Lizzie "Jack" Compton (born c.1847) was a woman who disguised herself as a man in order to fight for the Union in the American Civil War [1]. She enlisted at the age of 14, and served in seven different regiments until the conclusion of the war.
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Little is definitively known of Lizzie Compton's early life. She was discovered as being a woman seven times during the war, and each time gave different details of her background and motivation. She reported she was originally from Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Ontario, Canada at different points in her career as a soldier. There is some evidence that she worked on a steamboat, and so perhaps led a traveling life from the start. [1]
Compton saw considerable action during the war and was wounded on two occasions. She was wounded first at Antietam by shrapnel as part of an uphill charge at an entrenched confederate position that resulted in 9,600 Union casualties. After this injury she was mustered out of active duty, but headed west in order to rejoin the army as part of the 25th Michigan Infantry. She was subsequently shot in the shoulder in a squabble outside of Green River, Kentucky, known also as the Battle of Tebbs Bend. After recovering she returned to Green River to rejoin a regement that was encamped there. [2]
Lizzie Compton's postwar life remains as vague as her early life. After attempting to join a number of regiments, many of which discovered her and set her to duties at the field hospitals, she was last sighted in 1864 caring for wounded Union soldiers. [3]
Lizzie Compton stood approximately 5 feet tall and was slight of build. She appeared older than she was, joining the Army at just 14 with contemporaries placing her at the age of approximately 17.[4]