Book # 22

Behind Rebel Lines

The incredible story of Emma Edmonds, Civil War Spy

By Seymour Reit

I like stories about strong women. Emma Edmonds was a strong woman. Turns out that she wasn't the only woman to disguise herself as a man and join the military in order to fight in the civil war, but she is the only one, as far as history knows, that was a spy for the Union army.

Sarah Emma Endmonds was born in Canada, but fled to the United States at  age 15 because of a brutal father who never forgave her for not being born a boy. At age 21, she joined the union army at the beginning of the civil war, disguised as a man. Her alias was Franklin Thompson. She worked as a nurse in a battlefield hospital for a year, but longed to do more. She volunteered to become a spy when an important union spy was caught in Richmond and executed. They trained her and then she created a disguise as a black male slave named Cuff. She slipped across enemy lines and gathered important information, plus discovered a man friendly to the union army, giving information to the rebels. Her information eventually led to the taking of Yorktown. 

For her next mission, she was disguised as a middle aged woman named Bridget O'Shay. I think its funny that a woman disguised as a man was disguised as a woman, and the army was none the wiser. As she moved toward the enemy, she took shelter in an abandoned house during a rain storm. There she discovered a young rebel soldier dying of typhoid. She nursed and comforted him until he died. He gave her a pocket watch and asked that he seek out a colonel in the rebel army and tell him that he had died. This gave "Bridget" the perfect opportunity to gather information. The Colonel asked her to lead his men back to the house in order to bring the body back for burial. Bridget agreed, and during the trip, the soldiers, thinking she was a rebel sympathizer told her of an ambush planned for the union army after they crossed the river. With this information, she was able to save many lives.

During one of her missions, she acquired a horse, which she named "Rebel". After that she was often called upon to ride as a messenger because it was discovered that she was a brave and excellent rider. On one such mission, she was nearly caught, when she found herself lost. Soon she saw a troop of union soldiers marching down the road. She was happy and rode to join them, not realizing that they were prisoners of the rebels. The rebel cavalrymen, charged at her, firing. She raced in the other direction, only to find another squad coming toward her. She wheeled Rebel to ride across a field and jumped him over a very large ditch, and managed to get away. 

In one mission, she disguised herself as a black washer woman. Carrying a basket of laundry, she quietly joined a group of slaves and passed through rebel lines. She spent an entire day in a confederate camp, washing and sewing for the rebels. By now she was expert at keeping her ears and eyes open and picked up valuable data. Late that afternoon, she was alone in the wash tent. A packet of official documents slipped from an officers dress coat. She quickly slipped out of camp and hid in the cellar of an abandoned farmhouse. All night long, the area was shelled and she wasn't sure if she would make it out alive. However, by morning the union army had taken the area and she was able to make it back to their camp.

Her next mission turned out to be the most difficult. She was sent to Louisville, Kentucky as a young gentleman. Kentucky was initially neutral in the war because it was a slave holding state, yet they had no desire to secede and destroy the union. But after a rebel army invaded, and the union army responded by sending it's army, the war was at its doorstep and Kentucky officially joined the union side. But there were many rebel sympathizers, and someone was feeding the rebel army a lot of important information that was hurting the union. Emma was sent in as Mr. Charles Mayberry, to discover who the informant was and arrange the capture of that person. He arranged to get himself a job as a book keeper with a prominent man who was known as a rebel sympathizer. He was a hard, dependable worker, and soon gained the trust of his employer, Mr. Aylesworth. Mr. Aylesworth often had secret meetings with a friend named Mr. Hall. Emma tried to eavesdrop on the meetings, without any luck. After weeks of no progress, she made a wild plan. She went to Mr. Aylesworth as Mr Mayberry, and told him that he was going to join the confederate army. He said that he believed in the rebel cause and wanted to do his part and was there any way that Mr. Aylesworth could help him? Mr. Aylesworth  liked his young employee and warned him that he would likely be killed in the war, and that he could arrange tor him to do important work with less risk of death. He arranged for Mr. Mayberry  to meet with Mr. Hall that night. Emma quickly met with her army contact and told him the plan. He arranged to have them followed and arrested. Of course she would have to be arrested to keep her from suspicion. The plan worked and Mr. Hall was discovered carrying important Union intelligence that he intended to pass to the confederate army. He also had information of two other enemy agents in Louisville, and they were arrested as well.

A few weeks after that mission, Emma became ill with malaria. She dared not turn herself in for treatment because she knew that it would be discovered she was a woman, and would be publicly humiliated. She applied for leave but the hospital was always  busy and her request was denied. So she ran away. She went to a nearby town and entered a hospital as a woman and received treatment. After a few weeks she was getting well, and planned to return to her post. But then as she scanned the army bulletins in the city newspaper, she saw the name of Private Franklin Thompson as AWOL. She had been listed as a deserter. There was no way she could return! So she went to Washington and worked under her own name as a nurse for the remainder of the war.

After the war, Emma worked as a nurse for a time. She wrote a book of memoirs, describing her two years as Private Thompson. She wrote how she made eleven different trips behind rebel lines and used various disguises, her favorite being the little black slave named Cuff. Her book was published and sold thousands of copies. Emma donated her share of the profits to US war relief. 

Morals in the 19th century America were prim and proper and some people thought Emma's actions very shocking. But the publisher, W.S. Williams of Hartford, CT, added a gallant note of defense. "Should any of her readers object to some of her disguises, it may be sufficient to remind them it was from the purest motives and most praiseworthy patriotism that she laid aside for a time her own costume, and assumed that of the opposite sex, enduring hardships, suffering untold privations, and hazarding her life for her adopted country in its trying hour of need."

After her book was published, Emma became homesick and went back to visit Saint John, Canada, There she met Linus Steele, an old childhood friend. A romance began, and they returned to the US in 1867, to be married in Cleveland, Ohio. They settled in Kansas and had 3 sons, one of whom later joined the army, "just like Mama did". 

She never fully recovered from the malaria and her health was poor for the rest of her life. She also brooded about being branded a deserter. She got in touch with officers from her old regiment and they encouraged her to petition the war department for a full review of her case. The matter was debated in Washington DC and on July 5, 1884, a special act of Congress granted her military rights restored, including back pay, plus an honorable discharge. After that she felt able to contact her old army friends and many were "amazed to learn that this plump, matronly lady in her fancy bonnet and long skirts was none other than their slim, cool-eyed war buddy, Frank Thompson!" 

In 1891, Emma and Linus moved to Texas to be with one of their sons. They liked the climate and lived there until Emma's death on September 28, 1898. (113 years ago, today!) Her simple grave can be found in the military section of Washington Cemetery in Houston, Texas.

An interesting side note. The author of this book, Seymour Reit, is author of more that 80 books for young people. He is also the creator of Casper the Friendly Ghost and an experienced cartoonist.

Until Next Time ;o)