Coming Soon to the Women of Distinction Series:

Sarah Emma Edmonds

Born in Nova Scotia, Sarah Emma Edmonds grew up with the constant awareness that her father resented the fact that she was not born a boy. As a child, Emma did all she could to behave as a boy to win her father's approval, but when her father's treatment of her became too severe, she fled to the United States to adopt a new life.  When the first call for Union volunteers went out, Edmonds was living in Flint, MI.  She wanted to respond to the call, so she cropped her hair, dressed herself as a man, and took the name of Frank Thompson.  After training in Washington, Emma Edmonds (alias Frank Thompson) was assigned as a male nurse to the hospital unit of the 2d Michigan Volunteers, a position she held at the time of the Battle of First Manassas.