Marie Tepe
(1834-1901)
Marie Brose Tepe Leonard (August 24, 1834 – May 24, 1901), known as "French Mary," was a vivandière of Franco-Turkish descent who fought for the Union Army during the American Civil War. Tepe served with the 27th and 114th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiments.
Early life
Little is known of Tepe's early life. Born Marie Brose, Tepe was born in Brest, France, on August 24, 1834. Her father was Turkish and her mother was French. It is unknown when she immigrated to the United States, but it is estimated that she immigrated at fifteen years old. Around 1854 she married a tailor from Philadelphia named Bernhard Tepe.
Civil War service
Tepe's husband enlisted in the 27th Pennsylvania Infantry as a private. He wanted Tepe to stay behind and run their tailor shop during his service, but Tepe enlisted herself. She enlisted in the 27th as well.
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This entry incorporates text from “Marie Tepe” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.