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Mexican War (1846-1848)
Elizabeth Newcom enlists in Company D of the Missouri Volunteer Infantry as Bill Newcom. She marches 600 miles from Missouri to winter camp at Pueblo, Colorado, before she is discovered to be a woman and discharged -
1861-1865
In the South and in the North too, women made bandages for the wounded and knit socks to keep the soldiers' feet warm and dry. Women worked to manufacture arms, ammunition, uniforms, and other supplies for the soldiers -
Women in World War I
In 1901 and 1908 the establishment of the Army and Navy Nurse Corps opened the door for women in the military but ever so slightly. It wasn't until the United States got involved in World War One that some parts of the government got serious about using woman power. Nearly 13,000 women enlisted in the Navy and the Marine Corps on the same status as men and wore a uniform blouse with insignia -
19 Amendment
19th Amendment gave women the right to vote in 1919, the states ratified it in 1920 -
Women first legally allowed to join the military
In the United States, there were some special branches that allowed women during World War 1. It wasn't until the late 1940's that they were allowed to be permanent members of the armed forces. -
1986
Six Air Force women serve as pilots, copilots and boom operators on the KC-135 and KC-10 tankers that refuel FB-111s during the raid on Libya.For the first time in history, the Air Force Academy's top graduate is a woman.A Navy woman becomes the first female jet test pilot in any service.The Coast Guard's rescue swimmer program graduates its first woman -
Silver Star
The first woman in history is awarded the Silver Star for combat action. She is one of 14 women in US history to receive the medal. -
2006
The Coast Guard appoints the first woman Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard, making her the first woman in history to serve as a deputy service chief in any of the US Armed Forces -
Rank four-star general
For the first time in US military history, a woman is promoted to therank of four-star general. She is promoted by the US Army -
Women's Armed Services Intergration Act.
Americans would not allow them to be fully integrated into the military until 1948, when President Harry Truman signed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act.
