Behind Rebel Lines

Behind Rebel
Lines
By: Seymour Reit
Genre: Historical Fiction

Carol Martin

About Emma Edmonds
 Dates: Born-December 1841
 Known for: serving in the Civil War by disguising herself as a man

(Franklin Thompson)

 She participated in the Battle of Blackburn's Ford, First Bull Run / Manassas,

the Peninsular Campaign, Antietam, and Fredericksburg.

 Sarah Edmonds sometimes served as a spy, "disguised" as a woman

(Bridget O'Shea) or as a black man

 Died-September 5, 1898

Setting
 When – This story takes place during the Civil War, April 25, 1861 to May 6,

1863
 Where – Most of the book takes place at her home base, and in the woods.

Emma was in many different places because she was a spy.

Major Characters
 Emma Edmonds She disguises herself as a man and enlists in the Union army.
 She’s a nurse
 she volunteers for dangerous spy missions, risking her life at every turn.
 Private Franklin Thompsan Who Emma enrolls in the army as
 Mrs. Butler is Emma’s friend in the war, wife of one of the officers. She alone

knows Emma’s secret and helps her maintain her disguise.

Minor Characters
 Lieutenant James Vesey a Union spy, dies on a mission. Emma

volunteers to take his place and embarks upon her career as a spy.

 Charles Mayberry This person infiltrated Louisville society and found

major sources of intelligence leaks.

 Lieutenant Allen Hall A confederate officer who was ill with Typhoid, he

was unable to continue a battle and was left behind. He died two weeks after. Plot
 Behind Rebel Lines tells the amazing story of Emma Edmonds, a successful Civil War spy.
 Although women at the time were not allowed to enlist in the military, Emma Edmonds decides she

has to do something to help the North. She cuts her hair, dresses as a man, and enlists in the Union army as Private Franklin Thompson.
 “Thompson” serves as a field nurse, but even that dangerous duty is not enough for Edmonds.
 Soon she volunteers to be a spy, doing perilous duty