She Went to the Field : Women Soldiers of the Civil War

by Tsui, Bonnie

• ISBN13: 9780762743841
• ISBN10: 0762743840
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-07-01
• Publisher: TwoDot

Summary

"Women Soldiers of the Civil War" profiles several substantiated cases of female soldiers during the American Civil War, including Sarah Rosetta Wakeman (aka Private Lyons Wakeman, Union); Sarah Emma Edmonds (aka Private Frank Thompson, Union); Loreta Janeta Velazquez (aka Lieutenant Harry T. Buford, Confederate); and Jennie Hodgers (aka Private Albert D. J. Cashier, Union). Also featured are those women who may not have posed as male soldiers but who nonetheless pushed gender boundaries to act boldly in related military capacities, as spies, nurses, and vivandieres ("daughters of the regiment") who bore the flag in battle, rallied troops, and cared for the wounded.

Author Biography

Bonnie Tsui is a former associate editor at Travel + Leisure magazine. A recipient of the Radcliffe Traveling Fellowship and a graduate of Harvard University in 1999, she has written for numerous publications including the New York Times, Boston Globe, and Sydney Morning Herald. She lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Sarah Emma Edmonds, aka Private Frank Thompson, Union

Loreta Janeta Velazquez, aka Lieutentant Harry T. Buford, Confederate

Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, aka Private Lyons Wakeman, Union

Jenni Hodgers, aka Private Albert D. J. Cashier, Union

Frances Clayton, Florena Budwin, Mary Ann Clark, Mary Pitman, and Other Women Soldiers

""Daughters of the Regiment"": The Role of Vivandieres in the War: Kady Brownell, Union; Annie Etheridge, Union; and Others

Spies: R

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

From "Sarah Emma Edmonds, aka Franklin Thompson, Union"

Fifteen was a ripe time for marriage-Sarah's own mother had been married at the same age. Sarah's flight from her Canadian home in New Brunswick was precipitated by her father's decision to marry her off to a neighboring farmer much older than herself. In making her escape, she demonstrated her opposition to the match. "While the preparations were going on for the wedding, one starless night I most unceremoniously left for parts unknown," she later wrote. With help from her mother, who understood her feelings against the arrangement, Sarah left home. Eventually, she adopted male dress, cut her hair, and took up the name Franklin Thompson in order to facilitate her travels.

As Frank Thompson, Sarah could go to town unchaperoned and stay out as late as she liked. She could eat alone in restaurants-not a matter taken lightly by a woman of her time. Farming life had not sated her intellectually, and her thirst for education led her across the border to the northern United States, where she entertained thoughts of entering the field of "foreign missionary." She ended up in New England, working as a successful Bible bookseller and publisher's agent in Hartford, Connecticut. It is unclear whether she posed exclusively as a man during her first five years away from home; what is certain is that her guise gained her meaningful employment at a publishing house, work of a level she could not have secured had she been outfitted in female attire.

As a Canadian, Sarah knew that she was not obliged by any means to stay in her adopted country during the American Civil War. But as a deeply religious woman, Sarah thanked God in her memoirs that she was "permitted in this hour of my adopted country's need to express . . . my gratitude which I feel toward the people of the Northern States." Her sense of duty reflected the feelings of many of the men who served as "common soldiers" in the Civil War-though, in the traditional sense, she was far from common. On May 25, 1861, the beardless young Private Franklin Thompson enlisted with the Flint Union Greys, Company F of the 2nd Michigan Infantry, a regiment commanded by Colonel Israel B. "Fighting Dick" Richardson. She was 20 years old.

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Excerpted from She Went to the Field: Women Soldiers of the Civil War by Bonnie Tsui
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.