Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1886-05-06

A Brave Girl who Did Valuable War
n Service.


Service.
wAsHrxeros, fApriI %. - Another
chapter OF the romantic history oil
"Fmnk Thompson otherwise the
woman soldier, has Just come TO light
frank Thompson,p otherwise Miss
Sarah Emma Edmonds, now Mrs.
Leelye, enlisted as q private Ia Co. f,
Second Michigan infantry, In MAY.
1861. She had, as she says, mo other
motive In enlIsting than love to God
and love for suffering humanity She
drilled and did all the duties Of sol
dier, though on account Of her slight
build she was often detailed for hospital
duty. She was In the ranks through
out the first battle of Bull Run. After
wards she was detailed as mail carrier.
During the siege of Yorktown she
says, ~ carried the mail on horseback
for the brigade from Fortress Monroe
to the troops In front of Yorktown, let
tiers, papers and packages, averaging,
think, from two to three bushels each
| trip, the distance about 25 or 80 miles.
1t was reported that the bushwhackers
had murdered mail carrier on that
road and robbed the mail, and there
seemed to be evidence of the fact, for In
the most lonely spot of all the road the
ground was still strewn with fragments
ofletters and papers, over which often
passed, when 1t was so dark that only
knew 1t by the rustic of the letters under
the horses feet. While the union troops
| lay In front of Richmond, the foods
frequently carried away the Chicka-
hominy bridges, and was more than
once obliged TO swim my horse across
the swift running stream In going back
and forth with the mail. Those cold
baths in the Chicahominy river fasten-
ed the chills and fever upon me, which
eventually drove me from the army,
sitting drenched in the saddle for hours,
sometimes all night, shivering by the
roadside, watching for the daylight, to
pick my way through the dangerous
mudholes."
At her own request Frank Thomp-
SOM acted as orderly for Gen. o. M.
Poe at the battle of fredericksburg In
March, 1858, she went with her COM
pany to Kentucky. There she became
debilitated by chills and fever contract
ed In the Peninsula campaign. She
applied for leave of absence, which was
refused. Fearing discovery of her sex,
she left the army in April, 1858. This
action was technically desertion. She
went to Oberlh,, Ohio, and there wrote
her famous book, s'The Nurse and Spy,'
the entire proceeds of the sale of which
she gave to soldiers aid associations. In
| 1866 she was married to r. H. Teelye,
and she lives now with her husband
and children at Fort Scott, Kansas.
There Is bill now OIL the house
calendar, introduced by Gen. Cutcheon.
representative from Michigan. to re-
move the charge of desertion from the
record of Frank Thompson, and pay
to Mrs. Teelye, the bounty, back pay
and allowances due her at the time of
her desertion. An effort will also be
made to secure pension for her. Gen.
| Cutcheon, who was formerly major of
the Twentieth Michigan infantry,
knew "Frank Thompson as mail car
rier. Gen. Cutcheon has recently re-
ceived an interesting letter which is
now published for the first time, from
Mrs. M. d. McConkey, of Golden.
Colorado. Mrs. McConkey says: II
feel it my duty, as well as an uhspeaka-
BILE pleasure, to say that l am the lady
with whom Miss s. E. Edmonds board
ed while in Oberlin, and that her book,
The Nurse and Spy was written at
my house, ,
Mrs. McConkey gives vivid account
of Mrs. Leelye's romantic life at Ober-
| lin, just after she left the army. Miss
Edmonds came to Oberlin,u says Mrs.
McConkey, "birect, / thiAk, from
Louisville, Ky. She was dressed in
mems clothes, took a room in the hotel,