Emma Edmonds Thesis

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Sarah Emma Edmonds in the Civil War
Oh, Man!











Xavier Robinson
Youth Division
Website
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Thesis
Sarah Emma Edmonds didn’t accept traditional roles assigned to women at the turn of the 19th century in America. At the time, no women were allowed to participate in the military. However, through the use of many disguises, she not only served in the Union Army as a spy and a field nurse in the Civil War, she also broke down the wall of sexism for women. After Edmonds’ service, women following in her footsteps would be able to serve in the military and receive a pension. This is important because everyone should be equal, no matter their gender.

Background
The Civil War, or the War Between the States, occurred from April 1861 …show more content…

During the time she spent in the confederate camp, she gathered a lot of information which she brought back to the Union. She also had several other spy missions in different confederate camps as Cuff.
After another successful mission she was transferred to Grant’s Army, but she caught malaria. Since she could not risk being discovered as a woman at the Union Army hospital, she left camp and went to a private hospital as a woman. Once recovered she planned to go back to the Union Army, until she realized Private Franklin Thompson was listed as a deserter. Because being a deserter is a punishable crime, she did not want to go back and be arrested. So, Emma Edmonds went to Washington and worked as a nurse until the end of the …show more content…

Then, during World War II (1941 - 1945) women had more roles like mechanics, ambulance drivers, and even pilots! In 1948 women were given veterans benefits like healthcare and pensions. After that, in 1973 the all male draft was over and an all volunteer military was created, so women had more opportunities. Until 1991 women could not serve in combat zones. In 2008,16,000 women served in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, and other combat zones.
In 2015 the military removed the ban on women serving in combat roles. Before this women could serve in combat zones, but could not serve in combat roles (i.e. drive tanks, lead the infantry, be an Army Ranger or Navy SEAL). Now men and women serving in the military can have the same jobs and are paid the same rate based on rank and specialty.
Another long term event was the Spanish-American War. Along with this war came a plauge of typhoid fever. Everyone needed the qualified Army nurses for the job. The surgeon requested and quickly received authority from congressionals to assign women nurses if they signed a contract. Due to the perfect performance of these female Army contract nurses, the United States military noticed it would be helpful to have a lot of trained nurses, who know military ideals, on call. This made the Army establish a forever standing Nurse Corps in the year

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