Jerome Lofgren

Kristina: a Civil War Woman Jerome Lofgren

Kristina is a historical account of a young woman who emigrates from Sweden to Charleston, SC, disguised as a man.

Upon landing in Charleston, August 1860, she retained her masculine disguise and was caught up in the War Between the States. She fought beside her friend and fellow immigrant, Kurt Petersson, in the Quaker artillery battery of the Army of North Virginia until her death on May 2nd, 1863 at the battle of Chancellorville.

This unlikely heroine rivals Henry of THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE for personal struggles, doubts and finally courageous leadership. As General Stonewall Jackson said of Kristina as she lay dying beside her fallen friend, "I've never seen a braver man." Her dying protest, "I'm a woman," went unheeded. He thought she 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 normal woman of her day.

Margaret Mitchell's GONE WITH THE WIND showed us the aristocratic Southern women. KRISTINA shows us the other Southern women who fought the war using whatever resources were available to them.