Day 15: Nurse, Soldier, Spy: The Story of Sarah Edmonds, A Civil War Hero by Marissa Moss, illustrated by John Hendrix.

This is a fascinating story that I have never heard. Sara Edmonds was a Canadian who fled her home to escape an arranged marriage. To hide she dressed as a man and took the name Frank Thomas. When she arrived in the United States she enlisted in the Union Army and fought in battles, including the Battle of Bull Run and Fredericksburg, worked as a nurse and ran 11 spy missions for the Union Army during the Civil War. In 1863 she was so weak from a bout of malaria and not wanting to be examined by the Army doctors, she sneaked into a nearby town dressed as woman to visit a doctor. On her way back to the Army camp she saw posters listing Frank Thomas as a deserter who would be shot on site. From that day on Sarah never dressed as a man again. Several years later she wrote a book about her life in the Army. It became a best seller. She donated the proceeds from the book to help Civil War Veterans and dedicated her life to helping African American children who lost their parents in the war. Needing money for her cause she applied for a pension for her military service. With help from soldiers she served with, Sarah Edmonds Seelye, her married name became the first and only woman to be recognized as a veteran of the Civil War. This picture book biography is wonderfully done. It describes Sarah’s adventures on one of her spying missions. There is also a detailed author’s note with more information on this fascinating woman’s life. I would recommend this for second through fifth grade. This would make a good book talk book. I don’t think students will pick this up on their own, but once they start reading they will be pulled into this amazing story.