Sarah Emma Edmundson

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Edmonds as Franklin Thompson

Sarah Emma Edmonds (December 1841 – September 5, 1898), was a Canadian-born woman who lived to be about 56 and is known for serving with the Union Army in the American Civil War. Edmonds was born in Magaguadavic Settlement, New Brunswick, Canada, but left home after her abusive father attempted to force her to marry a man she did not want. She worked for a time in New Brunswick selling Bibles but still afraid of being found by her father, she fled to the United States in 1856 where she settled in Flint, Michigan. During the Civil War, she enlisted in the 2nd Michigan Infantry, disguised as a man named "Franklin T. Thompson." She at first served as a male nurse, participating in several campaigns, including the First Battle of Bull Run. As Frank Thompson, she also served as a spy, occasionally disguising herself as an African American or a woman, or sometimes both. At one point, she disguised herself as an Irish peddler with the name of Bridget O'Shea.

Edmonds' career as Frank Thompson came to an end when she contracted malaria. Unable to go to the military hospital, because she would be revealed as a woman, she left the army and checked herself in to a private hospital, intending to return to military life once she had recuperated. Once she was better, however, she saw posters looking for Frank Thompson as a deserter. Rather than return to the army as a woman, she decided to serve as a female nurse at a Washington, D.C. hospital for wounded soldiers run by the United States Christian Commission.

After the war she used the pen name S. E. Edmonds to publish Nurse and Spy in the Union Army. It was a huge success, selling in excess of 175,000 copies. In 1867, she married L. H. Seelye, a Canadian carpenter with whom she had three children, one of which was named Fredrich Seelye. In 1886 she received a government pension of $12 a month, rewarding her military service. Edmonds died in La Porte, Texas, and is buried in Washington Cemetery, in Houston, Texas. She was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1992.

The PBS television network ran a program called "Canadians in the Civil war" that told Edmundson's story. In Canada, a documentary of Edmonds' life was produced in 2004 entitled The Unsexing of Emma Edmonds, and a monument to her was being planned as of 2005.