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在多伦多德翁兰提沃档案馆，有一本巨大的剪贴簿，根据它的内容可以很明显的断定，这本剪贴簿是用1800~1820年间蒙特利尔城和魁北克城的报纸制作而成的。这本剪贴簿的作者是否曾是一位参加过拿破仑战争的士兵我们无从得知，但是这本剪贴簿中收藏了很多关于拿破仑战争时期的剪报，大多是关于英国的，内容包括官方报告、个人评论、广告甚至奇人怪事。通常情况下，剪报所用的报纸和日期都没有注明，但是在一篇刊登在《曼切斯特先锋报》关于萨拉·泰勒的文章上注明了一个手写的日期“1814年十二月”，另一篇关于乔安娜·斯坦的文章上则注有“1813年九月”的字样，从这点不同寻常的小细节，可以让读者领会到这两人的故事又多么不一般。 女扮男装参军的故事在火枪时代并不少见，在那个缺少体检以及裸体检查的时代，这并不是很困难的事情。萨拉·泰勒那篇文章的作者将泰勒和大不列颠的花木兰中最著名的一位——在18世纪中期参加皇家海军陆战队的汉娜·斯奈尔做了个比较。萨拉的故事最有意思的部分就是当她的性别被发现后，她成了一位士兵的妻子以及三个孩子的母亲。更重要的是，如果她的故事是真的，因为我们可以从报上得到她的服役经历，从而得出一系列非常有意思的结论。她可能随着15轻龙骑兵团参加了1793~1794年的佛兰德斯战役，甚至有可能参加1794年四月29日发生在Villers-en-Couche的那场著名的骑兵冲锋（似乎是铁公爵所说的以一当十的骑兵冲锋？）她也可能参加了1799年的荷兰战役。她可能随着第37（汉普郡）步兵团在1810~1811年间去过西印度群岛并在1811~1812年间抵达直布罗陀。由于她和她的丈夫直到在1814年七月被释放之前一直被关押在一所法国监狱里，他们很有可能是在去直布罗陀的路上或者从直布罗陀出发时在西班牙东海岸被抓住了。 关于乔安娜·斯坦，作者并没有提供很过关于她的详细信息。毫无疑问的是，她参加过奥地利步兵团，随后她又在1803年加入了刚刚建立的英王德国兵团做了一名骑兵，那时她大约39岁。和萨拉不同，乔安娜在自己的性别被发现后拒绝返回传统的女性身份。 The Manchester Heroine: SarahTaylor On Friday last, a middle-agedwoman applied for relief at the Church warden's office[1]
,in this town, and on being questioned as to her present situation, and herformer life, she proved to be that description of heroines, of which HannahSnell and Christiana Davies[2]
,have cut so conspicuous a figure in English biography, and which Joan of Arc,and several others, particularly in the revolutionary war, have done in that ofFrance. It appears, that when a girl,she was in the habit of wearing boy's clothes, in which dress she served herfather, William Roberts (who is a bricklayer), as a labourer; and being tall ofher age, when about 14 years old, she enlisted as a soldier into the 15th lightdragoons. Probably her extreme youth and healthy appearance might occasion alaxity of attention, for she passed muster without her sex being discovered. In the course of two months,she learned her exercise sufficiently for all the purposes of parade; the roughriding-master declaring her the best rider in the squad of recruits with whomshe was taught; which she imputes to the circumstance of having been used tomount, undaunted, to the top of high buildings, when attending to her father. She remained with the 15thlight dragoons, in which she progressively attained the ranks of corporal andserjeant, for 21 years; her sex all the time remaining a secret to everyone.Perhaps the care she was under of guarding it, had the good effect of producingthat regularity and orderly conduct; which recommended the pretended"William Roberts" to the favour and protection of the Officers, andprocured her promotion. When she had been a soldierfor 21 years, the Colonel of the regiment tendered her discharge, which shedemurred the acceptance of; but being under size, by her own consent, she wastransferred to the 37th regiment of foot, which regiment she joined in 1800, atthe island of St. Vincent's, in the West Indies, where, soon after, she was takenseriously ill (for the first time, in her military career), of the yellowfever, when wanting some of those attentions which would inevitably lead to adiscovery of her sex, she was obliged to intrust the secret she had so wellkept, to the wife of a serjeant, at a time she expected nothing but death. She, however, recovered, andhaving no longer even a nominal claim to manhood, she was obliged to resumefeminine habiliments; but, still enamoured of a military life, as she could nolonger be a soldier herself, se became, in May 1801, the wife of one, a privatein the 37th foot, of the name of Taylor, by whom the Amazon has since had threechildren; still following the fortune of war through various climates; duringwhich she was, with her husband, two years in a prison in France, from whichthey were released in July last in consequence of the peace. On the day she landed from thecartel[3]
,her husband died and this martial heroine is now a widow, still anxious, as shesays, to follow a camp, as the most pleasant life of which she can conceive. Inthe course of her military career, she has visited many distant parts of theglobe, and has been in many actions, and received several wounds, which,however, were not severe, and were in parts of the body which did not betrayher sex. A scar from a sabre, which graces her head, and the mark where amusket ball was extracted from her leg, are honourable testimonials of herservice; but she says that the two years she spent in a French prison were farmore difficult to support, and did her constitution more injury than hervoyages to the East and West Indies, her march from the Red Sea through Egypt,or her campaigns in Flanders, in Spain, and in Italy.[4]
She is, however, in excellent spirits, and "fights her battles o'eragain," with all the ardour of Goldsmith's old veteran, who"shouldered his crutch, and shew'd how fields were won."[5]
Having been informed by aGentleman in office, of the circumstance of such a woman having been relievedat the overseers' board[6]
,the writer of this article could not resist the curiosity with which he wasexcited, which prompted him to see and converse with a woman who had passedthrough life in so an uncommon a manner. His curiosity was satisfied; he foundher inmate in the house of her father, in Lee-street, Newton-Lane; she and heraged mother were employed in washing linen, in a room up one pair of stairs. Hedid not see the father, (who, it appears, had attended with the heroine at theweekly-board), but the mother fully corroborated all the circumstances of herdaughter's story; which was repeated in the intervals of the washing operation. She is in full hope ofobtaining the pension allowed to soldiers for long and faithful services; towhich, we think, she is fully and fairly entitled. The proper testimonials, weunderstand, are sent up, to be laid before the Commandant in Chief[7]
,in order to attain it, as well as to procure the arrears of her husband's pay,which had accumulated whilst he was in the French prison. We are aware that we haveextended this article to an unusual length; but having been much entertained bya character so original, we thought we should gratify our readers by a shortsketch of the life of so extraordinary a townswoman; for such a woman seldomappears to give life and interest to our local columns; and sure we are, thatwe shll be joined in the wish by all ranks of society, that the service of the soi-disant[8]
"William Roberts" may be remunerated in a pension to "SarahTaylor." On Saturday last, a femalesoldier sailed in the packet for Heligoland. -- She gives the following accountof herself: -- Her name is Johanna Stain, and was born at Vien, in Germany.[9]
About 24 years ago, being a strong woman, she chose to put on male attired, andafterwards let herself as ostler at an inn; after some years in that capacity,she inlisted in to a regiment of foot, where she continued five years; sheafterwards inlisted into a regiment of horse in the German Legion, and servedten years. During that time she had beenin eighteen battles, and was wounded seven times, some severe ones; the lastone was from a cannon-ball, which grazed her back, and wounded her severely,which led to a discovery of her sex, and she was sent home from Portugal. Shewas also taken prisoner by the French, and was confined three years.[10]
She says that her sex wasdiscovered once before by a physician, who attended her after she was wounded,when on foreign service, and gave him 150 dollars to conceal her sex, which he(much to his honour) accpeted. She is allowed a pension fromthe Austrian Government for former services, and is now allowed a pension fromour Government. She is so attached to the male attire that nothing can induceher to change it. She is near fifty years of age, of the middle stature, andfull of spirits -- but very much regretted to be sent home to her own country. [1]
. Under military regulations and British law,the legitimate wives of soldiers, if not permitted to accompany their husbands,were permitted to reply for poor relief at the municipal or parish level. [2]
. Hannah Snell, as mentioned above, enlisted inthe Royal Marines in the mid-18th century and served for a number of years.Christiana Davies clearly was a similar case. [4]
. This is the only part of Sarah Taylor's story wherethere is some divergence from the facts as, when she was with them, neither the15th Light Dragoons nor the 37th Foot served in the East Indies, Egypt orItaly. At this point, she may be exaggerating a little to impress herinterviewer, and it obviously worked. [5]
. A reference to a character in one of OliverGoldsmith's novels. [6]
. The parish poor relief or charity board. [7]
. That is to say, the Duke of York, thecommander-in-chief of the British army, at the War Office in London. [9]
. Probably, Wien or Vienna, Austria. [10]
. This must have happened during her Austrianservice as the dates would not correspond with the service of the King's GermanLegion mounted units.
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