Mary Burns or John Burns was an American woman who disguised herself as a man in order to fight in the American Civil War.
[2] Her sex was discovered ten days after being recognized by an acquaintance,[3] before her company had left Detroit.
[4] She was arrested in uniform, held in the city jail, charged with masquerading as a man, and sent home.
The account of the incident in the Detroit Advertiser and Tribune (February 25, 1863) described the defendant as "a very pretty woman".
This article about a person of the American Civil War is a stub.