Anne Quatre-Sous (c. 1778) stands out among the many women soldiers of the French Revolutionary Wars because of her youth and bravery. Her story illustrates the complexity of attitudes towards women at war during the end of the 18th century.

Anne Quatre-Sous: a teenage girl in the aftermath of the French Revolution

Anne Quatre-Sous was likely born into poverty in Isère. Apart from that, little is known about her early years. In the outbreak of the French revolutionary wars Anne tried to enlist among the volunteers of her region in 1791. Reportedly moved by patriotism, she was thirteen years old and was rejected because of her height and age. This did not deter her in the slightest.

She then managed to join the cavalry and was assigned to care for the artillery horses, which were used to pull artillery equipment, particularly cannons.

A woman soldier’s ride across Europe

From then on, Anne Quatre-Sous went from battle to battle and from danger to danger. She first fought in the Vendée and then in Belgium. She took part in the sieges of Liège, Aix-la-Chapelle, Namur, and Maastricht.

She endured severe privations during the bombardment of Valenciennes. Anne also had a close brush with death during the siege of Dunkirk. Two of her horses were killed beneath her, and she was knocked over by the blast from a cannonball.

Afterward, her sex was discovered and, in accordance with the policy of the time, which had barred women from officially serving in the army in 1793, Anne could no longer remain in military service.

Rebel or patriotic heroine? Women in the French army

At that time, Anne was only fifteen years old. She applied to the Convention for a pension. The Assembly ruled in her favor after a debate. Unlike other women soldiers, Anne was very young and had no husband to support her. Besides, her civic spirit and dedication to Republican principles were considered worthy of admiration. To the men of the time, Anne Quatre-Sous had risen above her sex, for she had received nothing but praise for her conduct under fire.

The decision stipulated that Anne’s pension would be increased when she married. She also received money to buy herself clothes.

Anne then disappeared from the records, and her subsequent whereabouts remain unknown.

Anne Quatre-Sous appeared like a shooting star across French military history. Due to her young age, her story offers a grueling picture of a teenage girl swept up by war. Yet, her choices highlight the diversity of women’s experiences on the battlefield during the French Revolutionary wars.

I run this project on a voluntary basis because I think these women’s stories deserve to be told. My goal is to build a comprehensive online archive to safeguard this heritage.

Hours of research hide behind each post. My content is human-written, without AI-Generated visuals.

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Further reading about women in the French revolution

Annales Dauphinoises

Jacotey Marie-Louise, La femme aux armées 1792-1815

Steinberg Sylvie, La Confusion des sexes. Le travestissement de la Renaissance à la Révolution

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