Sarah Emma Edmonds (1841–1898) was born in New Brunswick, Canada and in the 1850s emigrated to the United States because of her ‘insatiable thirst for education,’ in her own words. On the outbreak of war she organized a door-to-door appeal for hospital supplies from the householders of Washington. She enlisted in the Union army dressed as a man and saw a number of battles at first hand. Apart from serving as a field nurse, she joined the Union secret service after a number of tests including a phrenological examination to check her ‘organs of secretiveness.’ Disguised as an African American ‘contraband,’ she passed behind Southern lines to report on their fortifications, troop dispositions, etc. A further expedition involved disguising herself as an Irish peddler. She also served as a Union ‘detective,’ tracking and exposing spies in the Northern army. Fair Oaks, Virginia, was the site of two battles in 1862 during the Peninsula Campaign.
The following is taken from Edmonds’ Nurse and Spy in the Union Army: Comprising the Adventures and Experiences of a Woman in Hospitals, Camps, and Battle-Fields (Hartford, CT: W.S. Williams, etc. 1865). First published as The Female Spy of the Union Army (Boston: De Wolfe, Fiske, 1864).
The hospitals in Washington, Alexandria and Georgetown were crowded with wounded, sick, discouraged soldiers. That extraordinary march from Bull Run, through rain, mud, and chagrin, did more toward filling the hospitals than did the battle itself. I found Mrs. B. in a hospital, suffering from typhoid fever, while Chaplain B. was looking after the temporal and spiritual wants of the men with his usual energy and sympathy. He had many apologies to offer ‘for running away with my horse,’ as he termed it. There were many familiar faces missing, and it required considerable time to ascertain the fate of my friends. Many a weary walk I had from one hospital to another to find some missing one who was reported to have been sent to such and such a hospital […].
Measles, dysentery and typhoid fever were the prevailing diseases after the retreat. After spending several days in visiting the different hospitals, looking after personal friends, and writing letters for the soldiers who were not able to write for themselves, I was regularly installed in one of the general hospitals.