Nellie Graves
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Nellie Graves was a female soldier who served, in secret, in the Union Army during the American Civil War alongside her close friend Fanny Wilson. Both saw action at the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. Their genders were shortly discovered while they were being treated for an illness. Both were discharged and went their separate ways for the rest of the war. Wilson chose to reenlist in disguise again. There is some speculation as to whether Graves did the same, but if she had reenlisted, she was not discovered for a second time.
Nellie Graves traveled with her friend, Fanny Wilson, to Lafayette, Indiana, in 1860 to visit Wilson's distant family members. During their stay, both women met and fell in love with two men, and exchanged letters with them for a year when the girls when back to New York. But as Civil War started brewing in 1861, Graves and Wilson received news from their lovers that stated their intention to enlist in the Union Army in the 24th New Jersey Infantry.[1] In response, both women plotted to enlist in the same regiment as their loved ones but in different companies to avoid being caught.