Nurse and Spy in the Union Army

Canadian-born Sarah Emma Evelyn Edmonds (nee Edmondson) recounts her sensational life on the front lines of the American Civil War. As a young woman she ran away from home. To avoid being discovered, she assumed the identity of a man, taking the name Franklin "Frank" Thompson. Frank worked for awhile as a Bible salesman, but in 1865 joined the Union Army as a nurse. Frank, already a master of disguise, eventually volunteered to be a spy and penetrated the enemy lines multiple times in various forms: as a slave and, curiously, as a woman. Frank eventually deserted the army, and Sarah Emma Edmonds returned, enlisting in the army as a nurse.