What Is Obvious Is Not Always Known: Rethinking Military History’s Hidden Front

“What is obvious is not always known, and

what is known is not always present.”

— Samuel Johnson (1755), cited by Edward Samuel Farrow (1885)

Hannah Snell (1723–1792) was a British woman who disguised herself as a man and became a soldier

In the meticulous world of military history—so often characterized by precision, hierarchy, and chronology—this quote strikes a curious chord.

Edward Samuel Farrow, a 19th-century military historian, invoked Samuel Johnson’s words to underscore a timeless truth: that even in structured disciplines, the obvious is often unseen, and what we know may not be where we need it most.

Farrow's insight holds a particular weight in military contexts, where forgotten lessons can lead to grave consequences. Strategies overlooked, patterns dismissed, or narratives untold—all can distort our understanding of conflict and sacrifice. But Farrow’s own work, for all its rigor, is a case in point: even he misses what’s been hidden in plain sight-woman and the wives.

The "Invisible" Half of the Story

Across centuries of warfare, women have been deeply embedded in the military landscape—not only as nurses, laundresses, or camp followers, but as active agents of resilience, labor, and at times, even combat. They managed finances, cooked, carried, comforted, and fought. Some followed husbands into war zones, others enlisted in disguise. Still others sustained the home front, becoming the logistical, financial, spies, and emotional backbone of armies that never formally recognized them.

And yet, flip through the pages of most traditional American military histories, and their presence is ghostly—if it exists at all. Could it be that their roles were so familiar, so “obvious,” that they became invisible?

Knowledge Hidden in Plain Sight

The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah), 31 July 1910. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.

Farrow’s citation of Johnson invites us to consider not just what history remembers, but who it remembers. If knowledge is only knowledge when it is present—accessible, cited, taught—then these women’s stories have long been trapped in a kind of historical purgatory, known to those who saw them, perhaps, but not present in our books, museums, or monuments.

Their absence isn't just an oversight. It’s a consequence of a long tradition of defining military value through masculine, institutional, and battlefield-centered lenses. But to truly understand the full machinery of war, we must shift our gaze beyond the marching columns and battlefield maps to include the people who stitched uniforms, buried the dead, kept the fires burning, and waited with hope or dread.

Making the Invisible Visible Again

“America’s First Woman Soldier,” Page 11,Grand Forks Herald (Grand Forks, ND), July 7, 1917.

Today’s historians are working to recover the lives that have been overlooked, but much remains to be done. The quote that anchors this reflection serves as both a caution and a call to action: what seems obvious is not always known. It is our job—as readers, scholars, and storytellers—to make it known. To restore what was once evident but missing back into presence.

By rethinking what constitutes “military history,” we also reconsider what constitutes contribution, courage, and consequence.

Let’s remember that history is not just what was recorded, but also what was forgotten. And sometimes, what is forgotten is the most obvious truth of all.

#MilitarySpouseHistory #HomefrontArchives

#BehindTheUniforms

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References

Images:

  Stephens, Mattew. “About the Author.” Hannah Snell: Britain’s Most Famous Female Sea Soldier..., http://www.hannahsnell.com/about-the-author.html.

The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah), 31 July 1910. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045396/1910-07-31/ed-1/seq-15/>

Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.), 07 July 1917. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042414/1917-07-07/ed-1/seq-11/>