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Memoirs of a soldier, nurse, and spy : a woman's adventures in the Union Army / Sarah Emma Edmonds ; introduction and annotations by Elizabeth D. Leonard.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Edmonds, S. Emma E. (Sarah Emma Evelyn), 1841-1898.
- Standardized Title:
- Nurse and spy in the Union Army
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Edmonds, S. Emma E. (Sarah Emma Evelyn), 1841-1898.
- Edmonds, S. Emma E.
- Women spies.
- United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal narratives.
- United States.
- History.
- United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Participation, Female.
- United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Medical care.
- Medical care.
- United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Secret service.
- Secret service.
- Women soldiers--United States--Biography.
- Women soldiers.
- Women spies--United States--Biography.
- Nurses--United States--Biography.
- Nurses.
- Genre:
- Personal narratives.
- Biographies.
- Autobiographies.
- Physical Description:
- xxviii, 266 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
- Place of Publication:
- Dekalb : Northern Illinois University Press, 1999.
- Summary:
- Among the hundreds of women who, in disguise, enlisted to serve as men in the Union army, only Sarah Edmonds is known to have written a memoir recounting her experiences. As "Franklin Thompson" she joined the 2nd Michigan Infantry Regiment in 1861, then fought in and witnessed some of the bloodiest struggles of the Civil War -- from Blackburn's Ford and First Bull Run, through the Peninsula campaign with McClellan's Army of the Potomac, the battle of Fredericksburg, and then to the Kentucky campaign in 1863.
- When need arose, this daring woman embarked upon dangerous missions into Confederate territory to gather information and to survey enemy positions, sometimes in the guise of an Irish washerwoman or slave. As an infantry soldier and "male nurse". Edmonds chronicles the horrors of Civil War hospitals and the simple pastimes of camp life. Throughout her memoirs, this enthralling storyteller reveals her courage, dedication to the Union, and resourcefulness in sustaining her complicated masquerade.
- The introduction and annotations by Elizabeth Leonard, a leading authority on women in Civil War armies, demonstrate that much of Edmonds's remarkable account can be verified from government and other sources. Indeed, three years after her death. Edmonds's body was reinterred with military honors by her comrades, who recognized in her a "strong, healthy, and robust soldier, ever willing and ready for duty".
- Challenging established views of the Civil War soldier, Memoirs of a Soldier, Nurse, and Spy is essential reading for all those interested in the Civil War women's history, American studies, and military history.
- Contents:
- 1 What Part Am I to Act in This Great Drama? 3
- 2 Marching Orders Received Today 10
- 3 How Shall I Describe the Scene? 17
- 4 When General McClellan Took Command 25
- 5 A Fair Specimen of Virginia Mud 34
- 6 Her Name Was Alice M 42
- 7 I Had Known Him Almost From Childhood 51
- 8 My First Secret Expedition 59
- 9 The Ghastly Faces of the Wounded and Dying 67
- 10 The Annihilation of the Merrimac 76
- 11 A New Disguise Was Necessary 83
- 12 I Now Resumed My Journey 92
- 13 Acting Orderly for General K 99
- 14 A Terrible Slaughter 108
- 15 Many an Hour I Have Worked and Watched 116
- 16 Yelling as They Came 122
- 17 A Most Sublime Spectacle 130
- 18 My Turn to Visit Washington 139
- 19 My Constant Companion 148
- 20 I Am Not What I Seem 155
- 21 The Pleasantest, Happiest Hours of My Life 164
- 22 A Military Execution and a Dreary Ride 172
- 23 A Sad Day for the Army of the Potomac 179
- 24 More Quiet and Less Dangerous Duties 186
- 25 To Act as Detective 193
- 26 A Specimen of Moral Sublimity 200
- 27 I Have the Honor to Propose to You an Armistice 207
- 28 Exhausted and Weak as a Child 215
- 29 I Recall Those Thrilling Scenes 222
- 30 Now That the Time Has Come 229.
- Notes:
- Previously published: Nurse and spy in the Union Army. Hartford, Conn. : Williams, 1865.
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-260) and index.
- ISBN:
- 0875802591
- 0875805841
- OCLC:
- 41580383
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