PA Civil War > Regiments > 114th
114th Regiment - Collis' Zouaves Vivandiere
Marie or Mary Tebe / Tepe, also known as French Mary, 114th Regiment, Collis' Zouaves.
A vivandiere (or vivandere) was a combination nurse, cook, seamstress, and laundress who travelled with the Zouaves. Generally, a vivandiere adopted the style of clothing of her regiment, but with men's pants under a knee-length skirt. They carried a cask (seen slung over her shoulder) which was generally filled with water, brandy or wine.
In this photograph taken at the Tyson Brothers studio in Gettysburg, she is wearing the Kearny Cross she received for gallantry on the field of Fredricksburg where she was wounded in the ankle by a bullet.
Most vivandiere's were sent home when the heavy fighting started, so Mary is considered the only enlisted woman at Gettysburg where she carried water and treated the wounded during the heaviest of the fighting. She was in 13 battles, and carried a .44 caliber pistol.
Women at Gettysburg
by E.J. Conklin,
"When the regiment was not in action, she cooked, washed, mended for the men. She drew the pay of a soldier and was allowed 25 cents per day extra for hospital and headquarters services, maker her pay $21.45 per month for over two years. Then some friction in the Paymaster's Department about the enlistment of women stopped her pay, but did not dampen her patriotism."
