The Warrior Women Project is a database for English-language ballads depicting female combatants. Most of these texts are known to us because of Dianne Dugaw's extensive archival work for her book Warrior Women and Popular Balladry, 1650-1850 (1989). As the book shows, this trope was flexible, appearing in all types of modes. A sampling of ballads proves this:
Mary Ambree is one of the oldest of these ballads. Three thousand enemy soldiers surround a troop. Amidst battle, the sergeant dies. His lover swears revenge, donning a helmet, grabbing a sword, and leading her men into the fray. She's betrayed by a member of her unit, but prevails.
The Valiant Virgin has an unusually strong homoerotic element between the disguised heroine and her lover. An heiress loves a farmer but her father wants her to marry a wealthy man. He has the farmer conscripted. They become a soldier and a surgeon mate, respectively, aboard a vessel. After returning home, they learn her father is dead, and marry.
Susan's Adventures on a British Man of War skips the courtship period to jump into the action. A man is called to sea; his lover follows. The endure menial labor, harsh weather, and deadly battles until they arrive home.
William and Harriet is a largely romantic narrative with a tragic ending. A daughter and father argue over her romance with a farmer. The man decides to have the lad drafted. The lovers join the navy together, with the girl disguised as a boy. A shipwreck strands them on an uninhabited, uninhabitable island where they die.
The Female Cabin Boy, Or the Row Among the Sailors parodies the idea of a woman pretending to be a man. An adventurous maiden enters a year-long position on a boat. The captain learns the truth and gets frisky with her. She gets pregnant. Everyone celebrates.
Jack Munro gives roughly equal attention to wooing and warring. A girl in love with a sailor joins him in a war with Germany. She does well. She reveals her identity to her lover and they are married. When they return to England, she reunites with her parents and even the queen is amused by their situation.
