Emma Edmonds, Part 1

Sarah Emma Edmonds is probably one of my favorite "Civil War people" I've ever read about. Probably because of her bravery, hero-ism, and just plain story/adventure-book life. I'm going to share, in several parts, a verson of her "story" I found on the internet:

Emma Edmonds was one of the aproximately 400 women who succeeded in enlisting in the army (either Union or Confederate) in the Civil War. Her uniqueness is that she not only succeeded in remaining in the army for several years, but was also eminently succesful as a Union spy - all while impersonating as a man.
Born in Nova Scotia, Emma had a very difficult early life. Her father greatly resented the fact that she was not born a boyand subsequentally he treated her very badly in her early life. To counter his temper Emma did all that she was in fact a boy underneath her femininity. Finally her father's treatment got so abusive Emma fled her home to the United States where she quickly adapted to a new life. The United States became her country and it was natural for her to want to defend "her country" when the war began.
Emma was living in Flint, Michigan, when the first call for Union enlistments went out. She wanted to answer the call. So she cropped her hair, got a men's suit of clothing, took the name Frank Thompson and tried to enlist. It took her four tries but she finally did, in fact, get sworn in to the Union Army (at that time the physical consisted merely of asking the enliste questions - no medical exam.) On April 26, 1861, Emma alias Frank Thompson became a male nurse in the Second Volunteers of the United States Army.
After training in Washington, D.C., Emma's unit was sent south to be part of McCLellan's campaign in Virginia. Private Thompson (Emma) was assigned as a male nurse to the hospital of the 2nd Michigan Volunteers and had no trouble in maintaining her masculine masquerade. Even before the hostilities erupted on a full scale two events occured that changed Private Thompson's life forever. The events were:


(1) A Union agent working in Richmond for McClellan was caught and faced a firing-squad. This left a void intellegence gathering for McClellan.

(2) A young officer, named James Vesty, who Emma had known back in Canada, was killed on patrol. Emma, not knowing this, went to see him and arrived at his unit just as the funeral was about to begin.

As a result of these events, when the word went out that McClellan's staff was looking for a person to act as a spy prior to the campaign - Private Frank Thompson volunteered. She studied all she could find on weapons, tactics, local geography and military personalities and when interviewed for the postition, Private Thompson so impressed the staff that the job was his (hers.)

To be continued...