I think my Civil War girlfriend can beat up your daguerreotype boyfriend.

I “met” Sarah Emma Edmonds while visiting the National Archives Civil War exhibit (coming soon to a city near you, maybe).

I was fascinated by her story—she passed herself off as a man (Frank Flint Thompson) so that she could join the Union army, where she served admirably as a nurse, and according to some accounts, a spy.

It amazes me that she was never found out. Back then, if you wore pants, you were a man.

And it blows my mind that after returning to civilian life as a woman (who married and had a family), she *successfully* lobbied Congress for a military pension based on the testimony of her comrades who knew her as a man.

Hats off to you, Sarah Emma/Frank Flint! Whether in britches or bloomers, your life must have been quite an adventure.