Vivandiere Mary Teb, 114th Pennsylvania Zouaves, Union Infantry--single figure--RETIRED--LAST ONE!!
$48.00
Item Number: 31109
Union Infantry 114th Pennsylvania Zouaves - Vivandiere Mary Teb
French Mary Tepe, a Civil War Vivandiere, was a French immigrant who married the Philadelphia tailor, Bernardo Tepe. Vivandieres were a combination nurse, cook, seamstress, and laundress who travelled with the Zouaves. They usually adopted the style of clothing of her regiment, but with men's pants under a knee-length skirt, and carried a cask that was generally filled with water, brandy, or wine. Mary Tepe was certainly the most famous of those ladies.
Mary left the 27th for the 114th Pennsylvania Infantry, also known as the Collis Zouaves. It was with this unit that she adopted her now famous Zouave uniform of a knee-length skirt over a pair of baggy Zouave pantaloons, a Zouave sash and army belt, and a short blue jacket similar to the men's with light blue cuffs and brass buttons along the front edge. Her feet are shod with shoes that look like a pair of soldiers brogans.
French Mary, as she was often called, carried her small keg of whiskey to the front lines to comfort the wounded and encourage the faint of heart. She was a courageous woman, and often got within range of the enemy's fire. In December, at the Battle of Fredericksburg, where she helped to establish a field hospital and care for the wounded, she caught a bullet in her left ankle.
RETIRED.
(30)
LAST ONE!!
