Aiming to Do Her Part-Mercy Street's Woman Soldier

A new character made an appearance on the latest episode of Mercy Street, a soldier named Private Ames who came in with a sick comrade.  The youngster seemed extra protective and concerned.  As events began to unfold, we learned that Private Ames was a woman soldier disguised as a male.  What gave her away?  The French illustrator said she knew because, as she put it, her adeptness at anatomical drawings allowed her to pick up on the woman soldier's bodily nuances.  As for everybody else.....well, she kind of betrayed herself  with the extreme hand holding and the kissing, which would have NEVER happened in public!!  The real women soldiers were discovered after becoming a casualty, or falling ill, or putting their stockings on in a feminine way, wringing out a dishrag in a feminine manner, sneezing like a girl, wearing clothes that were too big, instinctively trying to catch apples with nonexistent aprons, "giving a woman's squeal," trying to don trousers over the head.  But they were never detected while smooching on a man.  While many women soldiers enlisted to be with a husband or sweetheart, they kept their emotions in check because they were terrified of being discovered, and that was one sure fire way of being outed. Sarah Emma Edmonds, alias "Franklin Thompson" of the 2nd Michigan Infantry, offered perhaps the best illustration of this fear when she wrote that she would rather have been shot dead than to have been discovered and sent away from her regiment like a criminal (Edmondson file, RG 15, National Archives).

Rosetta Wakeman
153rd New York

Speaking of Edmonds, she is one historical woman soldier of whom Pvt. Ames is apparently based.  Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, alias "Lyons Wakeman," of the 153rd New York is another.  She was a farm girl from Afton who enlisted partially to ease the financial strain of her indebted family.  "I knew I could help you more to leave home than to stay there with you, " she wrote (Burgess, Uncommon Soldier, p. 9).  Disguised as a man, she made more money than she ever would as a respectable woman, and she took advantage of her unconventional situation in order to send some of her funds home.  Ames did the same, except she hailed from a farm in Ohio, which I never would have guessed after listening to her accent.  *shudder*  Her speech was supposed to reflect her farming/rural/semi-literate background, but it came out sounding more like a poor attempt at a type of Southern dialect.


There were other factors that drove Ames into the ranks.  For instance, she was also motivated by patriotism as evidenced when she declared, "I wanted to do my part."  This is accurate as quite a few women on both sides enlisted in order to fight for their respective causes.  Additionally, some women joined the military to escape trying situations at home.  It was an unwanted marriage that drove the fictional private into the ranks.  This, too, is based on fact as Emma Edmonds was fleeing an older man to whom her father had promised her hand.

Obviously, Ames and Edmonds did not harbor feelings for these men, but what happened when they did fall in love with a fellow soldier?  Such a development undoubtedly hurled them into an emotional crisis that required a delicate approach as there was a great deal of risk involved....on both sides.  For the women, revealing one's heart would require revealing one's true identity, and that may very well result in a betrayal and dismissal from the army.  And the men could be -and were - court martialed for assisting women into the ranks.  So, as a man, do you betray your friend's secret?  Or do you risk punishment?

This scenario went well for one historical character.  When Loreta Velazquez revealed to Thomas DeCaulp her secret, he married her.  Obviously, Private Ames' situation did not follow the same route because her beloved became angry that his pard had deceived him.  And that's understandable.  Trust is a fragile thing.

And then there was Emma and Jerome.

In August 1861, Edmonds was detailed as a nurse with the 2nd Michigan Infantry. A couple of months later,  twenty-year-old Jerome Robbins began to frequent her hospital to visit a sick friend.  They had much  in common, from their love of reading, desire for intellectual pursuits, and strong Christian values that steered them away from camp vices.  And then beginning on November 6th, the two started spending even more time with each other as Robbins' officers assigned him to permanent duty as a steward in Emma's hospital.

Jerome Robbins

Emma began to develop strong feelings for Jerome. What a miserable predicament that must have been.   Bearing one's heart, soul, and truth was risky with an unpredictable outcome.  One thing was for certain.  A revelation would ensure that things would never be the same, for good or bad. And as Emma agonized over a course of action, Robbins began to exchange letters with Anna Corey whose correspondence he quite desired and anticipated.  The stakes were raised as panic surely set in over possibly losing Jerome to the fair Anna.    So what did Edmonds do?

She told him.

And her love went unrequited.  After offering him her heart, Jerome gave it right back but kept her secret.  Edmonds was lucky.  Some of her sister soldiers were betrayed by men who were privy to their true identity.

After recovering from the initial shock, Robbins continued to try to maintain a semblance of a friendship, but Emma was too brokenhearted. Robbins wrote in his diary, "Perhaps a knowledge on her part that there is one in a Michigan home that I do regard with especial affection creates her disagreeable manner."  And then, "God knows my heart that towards her I entertain the kindest feelings, but it really seems that a great change has taken place in her disposition or that the real has been unmasked."  

Christmas day 1861, Robbins noted that Edmonds had gone to serve as a nurse in the Mansion House hospital in Alexandria where she remained until March when Colonel Orlando Poe appointed her as regimental mail carrier. 

Excerpt from Robbins' diary
mentioning Emma serving in the
Mansion House hospital

Perhaps getting away from Robbins was Emma's way to heal.  The coldness between them melted over time, though, and they were able to resume their friendship.  On January 16th, 1863, she sent him this heartfelt letter expressing her sincere congratulations for Jerome's engagement.

 While there seems to be a hint of regret over her fate, she appears to be content.  Perhaps it's because Jerome had been replaced by James Reid of the 79th New York Highlanders.  Whether there was any relationship between Emma and the married adjutant remains questionable.  But it appears that Robbins didn't like the fact that he wasn't receiving as much attention from his friend, "Frank," as he once did.

So when Private Ames first appeared, did you know she was a woman?  I honestly did.  As fashion and social norms have changed over the last 150 years, the means in which we use to distinguish between men and women have also evolved.   For example, we think nothing of women wearing pants.  But it was illegal for them to wear men's clothes back then.  Therefore, men did not even know what a woman looked like wearing trousers.  I think General Orlando Poe offered the best illustration of the Victorian mindset regarding clothing and mannerisms when, in 1885, he wrote about Emma, "A single glance at her in her proper character caused me to wonder how I could have ever mistaken her for a man, and I readily recall many things that ought to have betrayed her except that no one thought of finding a woman in soldier's dress."  (Edmondson File, RG 15, National Archives)

Sarah Emma Edmonds in feminine attire
and Franklin Thompson

Orlando Poe
Wikipedia

 Edmonds had served as his orderly during the war.  Yet, he never knew her true identity because the Victorian mindset saved her from detection.  You often don't see what you're not looking for.  And nobody thought a woman would try serving in the army as a soldier back then.  So it was not odd that Dr. Foster and the others did not know that Pvt. Ames was a woman while we, the audience, all probably did as we watched through our modern lenses.

Speaking of Ames' initial appearance on the scene, I nearly hurled over her hair.  I really do have a pet peeve over locks.  And I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the actress was wearing a wig, which is why it looked...well....goofy...under her ill-fitting forage cap.  Come on, girl!  Cut it off and pomade that mess down!  And when I finally got past the hair thing, the voice made me cringe all over again.  I'm surprised Dr. Foster didn't check her for a throat ailment or something.  True, the voice is difficult to hide.  The key is to not speak unless absolutely necessary and then speak softly.  Turn down the tone and not the pitch.  I don't think people realize....just....how....difficult it is to pull off this impression.

Pvt. Ames
pbs.org

Me

Other Sources:   

The Mysterious Private Thompson by Laura Leedy Gansler

Jerome Robbins collection at the Bentley Historical Library.  The University of Michigan has digitized it, and you can access it by clicking (HERE).

Until next formation...rest...except for the suicidal Private Ames who is rushing off to the battlefield to get killed.  *Edit:  unfortunately, we will never know the fate of this woman soldier because Mercy Street was cancelled.