 12, 1861. Ivory served for three months in the

1st Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment The 1st Maine Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was later re-activated in 1898 for the Spanish–American War, but did not serve overseas. Service Pre-Civil War In 1 ...

, and then enlisted in the 31st Maine Infantry in 1864. Mary likely enlisted as a nurse and disguised herself as a soldier in order to remain close to her husband. She later claimed to have "carried a musket...and fought like the rest of them". She stated she joined because "slavery was an awful thing and we were determined to fight it down". After the war, Mary and Ivory returned to Maine and worked a small farm in

Brownfield In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land prev ...

for nearly forty years. They had one daughter named Lydia. In the late 1890s, Ivory's health began to decline, and began to claim his war pension. He died on October 12, 1903, of kidney disease. Mary outlived him by thirty years, but eventually grew senile and was placed in the local Farrington Hospital, where she died on March 15, 1936, at the age of 95. She was featured in a Civil War exhibit from 2012–2013, and in 2016, a fundraiser was begun to place a headstone to commemorate her in the Brownfield Pine Grove Cemetery, next to her husband. It was installed on September 13, 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Mary 1840 births 1936 deaths Union Army soldiers Female wartime cross-dressers in the American Civil War American Civil War nurses American women nurses People from Lewiston, Maine People from Brownfield, Maine People of Maine in the American Civil War