What did Emma Edmonds accomplish?

Answer 1

Edmonds, Sara Emma Evelyn (1841-98) soldier, nurse, and spy for the Union army, born in New Brunswick, Canada. Edmonds joined the army under the name of Franklin Thompson, successfully hiding her true sex from most of her comrades. Edmonds/Thompson participated in the battle of First Bull Run (1861) and the Peninsular Campaign (1862). She made several information-gathering trips behind Confederate lines, posing variously as a slave woman, a young Confederate boy, and an Irish peddler woman. Edmonds deserted in 1863 (but eventually had Thompson's name cleared) and lived again as a woman. In the last year of the war, she nursed the wounded at Harpers Ferry. Emma Edmonds Seeyle (her married name) is the only woman ever acknowledged as a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. She also received a pension for her war service.