SNIPPET: Rose ROONEY served in Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia for four years and fought in many battles. She was still in the ranks when Lee surrendered at Appomattox in 1865. She was not one of the women who posed as a man in order to fight in the American Civil War; rather, she joined the Confederate Army, openly signing on as a female enlistee in the Crescent Blues Volunteers at New Orleans in 1861. Her designated duty was to serve as cook and laundress for the company. The men saw nothing wrong with this arrangement and welcomed her as a member of the unit, which eventually became Company K of the 15th Louisiana Infantry. Ms. ROONEY accompanied the men to Virginia, and it was there where her role abruptly changed. As the First Battle of Bull Run raged, and the outcome was still in doubt, she ran through a field of heavy fire to tear down a rail fence, allowing a battery of Confederate artillery to race through in time to stop a Union charge. Her heroic! act was credited with turning the tide in that sector of the battlefield. -- Excerpt, "That's Not In My American History Book, A Compilation of Little-Known Events and Forgotten Heroes," Thomas Ayres (2000)