Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War

1861-1865

Sarah Emma Edmonds Detached Tent #4

Houston, Texas

Our Civil War Heroine, Sarah Emma Edmonds

Sarah Emma Edmonds, (1841-1898), [She was born as Sarah Emma Evelyn Edmondson, but when she wrote her book in 1865, she shortened her maiden name to "Edmonds"], who went by her middle name, was one of about 400 women who enlisted in the army during the Civil War. What makes her stand out amongst the crowd is that Emma, succeeded in remaining in the army for several years, but was also eminently successful as a Union spy-all while impersonating a man, (Sarah Emma Edmonds biography, p1) [Here is a bit of trivia, the origin of the name Emma is Germanic, and it means complete, universal or whole] Photo on the right is of Sarah Edmonds Sarah Emma Edmonds as she looked when she went under the name of Frank Thompson.

Emma was born in Magaguadavic, New Brunswick, Canada, and immigrated to the United States as a young woman. She was born to a father, who had wanted a boy. Consequently Emma spent her years as a child trying to act like a boy in order to win her father's love. When you take this into consideration, it is understandable why Emma decided to pose as a man in order to enlist in the Union Army. Emma's alter ego was "Franklin Thompson", who was also known as "Frank Thompson".

On April 25, 1861, Emma posing as "Frank Thompson" enlisted in the Second Volunteers of the United States Army as a male nurse. She lived in Flint, Michigan at the time. After her initial training, Emma as "Private Thompson" served as nurse with the hospital unit of the 2nd Michigan Volunteers. Even before hostilities erupted on a full scale two events occurred 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 in the intelligence gathering for McClellan. and (2) A young officer, named James Vesey, who Emma had known back in Canada, was killed on a patrol. Emma, not knowing this, went to see him, and arrived at his unit just as his funeral was about to begin., (Sarah Emma Edmonds biography, p.1)

As a result of the aforementioned events, Emma as Private Thompson volunteered to be a spy for McClellan. Emma alias "Private Frank Thompson" served as spy for the Union Army until she came down with malaria while she was serving under General Grant in 1863. In order to get the proper medical treatment for her malaria, Emma Edmonds left the army and checked herself into a private hospital as a woman in Cairo, Illinois. [This caused the army to list, "Private Frank Thompson" as a deserter.] After Emma recovered from her malaria, she served out the remainder of the war as herself in the role of nurse in Washington, D.C.

After the war ended Emma wrote a book about her experiences in the Civil War, titled Nurse and Spy in the Union Army. After selling several thousand books, the profits of which she donated to the U.S. War relief fund, Emma returned to Canada for a visit.

While she was in Canada, Miss Sarah Emma Edmonds married Mr. Linus Seeyle. This was in 1867. Emma and Linus returned to the United States where they lived in Cleveland, Ohio, Emma and Linus had three children, one daughter and two sons, who subsequently died, and then they adopted two more sons. One of her sons, Charles, served in the Spanish-American War.

Emma continued to brood over being branded a deserter in the Civil War. With the encouragement of her friends she petitioned the War Department for a full review of her case. The case was debated and on March 28, 1884, the House of Representatives passed House Bill Number 5355 validating Mrs. Seelye's case. The House Bill includes the following statements: Truth is oftimes stranger than fiction, and now comes the sequel, Sarah E. Seelye, alias Franklin Thompson, is now asking the Congress to grant her relief by way of a pension on account of fading health, which she avers had its incurrence and is the sequence of the days and nights she spent in the swamps of the Chickahominy in the days she spent soldiering. That Franklin Thompson and Mrs. Sarah E.E. Seelye are one and the same person is established by abundance of proof and beyond a doubt. She submits a statement-and also the testimony of ten credible witnesses, men of intelligence, holding places of high honor and trust, who positively swear she is the identical Franklin Thompson. On 5 July 1884, a special act of Congress granted Emma Edmonds alias Frank Thompson an honorable discharge from the army, plus a bonus and a veteran's pension of twelve dollars a month.(Sarah Emma Edmonds biography, p. 3)

After 1884, Emma moved to LaPorte, Texas. Emma died on September 5, 1898 in LaPorte, and is buried in the Military Section of the Washington Cemetery in Houston, Texas. [Emma was the only female to ever be invited to join the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), after her death in LaPorte, the GAR arranged for her to be buried in Houston.]

In her own words Emma Edmonds said of her adventures: I am naturally fond of adventure, a little ambitious, and a good deal romantic-but patriotism was the true secret of my success.(Sarah Emma Edmonds biography, p. 3)

A revised biography on Sarah Emma Edmonds is in the works, and should be updated within in the next week or so.

References

"Sarah Emma Edmonds Biography Page", pp. 1-3, retrieved from the World Wide Web on February 19, 2007, http://www.civilwarhome.com/edmondsbio.htm.
"Sarah Emma Edmundson", pp. 1-2, retrieved from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia on the World Wide Web on February 19, 2007, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Edmonds

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This page was last modified: Thursday, 24-Sep-2009 16:40:25 MDT