It is estimated that around 400 women disguised themselves as men to serve as soldiers in the Civil War. One of the most famous was born Sarah Edmonds in Canada. The youngest of five daughters of a disciplinarian father who preferred sons, she worked on the farm doing men’s work and dressing like a man. Her favorite book as a child was “Fanny Campbell, the Female Pirate Captain”. Around age 17, she escaped and ended up in Michigan. She found that cross-dressing gave her male benefits of eating, traveling, and working independently. She renamed herself Franklin Thompson. She got a job as a book salesman. When the war broke out, she patriotically enlisted. It was easy since they did not do physicals back then. She was a nurse at the Battle of Bull Run and then was involved in the Peninsular Campaign. In this Union attempt to capture Richmond, she volunteered to be a spy. In various disguises, she managed to cross enemy lines to gather information. At one point, disguised as a laundress, she found some important papers in an officer’s jacket. Later in the war, she attended a wedding party in Kentucky to mingle with Confederate officers. One of them was suspicious of a healthy young man not being in the army, so he forced Franklin to join his cavalry regiment. In an upcoming skirmish with a Union unit, she switched sides in the middle of the fight. She found herself facing off with the officer and shot him in the face. (Or so her best-selling memoir “Nurse and Spy in the Union Army” claimed.) She suffered various injuries and illnesses during the war, but managed to avoid discovery in a hospital until her malaria forced her to go in. She did this secretly and was accused of desertion. This ended her stint in the military. She finished the war as a nurse in Washington. After the war she settled down and got married. She was awarded a $12/month pension from the Army. She is now in the Michigan Hall of Fame. Popular young adult author Ann Rinaldi wrote a novel about her entitled “Girl in Blue”.
Amazing pp. 410-412
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