Annie Oakley promotes the service of women in combat situations with the United States military. On this day, she writes a letter to President McKinley offering the government the services of a company of 50 'lady sharpshooters' who would provide their own arms and ammunition should war break out with Spain.
//www.archives.gov/research/recover/exle-02.html The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Letter to President
William McKinley from
Annie Oakley Retrieved January 24, 2008. In the
history of women in the military, there are records of female U.S. Revolutionary and Civil War soldiers who enlisted using male pseudonyms, but Oakley's letter represents possibly the earliest political move towards women's rights for combat service in the United States military.