A female scout and spy.
During the war, a very considerable number of women have entered the secret service of the commanders of the
Union armies, and perhaps quite as many, or more, have been employed by the rebel generals in obtaining
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information of the situation and purposes of the
Union troops.
The adventures of many of these, for obvious reasons, have not as yet been made public, and some of them may perhaps never be recorded.
Among them have been a number of actresses, whose profession has given them extraordinary facilities for this service, and whose intense loyalty has caused them to run fearful risks to render it service.
Of some of these we shall have occasion to speak by-and-by.
One of the most adroit and successful of these was not an actress, nor a native of the
United States.
Miss S. E. E. Edmonds, better known, perhaps, as “The nurse and spy,” is a native of the province of
New Brunswick, and having an earnest desire to acquire a superior education, with a view to becoming a foreign missionary, and possessing besides an energetic and independent disposition, came to the
United States, we believe, in 1859 or 1860, and for a time acted as a canvasser for some books published in
Hartford, Conn. When the war broke out, she at once resolved to devote herself to the work of nursing the sick and wounded soldiers in the hospitals, and went to
Washington for that purpose.
After spending eight or nine months in this duty, she learned that one of the spies in
General McClellan's service had been captured by the rebels in
Richmond, and executed, and that it was necessary that his place should be filled.
Miss Edmonds was daring and resolute, capable of enduring an extraordinary amount of fatigue, an accomplished equestrienne, and a capital shot, and possessed of quick and ready perceptions, and great intelligence, while her powers of impersonation were unrivalled.
She applied for the position, and was accepted after a
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very thorough examination.
Her first disguise was that of a negro boy. Passing safely through the
Union lines, and past the rebel pickets, she entered the suburbs of
Yorktown, and met with some negroes who were carrying out supplies to the pickets.
Mingling with these, the pretended contraband soon attracted the attention of a young rebel officer, who demanded, “Who do you belong to, and why are you not at work?”
“I doesn't b'long to nobody, massa; I'se free, and allers was; I'se gwyne to
Richmond to work,” was the reply.
The officer, apparently astonished that a free negro should aver his freedom, ordered him immediately set to work wheeling gravel up a parapet about eight feet high, for strengthening the works, and ordered that he should receive twenty lashes if he did not do his work well.
The work was very severe, even for a strong and robust man, and though the negroes comprising the gang helped what they could, yet before night the hands of the pseudo-contraband were blistered from the wrists to the tips of the fingers, and she was completely exhausted.
After resting a little, however, she made an inspection of the fortifications, sketched them, ascertained the number, size, and position of the guns, carefully concealing her notes between the soles of her contraband shoes.
Securing the services of a young negro to take her place the next day on the parapet, she entered upon the easier service of carrying water to a brigade stationed near the rebel headquarters.
Here she obtained some important information in regard to the numbers and intentions of the rebels, and detected a rebel spy, who, under the guise of a peddler, had often visited the
Union headquarters, and who had caused the death of one of
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McClellan's staff officers, a friend of
Miss Edmunds.
At night, going out to the picket lines, the pretended contraband was entrusted with a fine rifle, and put upon picket duty.
Availing herself of the opportunity, she now escaped to the
Union lines, bringing her rifle as a trophy, and soon after reported at headquarters.
Her next expedition was under the guise of an old Irish woman, engaged in peddling cakes, etc., among the rebel soldiers.
This was soon after
McClellan had reached the banks of the
Chickahominy.
Losing her way in the
Chickahominy swamps, she suffered from a violent attack of fever and ague, and for two days lay in the swamp without food or shelter, her stock of food having been spoiled in crossing the
Chickahominy.
On the third day she was roused by heavy firing, and crawling in the direction whence it proceeded, came soon to an opening and a small frame house, which had been deserted by its inhabitants, but in which she found a dying rebel officer.
She ransacked the house for articles of food, and succeeded in finding a little meal and some tea, and soon prepared a tolerable meal for the dying soldier, who had been some days without food, and also something to stay her own hunger.
Being unable, from exhaustion, to go upon her mission, and finding that the poor man had but a few hours to live, she cared for him as tenderly as she could, and before he died, he gave her his watch and papers, with directions to deliver them to
Major McKee, of
General Ewell's staff, and expressed his gratitude to her for her kindness.
After his death, she rested for a short time, and then gathering from the house what supplies she could, to
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make up an outfit for her assumed character, she wended her way to the rebel camp, five or six miles distant, and having ascertained what she could of the position and intentions of the rebels, and the location of the batteries they had concealed along the route of the approach of the
Union army, she sought
Major McKee, but was obliged to wait till five P. M. before she could see him. He was very much affected at the intelligence of
Captain Hall's death, and offered to reward her, but she would accept no reward.
He then requested her to guide a detachment of his men to the place where the captain had died.
As she was really unable to walk that distance, at her request he furnished her with a horse to ride.
The lone house was on debatable ground, and there was reason to fear that the
Union troops might fall upon them while engaged in this humane work; but they reached the place in safety and found the body, and the commander of the detachment requesting her to ride down the road and see if there were any Yankees in sight, she complied with his request very willingly, and became so much interested in her search that she did not draw rein till she arrived in the
Union camp, when she reported her discoveries, and prevented the army from falling into the traps set for them.
The horse thus taken from the enemy, though spirited, proved a vicious brute, and with its teeth and heels came near costing her her life.
At the
battle of Fair Oaks, she acted as orderly to
General Kearny, and twice swam the
Chickahominy to hurry forward reinforcements for the sorely pressed Union troops.
In the retreat across the
Peninsula, she was again repeatedly under fire, while serving as orderly or on detached duty with the wounded; and
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under the assumed name of
Frank Thompson took part in most of the battles of that famous retreat.
During the last few days of
Pope's campaign, she was sent three times into the enemy's camp, and under different disguises; once as a negress; and again, in other characters, she penetrated to their headquarters, and brought away, not only information of their intended movements, but valuable orders and papers.
After the
battle of Antietam, when following
Lee back to the
Rapidan, while on detached service, a body of cavalry with whom
Miss Edmonds was travelling, were attacked by guerrillas and her horse killed under her, and she herself seriously injured and robbed.
Union troops soon came up, however, and defeated the guerrillas and restored her money.
In the
battle of Fredericksburg, under her assumed name of
Frank Thompson, she acted as aid-de-camp to
General Hancock, and was under fire during the whole period.
After
General Hooker took command of the Army of the Potomac, she went to the Western army, overtaking at
Louisville the Ninth Army Corps, to which she had been for some time attached.
Here she was not long in resuming her former vocation as a spy, and having aided in the capture of some rebel prisoners, she donned the butternut garb, and as a Kentuckian, sympathizing with the rebels, wandered into their camp, but was presently pounced upon by a rebel cavalry captain and conscripted into service; but having to go into action before taking the oath, the conscript managed to get upon the
Union side, and wounded severely, though not mortally, the rebel captain who had attempted to secure her services.
As the duty of a
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spy after this was likely to be extra hazardous, the commanding general detailed
Miss Edmonds to detective duty in
Louisville, and with great skill and tact she managed to detect and secure the capture of several rebel spies then in the city.
She next visited
Vicksburg, and after serving some time in the hospitals there as a nurse, was compelled by broken health to leave the army for a time.
The Irish sentinel.
A son of the
Green Isle, a new member of
Colonel Gillem's
Middle Tennessee regiment, while stationed at
Nashville recently, was detailed on guard duty on a prominent street of that city.
It was his first experience at guard-mounting, and he strutted along his beat apparently with a full appreciation of the dignity and importance of his position.
As a citizen approached, he shouted-
“ Halt! Who comes there?”
“A citizen,” was the response.
“Advance, citizen, and give the countersign.”
“I haven't the countersign; and, if I had, the demand for it at this time and place is something very strange and unusual,” rejoined the citizen.
“Ana, by the howly
Moses, ye don't pass this way at all till ye say
Bunker Hill,” was
Pat's reply.
The citizen, appreciating the “situation,” advanced and cautiously whispered in his ear the necessary words.
“ Right! Pass on.”
And the wide awake sentinel resumed his beat.
