Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-05-07
HER ROMANTIC HIsHoRY.
Chapter ia Mrs. Leelye's Army Lto-A
Mail Carrier at the Siege OF York
TOWN sstc etf .l tua
- q IpasAinaton Let.er.

FspR a BasAin0toR Letter.
WASHINGTON, May Another chap
ter of the romantic history of 'sF'rank
Thompson otherwise the womans0ldier,
has just come 46 light. "Frank Tbcnip-
son." otherwise Miss Sarah Emma Ed
wards, now Mrs. Leelye, enlisted as a
private in company f, Second Michigan
infantry, in May, 1861. She had, as she
says, 'po other motive in enlisting than
love to God and love tor suffering human
ity." She drilled and did all the duues of
a soldier; though, on account of her
slight build, she was otteu detailed for
hospital duty, She was IN the ranks
throughout the first battle of Bull Run.
Afterward she was detailed as mail car
rier.
During the siege of Yorktown" she
says, 81 carried the mail on horseback for
the brigade from Fortress Monroe 60 the
troops in front OF Observation-Disclosures, pa
pers and packages, averaging, i think,
from two to three bushels each trip-the
distance about % or 80 miles. 1t was re-
ported that the bushwhackers had muir
dered a mail carrier on that road and
robbed the mail, and there seemed to be
evidence of the tact, for in the most lonely
spot of all the road the ground was still
strewn with fragments of letters and pa
pers, over which l often passed wnen it
was SO dark that only knew OF it
by the rustic of the letters under my
horses feet. While the Union troops lay
in front of Richmond the floods frequently
carried away the Chickahominy bridge,
and l was more than once obliged to SWIM
my horse across the swift running stream
in going back and forth with the mali.
Those cold baths in the Chickahominy
river fastened the chills and fever
upon me, which eventually drove me from
the army. sitting drenched in the sadd g
for hours, sometimes all night, shiverng
by the roadside watching for daylight, to
pick my way through the dangerous mud
holes"
At her own request, Crank Thompson"
acted as orderly for Gen. o. M. Poe at the
battle OF fredericksburg. In March,
1868, she went with her company to Ken
lucky. There she became debilitated by
chills and fever contracted in the PENN
sula campaign. She applied for leave of
absence, which was refused. Fearing
discovery of her sex, she left the army in
April, 1868. This action was, technically,
deserti0n. She went to Oberlin, o., and
there wrote her famous book, the Nurse
and Spy" the entire proceeds OF the sale
OF which she gave to the Soldiers Aid
associations. In 1866 she was married to
l.. FL. Leelye, and she lives new with her
husband and children at Fort Scott, Kan.
There is bill now on the House calen-
dar, introduced by Gen. CutcheOn, Rep
resentative from Michigan, to move the
charge of desertion from the record of
Frank Thompson and pay to Mrs. Leelye
the bounty, back pay and allowances due
her at the time of her desertion. An et-
fort will also be made to secure pension
for her. Gen. Cutcheon, who was for
merly Major of the Twentieth Michigan
infantry, knew Frank Thompson as mail
carrier. Gen. Cutcheon has recently re-
ceiVed an interesting letter which is now
published for the first time. from Mrs. NJ.
d. McConkey, of Golden, Col. Mrs. Nc
COnKey says: Il feel 1t my duty as well
as an unspeakable pleasure to say that
am the lady with whom Mrs. 5. r. Ed
monds boarded while in Oberlin, and that
her book, 'The Nurse ara spy was writ
ten at my house."
Mrs McConkey gives vivid account
OF Mrs. Leelye's romantic life at Oberlin
just after she left the army. "Miss Ed
monds came to Oberlin," says Mrs. Nc
Conkey, ''direct, think, from Louisville,
Ky. She was dressed in mems clothes,
took room in the hOJel, and went to the
photograph gallery and had her picture
taken. She afterward showed il to me,
and asked if | thought it looked like her.
i said, yes, enough so to be YOUR DrOther.'
She replied, it's my cousin, Frank ThOmp-
son. After remaining at the hotel for a
time, she called upon family whose
son had been in the hospital
with her, l think, in Alexandra,
and introduced herself as Frank ThOmp-
son, friend of their son. The son had
written home often about Frank Thomp-
son, and Of course they took HIM right to
their hearts and offered them home with
them while in Oberlin. He took his meals
with them but kept his room at the hotel.
After wing in this way for a short time,
Frank Thompson thought he had become
sufficiently acquainted with one of the
young ladies in the family to make a con-
fdant of her, and so told his story, there
by revealing his sex TO her under a
promise of secrecy. They then laid their
plans to go to Washington. where Frank
would change his suit for wOman's dress,
and return to Oberlin to study.
''The mother OF Miss II. demonstrated
against her going away with Frank
Thompson, as much as she thought of
him tor her sons sake, but was finally
persuaded to give her consent. In the
meantime Miss III. had engaged board
with me for lady who was coming from
Washington. la q few DAYS she came,
and found her devoted Christian girl,
and became very much attached to her.
OF course / knew nothing OF her history,
only that she had been in Wash
ingtOn, and had seen great deal Of
the war. Time passed on, and she went
to Hartford, Conn, where her book was
published. When the nurse and spy came
out with an engraving of tho author we
knew IL was Miss EdmOnds. 1t is per-
feet likeness. | could fiji book with in
cidents OF her life before she enlisted, as
she related them TO me, and with Incl
dents that occurred while she was at
Oberin, showing how easy it was for her
to assume a disguise so that her best
friends would not detect it,"
Mrs. McConkey closes her letter with
touching appeal for Mrs. Leelye: "NO
man, It seems to me, that has a heart,v
says Mrs. McCOnkey, lean read Der book
and see how much she must have suffered,
and see the good she did while in the
army, and object TO her having pension,
even II for time she did wear the Rarb
OF man; and then when she was broken
down and unable 70 do anything more for
her country and could not get discharge,
she went away without leave"
Even IL You Buy a Dozen
common porous plasters- which you can get