This armed female warrior, ‘Amazon of the Seine’, was perhaps inspired by the attempts by Félix Belly to form battalions of female soldiers to take part in the defence of Paris. This dream was never realised despite a purported 15,000 applications, after the government intervened due to Belly reportedly collecting ‘enrolment fees’. 
 
The drawing is accompanied by a short poem celebrating one of the ‘Amazon of the Seine’. Here the female soldier stands calmly, waiting for the enemy, doing what she sees as her duty to the city and the country.  

Paris: Saillant éditeur (5 & 10 rue du Croissant); Imp. Lemercier & Cie, [1871]

CUL, KF.3.11