Rhode Island Patriot, Kady Brownell, was not only a Union Army Color Bearer, but was the only female to officially receive an honorable discharge and a pension from the Union Army after the Civil War. Kady was determined not to be a water carrier or just a laundress, for the 1st Rhode Island Infantry. This Rhode Island outfit was a company of sharpshooters and she worked hard to become a crack shot and handy with a sword. Being the color bearer was a dangerous job, a favorite target of the enemy. If the flag went down, the men would lose their bearings and not be able to find their comrades in the sound and fury of battle. Rhode Island Patriot, Kady Brownell, possessed the pluck and grit, to not only carry the banner, but to join the line and fight courageously, side by side with her male counterparts.
Kady Southwell, born in 1842, outside Kaffraria, South Africa, in a British army camp, to a French mother and Scottish father. Colonel George Southwell, Kady’s father, was on maneuvers at the time and her mother died shortly after she was born. Young Kady was taken in by the McKenzie family, who immigrated to the United States, settling in Providence, Rhode Island.
Kady did not appear in any census records until 1860. At that time, she was living with a Rodman family, in Providence, while she worked as a weaver in the mills. Kady met a millwright named Robert Brownell, who was six years older. He was married and when Robert’s wife filed for divorce, charging him with adultery, Kady and Robert were married, whether it was a common law arrangement or not is unclear, however the future Rhode Island Patriot carried Robert’s last name for the rest of her life.
When the Civil War began, Robert enlisted in the 1st Rhode Island Infantry, with Kady determined to enlist as well. Rhode Island Governor William Sprague took her into his own unit, and once in Washington, Colonel Ambrose Burnside made her the Color Bearer of the 1st Rhode Island Infantry. When the regiment went out to practice daily at the target, she carried her rifle, as well as the colors; and when her turn came, the men seldom restricted her to the three shots which were allowed to each. So pleased were they by her skill and coolness with the weapon, that she was allowed as many shots as she chose and thus became one of the quickest and most accurate marksmen in the regiment. Nor was the sergeant’s straight sword, which hung at her belt, worn as an idle form. She practiced daily with her husband and his friends in camp, till she felt herself as familiar with its uses as with the carbine.
Kady Brownell, carried her rifle, along with the Regimental flag and was an active participant in the First Battle of Bull Run. As the battle turned sour for Union forces, a Pennsylvania soldier tried to lead her from the field and was shot and killed. He fell onto her, trapping her beneath his dead body. Though wounded herself, she freed herself and hobbled to safety still carrying the flag. She kept to the woods, where she found some of the company and before long chanced upon an ambulance, into which she jumped; but the balls were flying too thick through the cover. She sprang out, and soon after found a stray horse, on which she jumped, and rode to Centreville. Here and at Arlington Heights, for more than thirty hours, she was tortured by the most harassing stories about the fate of her husband. One had seen him fall dead. Another had helped him into an ambulance, badly wounded. Another had carried him to a hospital, and the enemy had fired the building, and all within had perished. So fully did she believe this at one time, that she had mounted a horse, and was starting back from Alexandria, in hope of getting through the lines and finding him, when she was met by Colonel Burnside, who assured her that Robert was unhurt and she should see him in a few hours.
After mustering out of the 1st Rhode Island, the Brownells re-enlisted in the 5th Rhode Island Battalion. Burnside was now a General, and he was ordered to take an expedition to North Carolina to capture southern ports to aid the Union blockade. During the Battle of New Bern, Kady displayed her bravery by saving the soldiers of the 5th Rhode Island from an incident of friendly fire. Poor visibility, an unexpected entry to the battlefield, and the ill-conceived choice of some soldiers to wear grey hats, almost resulted in the 4th Rhode Island firing on their comrades in the 5th. Kady saw the danger unfolding, grabbed an improvised flag, and ran between the two groups to warn them of their mistake. For the rest of the battle, she nursed Union troops, including her husband, who had been shot in the thigh.
When Robert could travel, Kady accompanied him on a steamship to New York, where she nursed him for 18 months. When he recovered he was pronounced unfit for service and Kady took him home to assume the duties of a loving wife. She kept the colors she so proudly carried, as well as her discharge signed by General Burnside and her sword that had her name cut on the scabbard.
On November 7, 1863, Kady McKenzie and Robert S. Brownell were officially married, by the Reverend William McDonald of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in Providence, Rhode Island and in 1870, Kady was inducted into the Elias Howe Post of the Grand Army of the Republic.
The Brownells lived in Providence, Rhode Island and then moved to New York. In 1884, Kady Brownell received a $8 a month pension, for her service in the 1st Rhode Island Infantry and for her wound at the First Battle of Bull Run. Kady and Robert Brownell resided at the New York State Women’s Relief Corps Home, Oxford, New York, when she died on January 5, 1915. Robert S. Brownell, Jr., died on September 29, 1915. Kady Brownell is interred at the North Burial Ground in Providence, Rhode Island.
Rhode Island Patriot, Kady Brownell, was so much more the just another Union Color Bearer, she epitomized a daring flexibility, courage and resilience on the battlefield that was imperative for a Union victory.
Bummer
