Mollie Bean

Mollie Bean was a North Carolina woman who, pretending to be a man, joined the 47th North Carolina, a unit of the Confederate States Army in the American Civil War. She was wounded twice, and, given the regiment's history, may have served at the Batttle of Gettysburg. She was captured in February, 1865, and subsequently imprisoned as a spy. The press of the day insinuated that her comrades had to know her gender, and that she probably engaged in sexual intercourse with several.

Mollie Bean in The Guns of the South
Mollie Bean was a prostitute who joined the Confederate Army as a career opportunity. Nonetheless, as Melvin Bean, she served the 47th North Carolina ably during the Second American Revolution.

Literary Comment
In his afterward, Harry Turtledove acknowledged that he was not able to find Bean's company. He also admits that her career as a prostitute is fictional.