Nurse and Spy in the Union Army: Comprising the Adventures and Experiences of a Woman in Hospitals, Camps and Battlefields

This gripping autobiography by Canadian-born Sarah Emma Edmonds (1841–98) portrays the American Civil War (1861–65) from the perspective of a woman who participated in different roles in the conflict. Edmonds served as a cross-dressed soldier with the Union Army during the American Civil War under the name Franklin Thomas. But she also helped as a field nurse in numerous battles, including Bull Run, Williamsburg, Antietam and Fredericksburg. In addition, she was a spy and succeeded in penetrating the enemy’s lines in various disguises no less than eleven times, and she saved many lives both through her work as an informant as well as through her skills as a nurse.