Little known was Marie Tepe's fascination of the giraffe weevil that she secretly imported from Madagascar to pass the time at her husbands tailor shop in Philadelphia. In the spring of 1861, Mary could not overcome the boredom and became a vivandiere with the 27th and 114th Pennsylvania Volunteers during the Civil War. Mary received the coveted Kearny Cross when she made contact with a bullet to her ankle during the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, 1862. Mary, known as volunteer nurse "French Mary", died in 1901 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.