Women at War Trivia Quiz

Answer: Zenobia

Zenobia was renowned for her beauty and military prowess. She did not suffer the usual execution reserved for prisoners at a Roman triumph because Aurelius was so impressed by her that he allowed her to spend the remainder of her life in a comfortable villa.

Answer: She rode through Dutchess county, New York to muster the soldiers to repel an imminent attack by the British.

Sybil Ludington was born in Duchess county, New York in 1761, the daughter of a colonel in the local militia. On 26 April 1777, when word reached Col. Ludington that the British were burning nearby Danbury, Connecticut, Sybil volunteered to ride her horse and warn the members of the militia who were scattered throughout the county.

She rode from 9 pm to dawn in a hard rain and mustered the men who were able to push the British back to Long Island Sound. Each April, the Sybil Ludington 50k foot race is held in her honor and the route traces her famous ride.

Answer: Mary Edwards Walker

Mary Edwards Walker was born 26 Nov 1832 in Oswego, NY, the daughter of a physician. She was the only woman in her graduating class of 1855 at the Syracuse Medical College. She volunteered in the Union army at the onset of the war, but because of her sex was denied a commission as a medical officer.

She served as an unpaid surgical assistant, but by her skill and perseverance, she became a field surgeon. She not only treated Union and Confederate soldiers but frequently crossed enemy lines to treat civilian casualties.

She was captured in 1864 and freed four months later. After the war, she received an army pension and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Answer: Margaret Cochran Corbin

Margaret Cochran was born in Pennsylvania on 12 Nov 1751 and at the age of five her father was killed and her mother taken hostage during an Indian raid. In 1772 she married John Corbin, a farmer, and after he enlisted in the militia to fight the British, she followed him to war.

When his regiment was attacked by the Hessian regiment at Fort Washington, Margaret was with him and stayed near his artillery post. Corbin was killed as she watched the battle and she immediately took his place cleaning, loading and firing the cannon.

Her cannon post was destroyed by enemy guns and she was found alive but severely wounded when the fort was overrun by the enemy. She was eventually paroled and sent to a Philadelphia hospital and never completely recovered from her wounds.

When she died in 1800, she was initially buried near the Hudson River, but in 1926 her remains were removed to the military academy at West Point.

Answer: Lady Blanche Arundel

Blanche was born in 1583, the daughter of Edward Somerset, Earl of Worcester and Elizabeth, daughter of Francis Hastings, Earl of Hungerford. She married Thomas, 2nd Lord Arundel of Wardour, Wiltshire, whose seat was Wardour Castle. While her husband was away fighting with the royal army, Cromwell's forces besieged her at Wardour Castle.

She and her small defensive force were able to hold out against the enemy for a number of days, but in May 1643 she was forced to surrender. Cromwell allowed her to leave the castle, but owing to her husband's attainder and seizure of his assets, Blanche was destitute.

The Earl of Hertford charitably gave her lodging and sustenance, and she died at Winchester on 28 October 1649.

Answer: Tomyris

The Massagetae were a people of Central Asia, related to the nearby Persians. Tomyris was queen of this small nation around 530 B.C.E when it was attacked by Cyrus who intended to annex it to his great empire. Tomyris and her army met the Persians in a battle in which the mighty invaders were soundly defeated and Cyrus was slain. Reportedly, Tomyris had his corpse beheaded and kept the souvenir with her for many years.

Answer: Vietnam

China had long dominated Vietnam when the Trac sisters led a successful rebellion and expelled their forces. The sisters ruled as queens for a time, but eventually the Chinese regained control of the region and the sisters were captured. They committed suicide together and they are honored every February during the Vietnamese National Women Day.

Answer: Isabella of Lorraine

Isabella of Lorraine was wife of Rene, Duke of Anjou, and led the army which freed him after his capture by the Duke of Burgundy. She later commanded an army in the field to fight for her husband's recognition as King of Sicily. Isabella passed on her strength and determination to her daughter, Margaret of Anjou, who as wife of the weak King Henry VI of England, would become a leader of the Lancastrian forces in that country's War of the Roses.

Answer: Hannah Snell

Hannah Snell was born in Worcester, England on 23 April 1723. She married James Summs, who deserted her after the death of their daughter in 1746. She joined the Royal Marines, disguised as a man and fought in a number of battles and was often wounded.

In 1750, she finally revealed her secret to her shipmates and was discharged. She received a pension and sold her story to a London publisher. Hannah died on 8 February 1792.

Answer: Aethelfleda

Aethelfleda was born around 872 to King Alfred and his wife Ealhswith. She married Aethelred, Earl of Mercia, who was killed by the Danish invaders after the battle of Tettenhall in 910. Aethelfleda lead the Mercian forces which drove the Danes from Leicester and Derby. She died at Tamworth in 918.

Answer: Deborah Samson

Robert Shurtleff's commanders described him as a soldier of great courage and endurance. "He" was really Deborah Samson who enlisted 20 May 1782 in the Massachusetts 4th Regiment. She was descended from Mayflower Pilgrims, but was excommunicated by her church for enlisting in the army.

The doctor who discovered Deborah's secret after her thigh wound festered, took her to his own home and nursed her back to health without revealing her true identity. After she recovered, the doctor notified the commanding general at Fort Knox and Deborah was honorably discharged on 23 October 1783.

She later married Benjamin Gannet and died on 19 April 1827 in Sharon, Massachusetts.

Answer: Ellen Goodridge

Ellen Goodridge followed her fiancee and his regiment through many battles, including Gettysburg, Antietam and The Wilderness. After Richmond fell and General Lee surrendered, James Hendrick became very ill. She stayed by his side and cared for him at a hospital in Washington but despite her efforts, his condition deteriorated. The day before he died in her arms, they were married.

Answer: They disguised themselves as men and ambushed a British courier.

Seven of the eight sons of Elizabeth and Abram Martin of South Carolina enlisted in the Revolutionary War. Their only daughter's husband was also a soldier in the militia and was killed at Quebec in 1775. Grace Waring was married to the Martin's eldest son William, who would later be killed at the siege of Augusta. Rachel Clay was married to Barkley Martin, the second son and her sister was married to another Martin brother. Rachel and Grace were living with their mother-in-law, when they learned that a British courier would be traveling a nearby road that night, carrying dispatches for his military commanders.

The two young women, dressed as men and armed with muskets, waited on the road and surprised the courier and his guards, who surrendered without a fight.

They took the dispatches to the American military commander in the area. As the story goes, the chagrined British courier stopped at the Martin home on his return trip where he was given food, drink and shelter from the weather and did not recognize the two young women as the persons who had taken his dispatches.

Answer: Sarah Malinda Pritchard Blalock

Sarah Malinda Pritchard Blalock, born in 1842, was married to William McKesson Blalock of North Carolina, known as "Keith", when the Civil War started. Sarah sympathized with the secessionists and Keith was pro-Unionist, but like most of the men in the district, he enlisted in the Confederate army. Sarah dressed as a young man and enrolled with him as "Samuel Blalock".

They marched and fought together, no one suspecting that Samuel was a woman, until she was shot in the shoulder in 1862. After taking his injured wife back to camp, Keith developed a bad skin infection from poison ivy and the CSA, fearing small pox, discharged him. Sarah was still recovering at the camp and confessed her secret to the commander who discharged her as well. When the CSA attempted to draft Keith back into the army, the couple fled to Tennessee and joined the Union regiment, 10th Michigan Cavalry.

They continued to fight for the Union and Keith also helped refugees of the Underground Railroad. During the course of the war, Keith lost an eye and the use of a hand.

After they war, they returned to their North Carolina home where Sarah died in 1901 and Keith was killed in a car accident in 1913.

Answer: Kahula bint Azwar

Kahula bint Azwar was the sister of the famed warrior Zarrar ibn al Azwar and both fought at the Battle of Ajnadayn under Khalid ibn al-Walid. This battle was one of the great Muslim victories for the Arab-Caliphates against the Byzantines. When her brother was wounded and captured by the Byzantines, she led part of the troops that went to rescue him.

Answer: Sichelgaita

Sichelgaita was born about 1040, the daughter of Guaimar IV, Prince of Salerno. She married Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and frequently accompanied him to battle. The Battle of Dyrrhachium was fought on the Balkan peninsula between the Norman army and the Byzantine Empire on 10 October 1081. Robert Guiscard's daughter Helena was married to the son of the Byzantine emperor who was overthrown in 1078 by Nicephorus Botaneiates, which induced Guiscard to attack.

The Normans were victorious in this battle. Sichelgaita died on 16 April 1090.

Answer: Pingyang of Tang

Pingyang was the daughter of the founder of the Tang dynasty, Emperor Gaozu of Tang. She helped him defeat the reigning Sui dynasty to take the throne and was in command of an army when they captured the Sui capital city of Chang'an. When Pingyang died in 623, her father gave her a magnificent funeral complete with a band normally reserved for a general.

Answer: She was a nurse.

Helen Booth Fairchild was born 21 November 1885 in Pennsylvania and became a nurse in 1913. After the U.S. entered the war in 1917, she volunteered for service and became a military nurse in France. In addition to enduring primitive conditions common close to the battlefield, she was exposed to mustard gas and as the war progressed; a pre-existing gastric ulcer grew worse.

She died on 18 January 1918 in France after a surgery to repair the ulcer.

Answer: Boudica

Boudica (Boudicea, Boudicca, Boadica, Boadicea etc) was the wife of Prasutagus, king of the Iceni people of eastern England and an ally of the Romans. After his death, his wife, Queen Boudica claimed the right to succeed him. The Romans regarded this as presumptuous, and she was whipped and her daughters were raped by the Roman garrison.

She headed a rebellion against their occupation. She was initially successful in rallying troops, winning skirmishes and destroying Roman property, but was ultimately defeated and was either killed in the battle or died by her own hand soon afterward.

Answer: Jacqueline Cochran

Jacqueline Cochran was born Bessie Lee Pittman on 11 May 1906 in Florida, and married Jack Cochran. She became a pilot while a young woman. In 1941 she studied the operation of the British Air Transport Auxiliary Service and the following year she returned to Britain and flew as a volunteer in the Service. Later she formed and directed the WASPs in the U.S. and later became a sponsor of the Woman in Space program. Jacqueline received the Legion of Honor in France and was inducted in the National Aviation Hall of Fame.

She died 9 August 1980. All three of the other women were also pioneers of aviation, Amelia Earhart being the most famous. Mabel Virginia Rawlinson joined the WASPs and was killed when her plane crashed at Camp Davis, North Carolina, 23 August 1943. Bessie Coleman became the world's first licensed black aviator and was killed in a plane accident on 30 April 1926.