Sarah Emma Edmundson

Quite possibly a master of disguise, Sarah Emma Edmundson is among a list of about 400 women who succeeded in enlisting in the army during the Civil War. Born in Canada to a father who so much resented the fact that she had not been born a boy that he constantly abused her, Sarah embarked on a life that would know her more as a man than a woman.

Sarah ran from her father and her country and began her new life in Michigan. When the war broke out Sarah very much wanted to defend her new home so she cut her hair, got a man's suit, changed her name to Frank Thompson and after four attempts was enlisted in the Union army as a male nurse. She was trained in Washington, D.C. and was sent to McClellan's campaign in Virginia. When an opening for Union spy opened up, Private Frank Thompson stepped up.

In order to infiltrate the Confederate troops, Sarah decided to enter as a black man so as not to arouse suspicion. At first she was put to work on the ramparts designed against McClellan, but after one day she had convinced another slave to swap places, which landed her in the kitchen. There she learned about the size of their army and specifics about their armory. The next day she escaped back to McClellan's army where her news was greatly appreciated and she was sent back to the hospital as Frank Thompson, male nurse.

Two months later McClellan needed another spy. This time she went as an Irish peddler woman and returned back to camp with the much needed information and a Confederate horse she named Rebel. When her unit was transferred to the Shenandoah Valley to support General Phillip Sheridan, her knack for spying followed her.

In August of 1862 she dressed as a mammy and became the laundress for a Confederate camp. When she was cleaning out a jacket some official papers fell out. Scooping them up, Sarah decided it was time to return to her own camp where she was met with much gratitude.

At the end of 1862, with Sarah's reputation soaring, her unit was transferred to Kentucky. General Ambrose Burnside employed Sarah to become Charles Mayberry, a southern sympathizer, to gain knowledge of the Southern spy network. Never one to fail, Sarah returned triumphant and was quickly transferred to General Grant's army where they prepared for the battle of Vicksburg.

In General Grant's service, Sarah worked as Frank Thompson for long hours in the hospital. Sarah came down with malaria, and fearing her discovery as a woman should she admit herself into her own hospital, Sarah fled to Cairo, IL. After recovering in a Cairo hospital, to her dismay Sarah found her alter ego Frank Thompson on a list of deserters. She returned to Washington, D.C. and lived out the rest of her days working as a nurse, but as Sarah - not Frank Thompson. When the war was over Sarah wrote her memoirs in a book entitled "Nurse and Spy in the Union Army".

Sarah took the profits from her very popular book and moved back to Canada, where she met, fell in love with and married Linus Seeyle. They moved back to the United States and raised three sons. The fact that her alter ego was defined as a Civil War deserter haunted Sarah so she petitioned the War Department for a full review of her case. On July 5, 1884 Private Franklin Thompson was given an honorable discharge and Sarah was given a bonus and veteran's pension.

Satisfied with the outcome, Sarah moved to Texas where she happily lived out the rest of her days. She died on September 5, 1889 and is buried in the military section of the Washington Cemetery in Houston. She also has the honor of being the only female member of The Grand Army of the Republic, an organization formed after the war by Union veterans.