Will Gorges, a local Civil War memorabilia dealer for 30 years, said he bought a Union sword that belonged to female Union soldier, Kady Brownell, regaled as a battle hero and the most distinguished northern female soldier during the war... “She marched with the men. She drilled with the men. She did rifle practice and evidently was one of the best shots in the whole regiment,” he said. Her husband was wounded in the battle and she spent six weeks in New Bern following the Union victory, caring for him and other wounded troops from both sides of the battle... Brownell was later the only woman awarded a Civil War pension, which was about $8 a month.