The Mysterious Private Thompson: The Double Life of Sarah Emma Edmonds, Civil War SoldierResurrecting a lost hero of the Civil War, The Mysterious Private Thompson tells the remarkable story of Sarah Emma Edmonds (1841?98), who disguised herself as a man and defended her country at a time of war. Drawing on Edmonds's journals and those of the men she served with, Laura Leedy Gansler recreates Edmonds?s experience in some of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, including both the First and the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Peninsula Campaign, and the Battle of Fredericksburg, during which she served with distinction in combat as a ?male? nurse and braved enemy fire as a mail carrier. Gansler also investigates Edmonds's claim to have been a spy, going behind enemy lines disguised as a slave (by staining her skin with silver nitrate), as a Confederate soldier, and even, ironically, as a peddler woman. ø After two years of valiant service, the young soldier, who twice rejected medical attention for injuries sustained in the line of duty for fear of being discovered, was struck down with malaria. Rather than risk detection by a military doctor, ?Franklin Thompson? disappeared and was marked down as a deserter. Twenty years later, having resumed her female identity, Edmonds emerged from obscurity to fight for her pension and reunite with her surprised former comrades, who had not known their brother-in-arms was a woman. This intimate portrait is, above all, a personal drama about the lengths one daring woman was willing to go to chart her own destiny. |
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army arrived Barton battle boys brigade Brunswick Bull Run Burnside cavalry Chickahominy Civil Clara Barton command comrades Confederate Cutcheon Dannett deserter duty Emma Edmonds Emma recalled Emma's regiment enemy lines enlisted fact Federal fight fire Flint Fort Monroe Fort Scott Frank Thompson Franklin Thompson Fredericksburg Fredericksburg Campaign Gates of Richmond Harpers Ferry horse hospital Ibid infantry James Jerome Robbins knew Lacy House later Lee's letter Lincoln Linus mail carrier Manassas McClellan miles military months morning Morse moved nearly night Nurse and Spy once Orlando Poe Peninsula Campaign pension picket Potomac rebels Reid retreat Richmond river Robbins Journal Robbins noted Robbins's Rode Scott Monitor Second Michigan Seelye sent side slave soldiers soon spent Stewart Stuart surgeons Talleysville tent thousand tion took town troops Union Union Army veterans Washington White House Landing Woman of Valor women wounded Yorktown