Reviews for The Mysterious Private Thompson: The Double Life of Sarah Emma Edmonds, Civil War Soldier

The average rating for The Mysterious Private Thompson: The Double Life of Sarah Emma Edmonds, Civil War Soldier based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-10-21 00:00:00 Michael Warde This book took longer to read than I expected it to. I didn't know that it would be not only about Sarah Emma Edmonds (aka Frank Thompson), but also a veritable history of the Civil War. It even has footnotes. Sarah came from a large family and her father was very authoritarian. She left home to avoid an arranged marriage and disguised herself as a man in order to make her way in the world. She could work and earn higher wages as a man. This book made me want to read her own account of her life story.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-04-13 00:00:00 Jessica Hampton I could not believe how much I loved this book. This is the very definition of the phrase "fact is better than fiction." I couldn't even dream up something like this. A story of courage and conviction, this book went to the very heart of what it meant to be a soldier during the Civil War. It did not matter whether you were male, female, slave, freeman, soldier, or civilian; everyone had something to fight for. I think the most powerful moment in this book for me, was when Emma (the woman whose story this is) went behind enemy lines and ended up in an abandoned house with a dying Confederate soldier inside. Her nursing skills kicked in and she did what she could to comfort him, while talking about death and what happens beyond the grave. It is in this moment that she realizes that the Confederate's belief in God and Christ was the same as her own. Confederate. Union. It didn't matter. Each man (and woman's) heart beat the same as the next person. They fought for what they believed to be right even if it put them on different sides of the battlefield, but in the next life, they'd all be on the same side. What a powerful story. I highly recommend this read.