Life at times is hard, when the love of your life is sent into battle, that’s when life gets even harder. Imagine one day waking up to news that made your heart sink. A woman by the name of Brita Christina Hagberg had the love of her life taken from her. She arrived in Stockholm in 1777, where she married Anders Peter Hagberg, a soldier of the guard in 1785. Shortly after their marriage, he was called away to participate in the Russo-Swedish War (1788 – 1790). Brita Christina Hagberg change the course of history and not because she was on a mission to change history, but because she was on a mission to find her husband. She enlisted in the army dressed as a man under the name Petter Hagberg in search for her husband, because she had heard nothing of him since the beginning of the war. In the Battle of Vyborg bay as a marine soldier, at this battle, there was "at least one woman in a fighting position", and that was Brita Christina Hagberg, aka ‘Petter Hagberg’. At this point she had very little to lose and everything to gain. Would you do this to find the one you love?
She was stationed to serve on the ship Styrbjörn. According to a story, Admiral Kurt Von Stedingk once called out for "Hagberg", and at this call, two soldiers reported to him; one was Hagberg, and the other was her husband. They kept her sex a secret, and this is known from her own words many years later. Hagberg was later in her service wounded in battle at Björkö Sund and was ordered to go below deck to have her wounds tended to. She was unwilling, but was forced to obey this order, and thus, her gender was revealed. Hagberg was given a military pension of three riksdaler a year, also something which was a very rare thing for a woman to receive. She was recommended for the pension by Carl Olof Cronstedt. After the war, Hagberg was given the personal privilege (unusual for a married woman) to trade in food (1793), and she had a spot reserved for her at the square of Oxtorget in Stockholm (1802), which was renewed the last time in 1819.
Her husband died in 1816. She had at least two children (at least, these are the only ones confirmed to have reached adulthood); a son born in 1792, and a daughter born in 1797. She is one of two confirmed women to have been decorated for bravery in battle in Sweden before women were allowed into the military in the 20th century. I am saddened to say there isn’t much more information on her or her husband. I believe she is one of the bravest women in history. She went out to battle to find her husband. Most women wouldn’t dare to break the rules, but she did. At the end I can only imagine what her husband thought about all this. I would like to keep her name out there, for her bravery and her pride of her country shows a lot of strength in a woman. I hope you share and like this article. Please comment below on your opinion of this story. Thanks for reading!
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