Kristina

Kristina, A Civil War Woman is a Historical novel about the women of the south during in the Civil War. The heroine is Kristina Augustsson who fought in the Southern Army by disguising herself as a man. Kristina had emigrated from Sweden to Charleston, South Carolina in August 1860. Because she was big and unattractive, Kristina's disguise as a man gained her free passage as an indentured harness maker. Her nickname was 'Pig-Face.' Shortly after landing in Charleston, Kristina was caught up in the War between the States. She fought beside her friend and fellow immigrant, Kurt Petersson and eventually was given the command of the Quaker Artillery Battery of the Army of North Virginia. Historical records show that she was killed on May 2, 1863, in the battle of Chancellorsville. When General Stonewall Jackson came upon Kristina dying beside her fallen friend, he said, 'I've never seen a braver man.' Her dying protest, 'I'm a woman,' went unheeded. The General thought the dying soldier was delirious. He could not see that his gallant warrior was a woman who wanted to be loved, have a home and children like any woman of her day. Margaret Mitchell s Gone with the Wind showed us the aristocratic Southern women. Kristina,shows us the lower class Southern women who fought the war with whatever resources available to them.