Frances L. Clayton Dressed as a Cavalryman
Artist
Samuel Masury
(American, 1818 - 1874)
Dateca. 1865
MediumAlbumen carte-de-visite
DimensionsImage and sheet: 3 11/16 × 2 1/4 inches (9.37 × 5.72 cm)
Mount: 3 7/8 × 2 7/16 inches (9.84 × 6.19 cm)
Mount: 3 7/8 × 2 7/16 inches (9.84 × 6.19 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation
Object number2005.37.45
SignedPrinted on mount verso, center, in black ink: "S. MASURY, / Photographic Artist, / 289 Washington St. / BOSTON."
InscribedOn mount verso, in pencil and black pen: "Frances L. Clatin 4mo/ heavy artilery (sic) Co. I/ 13 mo Cavalry Co. A/22 months" and "Witch (?)/ So. Strong Rd./Farmington, Me"
Markingsnone
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionImage of Frances Clayton dressed in uniform with a buttoned jacket and hat; she leans on a sword with her right hand next to a chair with fringe.Gallery LabelFrances Clayton claimed to have disguised herself as a man to fight for the Union Army in the Civil War. Using the name Jack Williams, Clayton said, she fought in more than a dozen battles between 1861 and 1863. Although Clayton’s story is colorful, it contains several uncertain or false claims. She became publicly known in 1863–1864 through a few newspaper stories and a handful of photographs. The best known of these photographs, were made in the Boston studio of Samuel Masury.
DeAnne Blanton and Lauren M. Cook, They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the American Civil War (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2002): 130-31, 149-50.
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