Nurse and Spy in the Union Army: Comprising the Adventures and Experiences of a Woman in Hospitals, Camps, and Battle-fields

by Sarah Emma Edmonds

In her 1865 autobiography, Canadian-born Sarah Emma Evelyn Edmonds (née Edmonson) recounts her sensational life on the front lines of the American Civil War. As a young woman, Emma Edmonds ran away from home, escaping an abusive father and an arranged marriage. To avoid being discovered, she dressed in men's clothes and cut her hair and, eventually, assumed the full-time identity of a man, taking the name Franklin "Frank" Thompson. Frank worked for a time as a Bible salesman, but in 1865 joined the Second Michigan Volunteers as a nurse. Frank, already a master of disguise, eventually volunteered to be a spy and penetrated the enemy lines multiple times in various forms: as a slave, with silver nitrate painted skin to appear Black and, curiously, as a woman. Fearing discovery after recuperating from falling off a horse, Frank eventually deserted the army, and Sarah Emma Edmonds returned, enlisting in the army as a nurse. In 1867, Emma Edmonds married Mr. L. H. Seeye, a fellow Canadian, and eventually the two settled in La Porte, Texas, where they raised three children. In 1884, she attended a regimental reunion, as herself, without her disguise as Frank. Urged by her fellow soldiers, she filed for a full army pension. In 1885, she was awarded a pension from the army for both of her identities. She became the only recognized woman in the Grand Army of the Republic.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Civil War, Biography, Memoir, War, Nursing

412 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1865

About the author

Sarah Emma Edmonds was a Canadian-born woman who is known for serving with the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emma Edmonds has been my go-to girl for school projects since elementary school, and I admire her greatly. I don't remember as much about her as I should, and I just recently found out that she had written a memoir. Now, it appears there was a reason that this memoir (granted, only a 2-year wartime memoir) never came up in my previous researchings, and it's because she seems to have taken a somewhat fictionalized approach to it. I assume most of stories she tells or passes on are correct, and I really appreciated all the firsthand sources she quoted within the memoir (telegrams and memos, her own battlefield journal, writing by her contemporaries), but unfortunately I think much of it must be taken with a grain of salt. One problem was that she said left a loving family to immigrate to America, but the biggest problem was that she implied that she was officially a woman most of the time. There are several instances when people refer to her as "her", even though it leaves a lot of 'plot holes'. Now, she was dressing as a man from the day she ran away from her abusive father in Canada (and even before, really), and continued to do so until nearly the end of the war (after this memoir ended, certainly).
Too, her proselytizing throughout the book was excessive, almost to the point of exaggeration (and frustration on my part). It probably takes up 1/3 of the pages... or more.
I am in the middle of reading a book on manners in 19th century America, and while it gives great insight into how she (and others) could have gone easily undiscovered in her masquerades, it makes me question even more how entire armies of 19th century soldiers could cry and pray as much as the ones in her memoir. I may be underestimating the strength of 19th century religious fervor, and overestimating the manliness of 19th century infantrymen, but it was just too weird. Nearly every hospitalized soldier she mentioned died, and not a single on of them died without first begging for his mother, weeping profusely, and then praising the Lord with his last breath and joyfully going to God Above with the holy light of heaven in his eyes.
Which is fine, but I can't imagine all soldiers did this, and I also can't imagine that this many soldiers could all expire of broken limbs. Not even amputations, just broken legs or hands.
Again, though, maybe I'm underestimating the uselessness of 19th-century surgeons.
Now, in Emma Edmonds' defense, I can understand why she wrote the memoir like this. From a sales perspective, money was tight all across the country, and while people did love buying war memoirs, if you had to choose between the memoir of an noble good-looking American cavalry Lieutenant and the memoir of an immigrant serial man-masquerader who cavorted in Army camps and shot women, the 19th century choice is clear. The way Edmonds wrote her memoir Joan-of-Arc'd her -- more called by God to defend her adopted country by praying with wounded soldiers, and less dressing up as a male slave to infiltrate rebel camps. And it worked -- this memoir was hugely successful in her time (which was good, because the Army sure didn't pay her any retirement until she was nearly dead).
Despite the irritations, her wit and adventuresome spirit shined throughout. I seriously laughed out loud at least once a chapter (or teared up, as in some other cases). I loved her story about her being recognized as a fellow female by a female soldier she was caring for in a field hospital(who also, of course, died).
When she gets off her buy-my-book horse, Edmonds is a mischievous, clever, resourceful, indomitable woman, and having admired her as long as I have, I truly appreciated this glimpse of her in her own words, flawed though it might be. She actually lived up to my picture of her in my head, and, as we so often find, that is a very hard thing to do.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Civil War memoir!

Sarah Emma Edmonds is one of those incredible young heroes who fought for abolition and the union, and her memoir reminds us of all the brave young kids who signed up for a war they barely understood to fight for principles that didn't affect them. Edmonds is Canadian, but she signed up as a nurse and made her way with the Army of the Potomac to witness and nurse at the first few battles, and she handled it with equanimity. Her first stories are about traveling with Mrs. B, another woman and the wife of a chaplain, in a "train," which is just a line of wagons, horses, and infantry, and the history of rail is so early that Edmonds doesn't bother to differentiate between her long line of comrades and the iron horse. Her description is incredible and the first night when everyone makes camp, singing, eager, joking, praying, stealing chickens for the pot even though the officers have forbidden it. Things slow down after that, and then heat up, and Edmonds is helping recent amputees in a makeshift hospital in a church pretty quickly. Her adventures in this part of the book are mostly to do with supply runs, and there are poignant stories about soldiers whose mothers arrive just in time or barely too late. There is a boatload of heart wrenching poetry scattered through this book, not great stuff but rhyming verse about soldier's mothers and dead boys. If I were a mother whose son was in the Civil War and I read one of these in the newspaper in 1862, I would have lost it right there. I would break and die. This stuff is maudlin. And real. The newspapers must have been loaded with it. The mother's heart. My God.

Edmonds finds out through Mister B. about an opportunity to sign up as a spy, and she goes for it. Her first mission is in blackface, but it works somehow and she's able to identify three tradesmen who like hanging around the union camp, but she spots them on the other side bragging about all the information they're gathering against the Yankees. She brings home even more information because the Confederate plans aren't kept secret by the generals and all anyone in the Confederate army ever does is talk about their army's next move. Her next mission, she dresses as an Irish washerwoman, but she stops for a night and comforts a dying confederate soldier who's been left in an abandoned house. She drops her fake brogue to sit and pray with him and he understands she's a spy but she knows he's dying and won't be able to tell on her by morning. This book makes Christianity look good. Edmonds' earnest, uncomplicated faith permeates the whole thing. Edmonds says that the best soldier is a Christian soldier, and it's important to remember that the opposite of a Christian soldier in her world isn't, say, a Jewish soldier, it's an intemperate soldier with bad language and habits. Edmonds is glad to talk about Christianity with anyone she can, even a dying rebel, and in the morning she presents herself in the Confederate camp with knowledge about the dead man, who turns out to be an officer. She gathers secret information and brings it back to the Union.

McClellan's whiny letters about how he can't possibly fight the war without tens of thousands more men are interspersed with the text. I don't know if Edmonds is Team McClellan or the opposite. The letters could be reprinted to show how hard McClellan was trying and how Lincoln wasn't fair to him, or they could be an indictment of an incompetent general. Edmonds doesn't share what she actually thought of him, or if she does, it was too subtle to pick up on a Librivox listen.

Later, Edmonds is just straight up cross-dressing and working as an aide de camp. Things are going smoothly now, McClellan's been replaced, and Edmonds ends up in Vicksburg and relays the harrowing tales of civilians who are hiding in caves. She soon sickens of probably malaria and takes leave from the army, reflecting on glory and patriotism and how good the soldiers are. In her eye, Civil War soldiers are a bunch of Boy Scouts, but considering those she chose to acquaint herself with and how everyone had to be more wholesome in those days because were rural people with no internet, and how young they all were, Edmonds' Christian appreciation of the sweet, temperate boys who were her friends and fought the war is a testament we shouldn't forget. Also, she, herself, is incredible and should never be forgotten. And we won't forget her if we read this book.

[Baal Of · Rating 2 out of 5]

While it's undeniable that Edmonds' accomplishments and dedication in the Civil War were astounding, I found this book to be tedious, frequently boring, and irritating. The writing is mediocre, and suffers from the gushing homespun style, with frequent quotes from other sources that for me came across as smug, but obviously I bring my own biases into play. The best part of this volume is the historical introduction by Jane E. Schulze which provides excellent context about the book and Edmonds herself, and gives an appropriately skeptical examination of how much was true vs. enhanced. For me the most irritating aspect was Edmonds unceasing religious interjections and Christian chauvinism, for example "the Christian man is the best soldier" which is countered by the equivalent bravery of millions of Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, Taoist, Pagan, etc. and non-believing soldiers.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Melodramatic and rife with poetry and sentimentality, I doubt the spying and general roving over the front, apparently self-directed and at liberty to run her own operations. Still, true to her life or not, what she compiles in this purported memoir is an interesting commentary on the time. I am sure regardless of veracity, it says much about the time if not the truth about her service. For instance, she can assume a reader would find it plausible that a phrenological examination was part of induction into the clandestine service:

Next I was examined with regard to my knowledge of the use of firearms, and in that department I sustained my character in a manner worthy of a veteran. Then I was again cross-questioned, but this time by a new committee of military stars. Next came a phrenological examination, and finding that my organs of secretiveness, combativeness, etc., were largely developed, the oath of allegiance was administered, and I was dismissed with a few complimentary remarks...

It is also interesting that Commanding General McClellan is deemed "idolized" while he is usually ranked in the lowest tier of Civil War generals.

After reaching Warrenton the army encamped in that vicinity for a few days—during which “Father Abraham” took the favorable opportunity of relieving the idol of the Army of the Potomac from his command, and ordered him to report at Trenton, New Jersey, just as he was entering upon another campaign, with his army in splendid condition.

Edmonds recalls meeting other famous personages, such as Mary Jane Safford-Blake. This nurse, physician, educator, and humanitarian. As a nurse in the Union Army during the American Civil War, she worked treating the sick and injured near Fort Donelson, and was nicknamed the "Cairo Angel".

While in Cairo I had the pleasure of seeing the celebrated Miss Mary Safford, of whom so much has been said and written. One writer gives the following account of her, which is correct with regard to personal appearance, and I have no doubt is correct throughout: “I cannot close this letter without a passing word in regard to one whose name is mentioned by thousands of our soldiers with gratitude and blessing. “Miss Mary Safford is a resident of this town, whose life, since the beginning of this war, has been devoted to the amelioration of the soldier’s lot and his comfort in the hospital.

She also recalls, Thaddeus Lowe, the "Chief Aeronaut" of the Union Army. Edmonds relates a brush with death Lowe had on a reconnaissance flight.

[Ashley Simpson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! As a student of history specializing in Civil War medicine, nothing is more exciting than reading a first hand account of women like Emma Edmond's work during the Civil War. Emma Edmond's memoir puts women at the forefront and examines their many roles in the conflict. Not only does Edmond's tell her story, but that of so many other notable men and women of the war. After studying the movement of troops and happenings of Civil War battles, it was refreshing to see this on a more realistic, personal scale as she takes you right down into the action and makes those battles and people who fought them, real. The vivid description of tragedy and carnage brings a new level of realization and humanity to the Civil War that many books do not address with such tenderness. In addition, Edmond's account of families in Vicksburg during the siege may be the most complete first hand account of the matter I have seen to date. A must read for students of history especially, but also anyone who is interested in gender relations. You won't be disappointed.

[Bradley McKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

In fictional stories, Forrest Gump, for instance, the main character can be the hero of every imaginable story. In this account, too, the author experiences one amazing experience after another and remains largely unscathed. I suppose it is all possible. Certainly, the stories had a ring of authenticity. Mathematically it is possible that one person can experience so many things and still survive. Because of providence, children of God are immortal until their hour has come. All of these factors come together in this first-hand account of a Canadian missionary serving God on behalf of the Union during the American Civil War. Imagine a war correspondent and Christian devotional literature wrapped into one, and you have something resembling this book. If I knew for sure it was true I would give it five stars.

[Alexis Lamm · Rating 1 out of 5]

So obviously I had to read this for class. I was so utterly confused that it was hard for me to try and understand it. I did find the story interesting but there was so much that could have been taken out and simplified.

[Ingrid · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had found this book in a box of old and wet books on the side of the road while walking the dog. It is actually the original edition of the book from 1865!!

[Jessica Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't Miss this one

OK, so it's heavy on the 19th century syrup sometimes, but other than that, it rocks. It's interesting to get a Canadian's view on the thing...

[Steve Barney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah, I find it a bit hard to believe some of the escapades that Edmonds sites - especially those of the spy nature. It just feels unrealistic or enhanced. Any one of her spy adventures would be a book in itself and I think would have been noted elswhere in Civil Was history. The blind admiration she obviously had for McCellan is not well founded either. Those praises were also a bit over the top. His complaining that he was so outnumbered in the peninsula campaign that he always needed reinforcements for much of it. The Army of the Potomac out numbered Magruder’s army 121,000 to 13,000 initially, and even at Richmond McCellan’s force outnumbered Johnson’s 105,000 to 60,000. Though I guess I will say that we have comfort of hindsight that Edmonds obviously didn’t at that time. Still for one person - a Canadian woman to serve in the Union Army as a nurse, then as a spy dressed as man in some instances, as a male slave, as an Irish woman selling cakes, etc., getting very strategic info so easily back to the Union? And to supposedly have interacted with all the famous generals at the time in the east (even some Confererate ones) as a courier without a rank? To have wounded a Confererate widow and have her become her good friend and a nurse for the Union the same day? Its too far fetched. It would have been enough to see how she cared for the wounded.

It was interesting to read in the voice of someone there and in the style of writing in the 1860’s.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A first person account of a woman who participated in the Civil War as a nurse and a spy. What blessing to read someone’s own account of her experience in the Civil War.

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a truly intense read. I’m not sure about the historical accuracies, but the author included missives among her journaling and biographical stories. The heart-felt descriptions and stories felt real and I felt present during her telling of it. This writing is the memoir of a godly woman, who originally set out to serve the soldiers fighting against the inhumane ownership and treatment of slaves. Many states had suceeded from the unioned country. There was so much to learn from this story about war and forgiveness and self-awareness and history. I had not expected the thoroughness with which she shared this story, describing the naval vessels, malaria and other illnesses, unwilling parties being conscripted into fighting. The author, Sarah Emma Edmunds, disguised herself as a former slave, as a rebel soldier, as a union soldier, as a merchant, as an Irish Hibernian, and others in order to gain information to help the union officers. Stories, hymns, songs, poems, and other literary gems were sprinkled throughout with tender care. Little or nothing was said about the war crimes brought about by the union soldiers against the southern populous, especially the women and the vulnerable female slaves. In fact, Lincoln had to create at least three decrees stating the punishments for these war crimes. Instead, this writer expounded on the religious virtues of the union soldiers and the dying soldiers of both sides. The author admitted to the stunting of the development of the slaves due to restricting their education and the harsh treatment they received. I learned so much from reading this book, but I also felt every word. Although it was a little choppy, it felt very conversational in its presentation. I loved the authentic verbiage and, because it was translated into a digital copy, I also enjoyed seeing the aging of the pages. For a trip into the past, I recommend this book.

[Lisa Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Captures well the struggle, pain, and desperation of the fight where brother fought brother, but who was the real S. Emma E. Edmonds?

Jone Johnson Lewis(About.com Guide) has an article on the author, so somebody believes S. Emma E. Edmonds existed, but frankly I was hard-pressed to believe that the author did as she claimed, or that the true author was even a she. I mean ... blacking your face and putting on a woolly wig to hide among slaves in the Confederate Army? Right. That would have worked for about two seconds. And the more interesting details of the book come suspiciously from other people's quotations, as though the author herself had little to add. Furthermore, people in the book often address her as "boy" -- something she could never pass for given the sketches of her. Facts about her seem to morph and change, making her a very inconsistent character. So my take is that the book was a hoax, written to sell in a market dying to read about the war.

Suspension of belief aside, the book has fascinating details about the psychology, camp life, and war experience of the times. Not as much as I'd hoped -- it tends to degenerate into religious rapture a bit too much for my liking -- but enough to make it interesting. More journal than story, it follows the Army of the Potomac through many of the important battles. For a nurse, she gives disappointingly scant information about medical issues, but captures well the struggle, pain, and desperation of the fight where brother fought brother.

I read this book as research for a novel I am writing about a woman doctor in the Civil War, and as research source for that purpose I give it a 2/5 stars -- mainly because I don't trust the author as a reliable source for information.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written after she served as a nurse and spy for the Union in the Civil War, Emma Edmonds(formerly under disguise as Frank Thompson) wrote this memoir to chronicle her exploits and to share the horrors she saw in the war. She has a way with words, and I have cried openly reading some of her passages, particularly when she relates stories of comrades who did brave and selfless acts(like the nurse who allowed himself to be captured by Rebels to stay with his patients who couldn't run with the rest of the troops). Emma was a remarkable and wonderful woman who was able to see the good in people and in the middle of war. She believed in her cause but more than that, she believed in the goodness of people. She even acknowledges that the Rebels, her enemy, can be good people who happen to be of a different side than her. She puts compassion and kindness to others before her need to finish her missions or her need for her side to win. She recounts her spying missions, her nursing duties, events and adventures and misadventures she had, but through it all, her writing makes me feel like I'm sitting at her feet as she tells me her story. I love this book, and recommend this to anyone interested in women and the Civil War.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Odd that there would actually be a thrill in holding an original copy from the first issuance of the book, albeit rebound, from 1865. It's a first hand story of a young woman enlisted in the Union Army as a male and serving as a medic and courier, and allegedly a spy, the latter for which there isn't any "proof" and some supporting the opposite position. Still, whether a true narrative throughout or truth embellished with creative fiction, the fact remains she did serve in the Army for two years pulling off an amazing masquerade to support her cause well enough that her fellow soldiers helped her secure a military pension for her service 20 years later. Whatever the backstory, it's telling of the horrors, humor, and camaraderie that exists on the battlefield through a genuinely felt tale that makes that terrible yet fascinating time very real.

[Andie · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Edmonds' memoirs occasionally test the reader's credibility, she gives a lively account of her adventures with the Union army as a nurse, orderly, and occasional spy. While the text makes no explicit reference to her male disguise, except in her reconnaissance disguises, the illustrations consistently show her in the uniform of a soldier. My one complaint is the sheer volume of quotations in the book, from an assortment of (mostly uncited) sources: poetry, songs, letters, newspapers, etc.

[Debbie Sarvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazingly detailed account of the Civil war experienced by a Nurse and spy for the federal army. So much military detail it is hard to imagine a woman experienced this. She was a brave and creative spy. Yet she was not a US citizen. Such determination and devotion. Even when spying, she could not ignore her call to care. A true nurse and heroine of the civil war. I am amazed I have heard of her before this.

[Shane Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a historically perfect account of the author's experiences during the Civil War, but it is a very interesting look at her service from her own perspective. Besides that, it is a very interesting window into what life at that time was generally like for the people involved in the war. The author wasn't the most polished writer, but her prose is reasonably clear and easier to read than a lot of other writing from that era.

[Bruce · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book fits into several categories because of what it contains. I think the author must have been paid by the page if not the word. While it describes some of the author's 'adventures' during the Civil War it contains a lot of religious poems and hymns as was perhaps the style of the day. Adding a
few military documents verbatim increased the number of words. Descriptions of some of the people fit stereotypes of the day and a few incidents seem repetitive.

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

How can a book be so fascinating and boring at the same time? I first heard of Emma when reading [Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy] and though she was so amazing. This collection of her notes gives a vivid account of her escapades and the horrors of the war. However, since it's not a novel and in fact just her own remembrances it can be a bit clunky.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not sure how much of this to abosorb but I did get a couple of leads from the back of the book which will lead me to uncover more about this exceptional fraud.
I think in this book she blows her horn but the historians will reveal her motive.

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

A heartfelt memoir of what it is like to be in the Union army as a woman, dressed and playing entirely the part of a man.

[Mike Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

civil war spy-nurse.

Revealing day to day experiences of a patriotic nurse doing anything including going deep undercover to help the North vs the South.

[Maddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great read, a story of an inspirational woman

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matches up with notes from the Atlas of the Civil War; hard to imagine all these experiences

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally fascinating. But I just could not get into it. I'll try again next year.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I had the option of 3 1/2 stars, because I liked it more than 3 but less than 4.

[Marita Terese · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written, compelling memoir. Plenty of notes to guide the non-expert of Civil War history.

[Eva Silverfine]

I had hoped for more depth from this book, which I spliced with novels to get me through to the end. In retrospect, it is very much a product of its time. How much is fabrication or embellishment is up to historians to parse; that this woman, like some others, pursued an extraordinary undertaking is undisputed (that is, she spent a few years in service disguised as a man). What made the text laborious in particular was its propaganda—marginally for the Union cause but more so of a religious bent, wherein soldiers died gladly for their just cause and their unwavering faith in Jesus. I’m with Dylan: “if God’s on our side, He’ll stop the next war.”