
By Marissa Moss, John Hendrix (Illustrator)
A woman disguises as a man to fight and spy in the Civil War.
Sarah Emma Edmonds, fleeing an unwanted marriage, becomes Frank Thompson to join the Union army. As a soldier and nurse, her bravery leads to a dangerous mission: infiltrating enemy lines as a spy. Can she navigate the perils of war and maintain her secret identity? Discover the true story of a woman who defied conventions to fight for freedom.
This is the incredible true story of Sarah Emma Edmonds, who dressed as a man and fought in the Civil War. When she was 19, Sarah cut her hair, donned her brother’s clothes, and fled from Canada, where her father wanted her to marry an elderly gentleman. In the U.S., she went by the name Frank Thompson and joined the Army to fight the Confederates. She was a nurse working on the battlefield when, because of her heroism, she was asked to serve as a spy. At her death, Edmonds was buried in a military cemetery, in a plot reserved for Civil War veterans–the only woman to have this honor.
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