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Sarah Pritchard


Sarah Malinda Pritchard Blalock (March 10, 1839 or 1842, Avery County, North Carolina – March 9, 1901 or 1903, Watauga County, North Carolina) was a female soldier during the American Civil War. Despite originally being a sympathizer for the right of secession, she fought bravely on both sides. She followed her husband by joining the CSA's 26th North Carolina Regiment, disguising herself as a young male soldier named Samuel Blalock. The couple eventually escaped by crossing Confederate lines and joining the Union partisans in the mountains of western North Carolina. During the last years of the war, she was a pitiless pro-Union marauder, tormenting the Appalachia region. Today she's one of the most remembered female combatants of the Civil War.

Sarah Malinda Pritchard was born March 10, 1839, in Caldwell County, North Carolina—now part of Avery County—which is located in the steep region of Grandfather Mountain and died March 9, 1903. She was the daughter of John and Elizabeth Pritchard, and the sixth of nine children.

When she was a child, Malinda Pritchard resided in Watauga County—also now Avery County—which was her main residence until her death. There, she attended a single-room schoolhouse.

In those years, she became a close friend of William McKesson Blalock, whose family had been rivals with her family for over 100 years. Ten years Malinda's senior, Blalock was nicknamed "Keith" after a great contemporary boxer, due to his skill at boxing. Keith and Malinda met in school and were childhood sweethearts. At age 19, she married William in the politically turbulent 1861, causing a big stir around the families then.

After the Civil War had begun, the inhabitants of the western North Carolina communities—in the Appalachian Mountains—were restlessly confronted over their eventual political adherences. Daily, the neighbors argued aggressively with each other, even against their folk people. For example, originally, Malinda expressed her sympathy for the right of secession. On the opposite political side, Keith and his stepfather Austin Coffey were radical unionists—even though Keith was opposed to President Lincoln—and they had planned to desert toward the Union someday. The Blalocks' opposing views did not affect their marriage, however.


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