Sarah Emma Edmonds - Woman Who Fought in the Civil War

Sarah Emma Edmonds - Woman Who Fought in the Civil War Known for:  serving in the Civil War by disguising herself as a man; writing a post-Civil War book about her wartime experiences Dates:  - Sarah Emma Edmonds was born Edmonson or Edmondson in New Brunswick, Canada in December 1841. Her father was Isaac Edmon(d)son and her mother Elizabeth Leepers.   Early Life Sarah grew up working in the fields with her family and was usually wearing boys’ clothing doing so.  She left home to avoid a marriage instigated by her father.  Eventually, she began dressing as a man, selling Bibles, and calling herself Franklin Thompson.  She moved to Flint, Michigan as part of her job, and there she decided to join Company F of the Second Michigan Regiment of Volunteer Infantry, still as Franklin Thompson. During the War She successfully evading detection as a woman for a year, though some fellow soldiers seem to have suspected. She participated in the Battle of Blackburns Ford, First Bull Run/Manassas, the Peninsular Campaign, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. Sometimes, she served in the capacity of a nurse, and sometimes more actively in the campaign.  According to her memoirs, she sometimes served as a spy, disguised as a woman (Bridget OShea), a boy, a black woman or a black man. She may have made 11 trips behind Confederate lines.  At Antietam, treating one soldier, she realized that it was another woman in disguise, and agreed to bury the soldier so that none would discover her real identity. She deserted in Lebanon in April 1863. There’s been some speculation that her desertion was to join James Reid, another soldier who left, giving as a reason that his wife was sick. After deserting, she worked - as Sarah Edmonds - as a nurse for the U.S. Christian Commission. Edmonds published her version of her service - with many embellishments - in 1865 as  Nurse and Spy in the Union Army. She donated proceeds from her book to societies founded to help veterans of the war. Life After the War At Harpers Ferry, while nursing, she had met Linus Seelye, and they married in 1867, first living in Cleveland, later moving around to other states including Michigan, Louisiana, Illinois, and Texas. Their three children died young and they adopted two sons. In 1882 she began to petition for a pension as a veteran, asking for assistance in her pursuit from many who had served in the army with her. She was granted one in 1884 under her new married name, Sarah E. E. Seelye, including back pay and including removing the designation of deserter from Franklin Thomas’ records. She moved to Texas, where she was admitted into the GAR (Grand Army of the Republic), the only woman to be admitted. Sarah died a few years later in Texas on September 5, 1898. We know of Sarah Emma Edmonds primarily through her own book, through records assembled to defend her pension claim, and through diaries of two men with whom she served. Bibliography Civil War Battle from the Perspective of a Nurse - S. Emma Edmonds  - an excerpt from Edmonds 1865 memoir telling the story of the Battle of Bull Run, 1861 (also called 1st Manassas)Moss, Marissa.  Nurse, Soldier, Spy: The Story of Sarah Edmonds, a Civil War Hero.  Ages 9-12.Sequin, Marilyn.  Where Duty Calls: The Story of Sarah Emma Edmonds, Soldier and Spy in the Union Army.  Young Adult Fiction.Reil, Seymour.  Behind Rebel Lines: The Incredible Story of Emma Edmonds, Civil War Spy.  Ages 9-12.Edmonds, S. Emma.  Nurse and Spy in the Union Army: Comprising the Adventures and Experiences of a Woman in Hospitals, Camps and Battle-Fields.  1865.

Major Wars and Conflicts of the 20th Century

Major Wars and Conflicts of the 20th Century The 20th century was dominated by wars and conflicts that often altered the balance of  power around the globe. The 20th century saw the emergence of total wars, such as World War I and World War II, which were  large enough to encompass nearly the entire world. Other wars, like the Chinese Civil War, remained local but still caused the deaths of millions of people. The reasons for the wars varied from expansion disputes  to  upsets in government to the  intentional murder of an entire people. However, they all shared one thing: an extraordinary number of deaths. Which Was the Deadliest War of the 20th Century? The largest and bloodiest war of the 20th century (and of  all time) was World War II. The conflict, which lasted from 1939 to 1945, involved most of the planet. When it was finally over, more than 60 million people were dead. Of that enormous group, which represents about 3 percent of the entire world population at the time, the huge majority (well over 50 million) were civilians. World War I was also bloody, with 8.5 million military deaths plus an estimated 13 million more civilian fatalities. If we were to add in the deaths caused by the  1918  influenza epidemic, which was spread by returning soldiers at the end of  World War I,  the WWI total would be much higher, since the epidemic alone was responsible for  50 to 100 million deaths. Third in the list of bloody wars of the 20th century is the Russian Civil War, which caused the deaths of an estimated 9 million people. Unlike the two world wars, however, the Russian Civil War did not spread across Europe or beyond. Rather, it was a struggle for power following the Russian Revolution, and it pitted the Bolsheviks, headed by Lenin, against a coalition called the White Army. Interestingly, the Russian Civil War was over 14 times deadlier than the American Civil War, which saw the deaths of 620,000. The American Civil War was by far the deadliest war in history for United States soldiers. The second deadliest war in terms of American deaths was World War II in which 405,399 Americans died. The List of Major Wars and Conflicts of the 20th Century All of these wars, conflicts, revolutions, civil wars, and genocides shaped the 20th century. Below is a chronological list of the major wars of the 20th century. 1898–1901 Boxer Rebellion1899–1902 Boer War1904–1905 Russo-Japanese War1910–1920 Mexican Revolution1912–1913 First and Second Balkan Wars1914–1918 World War I1915–1918 Armenian Genocide1917 Russian Revolution1918–1921 Russian Civil War1919–1921 Irish War of Independence1927–1937 Chinese Civil War1933–1945 Holocaust1935–1936 Second Italo-Abyssinian War (also known as the Second Italo-Ethiopian War or the Abyssinian War)1936–1939 Spanish Civil War1939–1945 World War II1945–1990 Cold War1946–1949 Chinese Civil War resumes1946–1954 First Indochina War (also known as the French Indochina War)1948 Israel War of Independence (also known as the Arab-Israeli War)1950–1953 Korean War1954–1962 French-Algerian War1955–1972 First Sudanese Civil War1956 Suez Crisis1959 Cuban Revolution1959–1975  Vietnam War1967 Six-Day War1979–1989 Soviet-Afgha n War1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War1990–1991 Persian Gulf War1991–1995 Third Balkan War1994 Rwandan Genocide