Sarah Emma Edmonds in the Civil War
Oh, Man!
Xavier Robinson
Youth Division
Website
Word Count:
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
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to May 1865. It was one of the bloodiest battles in US History with an approximate casualty count of 620,000 soldiers. The Civil War was fought across many states, from the south side of Pennsylvania to Texas and from New Mexico to Florida. It was a war between the Union and the Confederates. One of the main reasons the Civil War began was because the Southern states of the Confederacy wanted to keep slavery, while people in the Northern states of the Union wanted to abolish slavery. The reason the South wanted slavery was that they had farms and plantations. They needed people to work in tobacco and cotton fields, but didn’t want to pay them. They also used slaves to fight in the war when they needed more soldiers. The North was more industrialized. They owned and ran factories and mills. They didn’t need slaves and were more against slavery. Edmonds also disagreed with slavery and wanted to contribute to the fight. She also wanted to help the injured soldiers, but at that time women could not enlist into the Army. They only helped as hospital administrators, nurses, and cooks. Build Up Born as Sarah Emma Evelyn Edmondson’ she was an only child. Her dad despised the fact that she was not a boy and treated her badly in her early life. He abused her physically, mentally, and verbally. To escape an arranged marriage at the age of 15, Edmonds ran away from her home to the United States where she quickly adapted to American life in Flint, Michigan. She changed her name to Emma Edmonds to make it difficult to find her. Michigan was a Union state and Edmonds’ agreed that slavery should be abolished. Feeling as capable as a man, she wanted to participate in the Civil War. So, when the Union Army asked for volunteers, Edmonds cut her hair short, put on men’s clothes, and under the name Franklin Flint Thompson tried to enlist. She tried four times, and finally got into the Union Army. Since the Army did not do physical examinations, her identity was never discovered. On April 25, 1861, Emma Edmonds aka Franklin Thompson joined as a male nurse in the Second Volunteers of the United States Army. Heart of the Story Edmonds’ first job was a nurse, and she took care of many injured soldiers. However, when Edmonds found out that Major General McClellan, Union Army, was looking for a soldier to spy on the Confederacy she applied and got the position. For her first mission as a spy, Edmonds disguised herself as a black man, a slave named “Cuff”. To do so she darkened her skin with silver nitrate so much so that her Union co-workers had no idea who she was. She also put on a curly wig. When Edmonds arrived at the Confederates camp, she worked in the kitchen and learned about the size of the army, the weapons they used, and discovered the secret of the "Quaker guns". They were actually just logs that had been painted black to look like cannons from a distance. Shortly after gathering valuable information, she was luckily assigned to be a Confederate picket (a scout the goes out far ahead of the other troops). This allowed her to run from the Confederacy and go back to the Union. On her next mission, about two months later, she went back to spy on the Confederacy as a large Irish peddler woman by the name of “Bridget O'Shea”.
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
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war. Short Term Edmonds returned to Canada , married Linus Seelye and they had three sons. One joined the Army. Even though she was happy in her marriage, she still did not like the fact that, after all she did to help the Union, she was being called a deserter. So, she revealed herself to be Private Franklin Flint Thompson and asked the goverrnment to look at her case and said that she deserves to be recognized for her contributions in the war for the Union Army. On July 5, 1884, Congress updated her status and gave Sarah Edmonds aka Private Franklin Flint Thompson an honorable discharge from the Army with a pension of $12 a month. After Edmonds died, she was honorably buried in Washington Cemetery in Houston, Texas. She also was the only female member of The Grand Army of the Republic. This is an organization that was formed by Union veterans after the Civil War. Long Term Later, during the last two years of World War I (1917 - 1918) women could officially join the military as nurses and support staff.
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
1901. Conclusion Sarah Emma Edmonds aka Private Franklin Flint Thompson didn’t settle with traditional women’s roles in the U.S. Instead she pursued her dream to serve the country in the Civil War. Her eleven successful missions where highly recognized by high ranking officials. So, even after she revealed herself as a women people over-looked it, and she did not get punished, but proved that she deserved the same benefits and recognition given to men. Sarah Emma Edmonds was one of many women in the military who disguised as a man to participate in the Civil War.
The military is trying to find new ways to recognize the fact that women now fight in the country’s wars. In 2011 the Military Leadership Diversity Commission recommended that the Department of Defense remove all combat restrictions on women. Although many jobs have been opened for women in the military, there is still 7.3 percent of jobs that are closed to them. On February 9, 2012, George Little announced that the Department of Defense would continue to reduce the restrictions that were put on women’s roles. The argument that “women are not physically fit for combat” is the most common and well-researched justification for their exclusion from fighting units. It has been proven if women go through proper training and necessary adaptations, they can complete the same physical tasks as any man. Though there seem to be many reasons from the exclusion of women in the military, the main ones have appeared to be that they do not have the strength to go through combat, would be a distraction to the men, and that they would interrupt male bonding and group
Elizabeth Van Lew was an upper-class woman born in Richmond, Virginia. She was born into a family of slave owners. She has the reputation of one being of the most successful and daring spies during the time period of the civil war. In fact she was described as more successful than the Confederate Spy Belle Boyd. Elizabeth was well known for helping Union prisoners escape and hide from Libby Prison. There are theories that believe she hid escaped prisoners in her attic. When she was at the prison, Elizabeth got intelligence from the guards who were in Confederate lines. She was skilled in communicating with the Generals of the War. Elizabeth used former slaves to relay her information in a variety of different ways, which she would then pass on to higher authorities. [civilwarstory.com] states, “Miss Van Lew's Richmond spy network was extensive.” The author is saying Elizabeth Van Lew had various types of people in Richmond getting more information for her. She used society connections to gather facts from the Con...
Furthermore, as war led to an increase in the number of injured men, there was a shortage of nurses, and women swarmed into medical universities to receive their educations so they could serve as nurses. In his “Universities, medical education, and women,” Watts states that when it was observed that women could “join the popular and increasing band of professional nurses. women were striving to gain university admission” (Watts 307).
Later, in World War II, there was another change in women’s rights. During World War I, women were unable to join the military; they were only able to help out as nurses and support staff; however, during World War II, women were able to join the military but were unable to fight in combat missions. In summary, as you can clearly see women’s rights experienced extreme levels of change during the 20th
During the war, women played a vital role in the workforce because all of the men had to go fight overseas and left their jobs. This forced women to work in factories and volunteer for war time measures.
Clara Barton’s ‘The Women Who Went to the Field’ describes the work of women and the contribution they made on the civil war battlefield in 1861. Barton highlights the fact that when the American Civil War broke out women turned their attention to the conflict and played a key role throughout as nurses. Therefore, at first glance this poem could in fact be seen as a commemoration of the women who served in the American Civil War as its publications in newspapers and magazines in 1892 ensured that all Civil War veterans were honoured and remembered, including the women. However, when reading this poem from a feminist perspective it can be seen instead as a statement on the changing roles of women; gender roles became malleable as women had the
They were considered no use to the society, because they were labeled as being weak. They wanted to be privileged with the same roles as the men did, such as fighting in a battle. The Civil War gave the women an opportunity to do something about their wants. They took action by disguising themselves as men, so they would be able to attend the war. The woman began to take part in other battles that occurred as well. Many of them were able to get away with the scam for a while, until they ended up dead or injured. Those who did not want to join forces and fight still managed to participate in the war in several other ways, like supplying them with things they needed. They decided to take control over things such as teaching jobs, industries, slaves, and family farms and businesses. Women from the North and the South volunteered as nurses during the
Because many men were involved in the war, women finally had their chance to take on many of the positions of a man. Some women served directly in the military and some served in volunteer agencies at home and in France. For a brief period, from 1917 to 1918, one million women worked in industry. Others not involved in the military and industry engaged in jobs such as streetcar conductors and bricklayers. But as the war started to end, women lost their jobs to the returning veterans.
Women Nurses in the Civil War." USAHEC.org. The United States Army War College, n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. .
Over 5000 volunteer nurses’ north and south served in military hospitals during the Civil War. Nurses were of all sorts and came from all over. Women wanted to be involved in this national struggle in any way they could. They did not want to stay home and play their traditional domestic roles that social convention and minimal career opportunities had confined the majority of their sex to. Many women thought of nursing as an extension of their home duties, almost like taking care of “their boys.” They recall the Civil War as a time when their work as nurses made a difference. It gave them an opportunity to prove they had the ability and courage to help.
These were the women who posed as men, so they could fight in the war, however this was not taken lightly. Berkin states that “women whose sex was discovered quickly were more likely to be punished severely, while women who saw combat before their sex was revealed sometimes drew praise”(60). For example, Margaret Corbin’s behavior was seen as nontraditional back then. Her husband was apart of the army and Margaret wanted to be by his side. She dressed in men’s clothing and at the heat of the moments stepped in for him when he got injured. Women were meant to stay at the house to cook or clean, not to fight in wars. Now, thanks to women like Margaret Corbin, women are fighting in wars overseas and allowed to be apart of the military or army without punishment. Women now have the right to be apart of any profession they choose and even have the same roles and responsibilities as
When the American Civil War began on April 12th, 1861, over 3 million Union and Confederate soldiers prepared for battle. Men from all over America were called upon to support their side in the confrontation. While their battles are well documented and historically analyzed for over a hundred years, there is one aspect, one dark spot missing in the picture: the role of women in the American Civil War. From staying at home to take care of the children to disguising themselves as men to fight on the battlefield, women contributed in many ways to the war effort on both sides. Though very few women are recognized for their vital contributions, even fewer are
During America’s involvement in World War Two, which spanned from 1941 until 1945, many men went off to fight overseas. This left a gap in the defense plants that built wartime materials, such as tanks and other machines for battle. As a result, women began to enter the workforce at astonishing rates, filling the roles left behind by the men. As stated by Cynthia Harrison, “By March of [1944], almost one-third of all women over the age of fourteen were in the labor force, and the numbers of women in industry had increased almost 500 percent. For the first time in history, women were in the exact same place as their male counterparts had been, even working the same jobs. The women were not dependent upon men, as the men were overseas and far from influence upon their wives.
excluded from a number of jobs for no other reason than stereotyping, ideas of the inferiority of women in combat, and the chauvinistic thought of if their not there it wont happen. Remember none of the reason that I listed above would be sufficient for a government employer to legally close jobs to women so why is it different in our Armed Service?
During her deployment she wrote a series of letters home detailing her experiences in the military. The first letter Wakeman sent home contained information about why she left home and what she was doing. Wakeman often sent money home because she wanted to pay off family debts. Interestingly, Wakeman used her birth name every time she signed her letters. If the Union post officials had seen any of these letters her military career would have been short lived.