From Wikipedia...

Rhea raised the only female calvary company, on either side, during the Civil War. The unit was made up of young women in their teens and twenties from Rhea County and was formed in 1862. The girls named their unit the Rhea County Spartans. Until 1863, the Spartans simply visited loved ones in the military and delivered the equivalent of modern day care packages. After Union troops entered Rhea in 1863, the Spartans may have engaged in some scouting for Confederate forces. The members of the Spartans were later arrested in 1865 under orders of a Rhea County Unionist and were forced to march on foot to the Tennessee River. From there they were transported to Chattanooga aboard the USS Chattanooga. Once in Chattanooga, Union officers decided that the young women were not a threat and ordered them released and returned to Rhea County. The women were forced to take the oath of allegiance to the United States. The Spartans were disbanded and unfortunately have drifted into near obscurity. The Spartans were not an officially recognized unit of the Confederate Army

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David Upton