author
S. Emma E. (Sarah Emma Evelyn) Edmonds
1841–1898
A Canadian-born Civil War figure whose life story blends courage, reinvention, and controversy, she became widely known for serving with the Union Army under the name Franklin Thompson. Her memoir helped turn her wartime experiences into one of the era’s most memorable personal narratives.
1 Audiobook
Nurse and Spy in the Union Army The Adventures and Experiences of a Woman in Hospitals, Camps, and Battle-Fields
by S. Emma E. (Sarah Emma Evelyn) Edmonds
About the author
Born in New Brunswick in December 1841, Sarah Emma Evelyn Edmonds left home as a teenager and later made her way to the United States. She is best known for serving in the Union Army during the American Civil War while presenting herself as a man, using the name Franklin Flint Thompson.
Accounts of her service agree that she worked with the Union cause as a soldier and nurse, and many also repeat her own claim that she carried out espionage missions behind Confederate lines. Because some of the most dramatic stories come from her memoir, modern historians sometimes treat those details with caution.
After the war, she published Nurse and Spy in the Union Army, a book that brought her lasting fame. She later received recognition for her service, and her story still stands out for its mix of bravery, self-invention, and the complicated line between history and legend.