Eliza Allen

Eliza Allen was an American writer from Maine who, in 1851, published a memoir called The Female Volunteer; Or the Life and Wonderful Adventures of Miss Eliza Allen, A Young Lady of Eastport, Maine. In the book, she describes how as a teenager, she was not allowed to marry the man whom she loved, and so she disguised herself as a man and had many adventures, including fighting and being wounded in the Mexican–American War, though some sources question the veracity of her claims. She was also known as Eliza Billings.