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 Warrior Women and Popular Balladry, 1650-1850 (1989). As her book shows, this trope is 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. Dad has the farmer conscripted. The lovers 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. They endure menial labor, harsh weather, and deadly battles until they return 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 against 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.
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