Voting Station

Michigan Bridget (Diver)

Please vote to return to collections.

Patriot

The Resume

    Legendary heroine of the American Civil War
    Name variously spelled Bridget Divers, Deaver/s, Devens, and Devans
    Traveled with the First Michigan Cavalry, or 'The Wolverines' (allegedly fighting alongside her husband)
    Acted as a nurse and watch guard for the Union soldiers on the front lines
    Reportedly fought in the Battle of Fair Oaks (1862), the Battle of Cedar Creek (1864), and the Battle of Fair Oaks (1865)

Why she might be annoying:

    She was sometimes called 'Irish Biddy.'
    She served under General George Custer.
    There is widespread skepticism as to whether or not she 'really existed.'
    Despite her nickname, she was probably never a resident of Michigan (it was probably a clever play on the name 'Michigan Brigade').
    Most of what is known of her life comes from info extracted from old letters and eyewitness accounts, but nothing actually written in her own hand.
    Its generally assumed that she accompanied her husband to join the Michigan First Cavalry, but no record exists affirming that a man with any variation of the name 'Diver' ever served with them.
    A newspaper article (written years after the fact) reflecting on her read as follows: 'She was Irish, with all the Irish characteristics as to features and form, and though she had a temper as warm as her hair was red, she was jolly and full humor, which made her a most acceptable companion at all times.'

Why she might not be annoying:

    She immigrated to America during the Irish Potato Famine, at eleven.
    She accompanied the Cavalry out on raids and tended the wounded onsite.
    Legend has it that, during the Battle of Cedar Creek, she was cut off and surrounded by the Confederates, but managed to narrowly avoid capture.
    Other stories detail her rallying a wagon train of retreating soldiers, and her spending a purse of $300 given for her comfort on the men of her regiment.
    Her activities in combat reportedly ended once General Ulysses S. Grant banished women from military operations, around 1864.
    In the final year of the war, it is likely that she spent time working on the Sanitary Commission, and at the Cavalry Corps Hospital in City Point, Virginia.
    There are several theories as to what she did when the war ended, variously pointing to her having a continued involvement in the military; in Michigan, Texas, Pennsylvania, or elsewhere in the country.
    She is featured with an artistic likeness on a battlefield alongside Molly Pitcher and Margaret Corbin in the 'Warriors and Patriots' section of Alice Provensen's 1995 children's history book, 'My Fellow Americans.'
    Mary Livermore's engraving of her carrying the American flag, and leading cavalrymen into an engagement ('A Woman in Battle - Michigan Bridget Carrying the Flag') is an iconic image which still tends to turn up in books on the Civil War, even if people aren't familiar with her particular story.
    The first known reference to her was in an 1865 letter by Maine-native Rebecca Usher, who recalled: 'She had just come in with the body of a captain who was killed in a cavalry skirmish. She had the body lashed to her horse, and carried him fifteen miles, where she procured a coffin, and sent him home ... She had not slept for 48 hours, having worked incessantly with the wounded. She is brave, heroic, and a perfect enthusiast in her work.'

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 17 Votes: 52.94% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 13 Votes: 46.15% Annoying