One reason this is a plot in The Shadow Campaigns is that the Napoleonic/ACW era in real life was like the golden age of "women in male dress serving as soldiers", after mass mobilization but before good hygiene and medical practice
Z asked for a video about "crackle", which when asked she defined as "a sea creature that's not alive".
(Spoiler: the answer was "kraken".)
There's a great book (titled "The Cavalry Maiden" by the publishers, against the author's will) documenting a Russian who did this for ten years as a cuirassier, and there are dozens of other examples we *know* about and probably a lot more we don't.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksan...