Confederate Female Raider Sue Mundy
         We all know about the great strength, courage, selflessness and patriotism of southern womanhood. We know about immortal southern women who aided the causes in the world of hospitals, spies and the crucial homefront. We know about the leading roles taken by southern belles like Varina Davis, Captain Sally, La Belle Rebel or the southern belle of all southern belles Confederate Queen Lucy Holcombe. However, not everyone knows about the one Confederate woman who struck terror into the hearts of Yankees across the Commonwealth of Kentucky, a woman who led Confederate cavalry raiders in a brutal and no-holds barred guerilla war in the blue grass state. I am speaking of the great Sue Mundy.
         Newspapers printed numerous stories about the actions of Sue Mundy and her Confederate raiders. Unionist writers referred to her as a woman who had abandoned all womanly virtues for a life of war and bloodshed, said she was particularly cruel and merciless and reported that she stated she would never get married. The writer supposed she was saving herself for the Devil himself but stated that ol'Satan would have a hard time living with the notorious Confederate "she-devil" and predicted that Lucifer would be the one tormented by Sue Mundy. Accounts of the attacks carried out by Sue Mundy and her gang were everywhere. Showing up in one place and then another the number of witnesses who saw Sue Mundy or members of her gang attacking and raiding at will grew and grew. Northern troops seemed powerless to stop her. Sue Mundy descended upon her target, chaos ensued and then, just as quickly they seemed to vanish into thin air. Also known as Lieutenant Flowers, Sue Mundy succeeded in making the brutal but bungling federal commander in Kentucky, Major General Stephen Burbridge, seem totally incompetent as despite his best efforts Sue Mundy and her gang raided at will. Union sympathizers were killed, supply trains devestated and banks were robbed. This would be enough to make any Unionist want to forget the hated name of Sue Mundy. Yet, it does not explain her absence. There are numerous articles detailing the havoc she caused and one can go and visit her grave. However, what makes all of this one of the most interesting stories of the war and Sue Mundy possibly the most fascinating Confederate raider of them all is the fact that no such person ever existed. That's right folks: there was no real, flesh and blood Sue Mundy, her existence was a total fabrication by a Louisville newspaper editor.
         George D. Prentice of the Louisville Journal came up with the idea for Lieutenant Flowers, a female Confederate raider later known as Sue Mundy as a way to make General Burbridge, a military despot who refused a great many Kentuckians of their right to vote to ensure the reelection of President Lincoln in 1864 and who routinely terrorized civilians and murdered POW's, look like the fat, great idiot he was. His articles took on a life of their own and soon a whole legend grew up around Sue Mundy, said to have been part of the real life Confederate partisans of the notorious William C. Quantrill. Attacks carried out by any number of individuals or groups were attributed to Sue Mundy, many raiders operating in the commonwealth, after reading the stories of the rebel tigress claimed to be members of her gang. Union forces tried and tried in vain to stop this troublesome woman who so humiliated them yet it is no wonder she proved so elusive. The closest real person to the legend of Sue Mundy was Marcellus Jerome Clarke (left) who had ridden with General John Hunt Morgan in his great Kentucky raid before joining up with the guerilla fighters of Quantrill and his notorious band. Clarke had soft features, was rather short and wore his hair long. For this reason, when he was captured the Union forces declared they had taken Sue Mundy at last and hanged him.
         Trying to regain the upper hand in a propaganda war against a figment of their imagination the Yankees said that Clarke had dressed as a woman which was totally untrue. Allowed no defense and forbidden to call witnesses on his behalf at his military "trial" he could only protest that he was a regular Confederate soldier and not the feared "She Devil" Sue Mundy. "I hope in and die for the Confederate cause" were his last words. For the poor, noble Clarke the story of Sue Mundy was not a happy one. He died for the crimes of a women who did not even exist. However, it is a story that will always bring a smile to the face of a proud southerner. It is rather satisfying to think that not only was the most feared and ferocious raider to bedevil the Union occupiers of Kentucky a woman, but better still a woman who was not even real. I cannot help but chuckle when I think about the proud, blue hordes of President Lincoln being outmatched by a bogey man (or woman) of no more reality than that in a children's bedtime story. In fact, by putting all the blame on Clarke the Yankees really only made themselves look worse instead of better. Had the legendary Sue Mundy been a real, flesh and bone person she could not have been nearly so effective at terrifying, mistifying and humiliating the enemy. Clarke was a simple Confederate cavalryman but Sue Mundy could be everywhere and nowhere at once, she could attack and vanish into thin air, she could cause more havoc across a wider area than the fastest horse even in Kentucky could ride. Clark, or even his famous fellows in the realm of rebel
raiders like Quantrill, Morgan, Forrest, Mosby, Shelby and so on could all be defeated but Sue Mundy was immortal. Because of this, there is no doubt in my mind, that Sue Mundy was the greatest Southern belle soldier, the greatest female rebel raider who never was.
This page is dedicated to the memory of all those "too good to be true" southern women from Sue Mundy to Daisy Duke. They may not be real, but if they were they could not be anything but tough, lovely  southern girls with a rebel streak.
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1