Emma Edmonds letter

   Dear War Department,
 
Greetings, my name is Emma Edmonds. I live in Fort Scott Kansas with my husband, and three sons. I have recently come to notice that a soldier named Franklin Thompson who served in the recent war has been charged with a dishonorable discharge. Now this may sound strange, but I happen to be Franklin Thompson. I had posed as the man for 2 years, and made several trips benhind rebel lines. I also had other disguises while working. Not only did I serve as a spy, but I had also briefly taken the position of a field nurse, and a courier. It was a very dangerous task going into the war as a woman, but the positions I had taken were especially dangerous. During the war, I had disguised myself as a black slave named Cuff. I enjoyed pretending to be him. Cuff was a quirky and well mannered little fellow. As Cuff, I went to rebel camp and asked if I could do work there. A confederate officer agrred, and had a sergeant put me to work. After a long day of hard work, Me and the other slaves were granted an hour to wander around freely. I used this time to study the artillery, and the layout of the trenches. later when everyone else was asleep, I had listed the artillery, the Earthworks, and hid it in my shoe. When I snuck out of camp, I returned back to General Mcllelan, and showed him what I had found. He personally thanked me for my servive, and told me how important my contributions were. (50)
After finding out this information about the rebel camps, Colonel Shrub had trusted me with another task. He had showed me some pinpoints on a map, and find out what was going on in those areas. To do this, I disguised myself as an Irish woman named Bridget O'Shea. She was a peddler. I went to the pinpoint, and told a confederate soldier I had an item from a dying soldier for A staff officer named Mckee. He let me in the camp and I stayed there a little while. Some black women were there and cooked and did laundry for the soldiers. At 3:00 Mckee had finally came, and I gave him the watch the dying soldier told me to give to him. He was very saddened by the news. When at camp I started talking to the soldiers at the camp. I asked one if the Yankees would start attacking. His response was particulary helpful. He explained that that in the camp they were hinding several heavy guns, and that once the Yankees came by here, they would run straight into an ambush. I kept this information in my head, and headed back to camp to report this information to Colonel Shrub. I had gotten a new chestnut horse from that camp. Once I had reported the information to Colonel Shrub, he had thanked me and let me keep the horse. (83)
While on a mission, I had fallen into a trap. We had rust received orders from General Mclellan. He wanted us to advance beyond the Chickahominy, and attack the Southern troops. Upon doingn that, we had found a group of Union soldiers in bright blue uniforms.They were waving at us. So, we had went toward them. This was a terrible mistake. It turns out that those soldiers were prisoners, and they were waving for us to go back. We were then ambushed by a group of enemy calvarymen and many bullets were fired. I was shot in the arm, and my horse was shot as well. I went to a friend of mine named Mrs. Butler and luckily, she had carefully treated my wound. I was granted a 2 week furlough that was signed by the Colonel. However, I did not just leave. I had stayed on the fields, and helped treat other wounded soldiers. (90-91)
I hope you see why Franklin Thompson should have an honorable discharge. I feel that I have done my part to help in the war. Aferall I only left because I was wounded and had swamp fever. Please consider giving me an honorable discharge.
                                                                                                    From, Emma Edmonds