Behind Rebel Lines: The Incredible Story of Emma Edmonds, Civil War Spy

Reit notes that the story is true and that the protagonist’s full name was Sarah Emma Edmonds but early in her childhood she started using just “Emma.” He muses that she was a “feminist long before the word became popular” (vii). In addition, he writes that according to historians she was one of more than 400 woman who posed as men to enlist and fight—on both sides—in the US Civil War.

To reconstruct Emma’s life, Reit interviewed several prominent historians, accessed US Army records, and studied the memoir she published shortly after the Civil War, which sold about 200,000 copies in her lifetime. In addition to this substantial research, Reit acknowledges that he invented some details to help evoke what life was like in the 1860s. He describes Emma as idealistic and passionate in her conviction to the Union’s cause. 

In Flint, Michigan, men joke while waiting in line to enlist in the Union Army. Among them is 21-year-old Emma Edmonds, silent, hoping her ruse works and grateful that the recruiters skip physical exams—so great is the need for soldiers. Recruitment posters everywhere call for 75,000 men—and milliners, miners, farmers, dockhands, and office clerks pour in.