Mollie Bean, soldier, 1865

In 1865, a Confederate soldier who apparently already had spent time at Castle Thunder was arrested and sent there again as a spy. The story appeared in three different Richmond, Virginia, newspapers, in three variations. Bean’s name in the service is unknown.

The Sentinel simply stated that Bean appeared in men’s clothing.

“Female Adventurer” (from Sentinel [Richmond, Virginia] 20 February 1865; p. 2)

A young woman, named Mollie Bean, dressed in male attire, was on Friday night sent to this city on the charge of being a suspicious character. It appeared that she had been serving in the 47th N. C. regiment for two years, and during that time had been wounded twice. She was committed to Castle Thunder.

The insulting began immediately, as the oh-so-very-very-very important physical attractiveness of the individual was gauged.

“Back Again” (from Richmond Examiner [Richmond, Virginia] 20 February 1865; p. 2)

Mollie Bean, a young female who had been once before an inmate of Castle Thunder, was sent to that prison on Saturday upon the charge of being a suspicious character, and wearing the clothes of the other sex. When brought to the Provost Marshal’s office she was equipped in a full suit of boy’s clothing, but all that did not improve her looks, for her face is decidedly homely, and her figure by no means handsome.

The Whig put Bean into military uniform and declared this a case of mental instability. [Note: The reprint in the Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky) attributes this story to the Richmond Examiner of February 20; while page 4 of that issue is missing from the digitized copies, the Courier-Journal appears to be incorrect.]

“Female Soldier” (from Richmond Whig [Richmond, Virginia] 20 February 1865; p. 4; [note: The first two pages of this issue are missing; while the pages number is recorded as “page 2,” the actual page number is more probably 4.])

On Friday night a young woman, dressed in military uniform, was arrested somewhere up the Danville Railroad and sent to this city, charged with being a suspicious character. On examination at the Provst Marshal’s office it appeared that her name was Mollie Bean, and that she had been serving in the 47th North carolina Regiment for over two years, during which time she had been twice wounded. She was sent to Castle Thunder, that common receptacle of the guilty, the suspected and the unfortunate. This poor creature is, from her record, manifestly crazy. It will not, we presume, be pretended that she had served so long in the army without her sex being discovered.

Oh, Whig—so innocent. So very innocent. Or maybe just disengenuous.

What became of Bean is unknown; this is the only time the individual appeared in newspapers.

[In my research, I used DeAnne Blanton and Lauren M. Cook. They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the American Civil War. (Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 2002)]