Sarah Rosetta Wakeman
Sarah Rosetta Wakeman | |
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153rd New York Volunteer Infantry | |
Battles/wars | American Civil War |
Sarah Rosetta Wakeman (January 16, 1843 – June 19, 1864) was an American female soldier who served in the
Early life
Wakeman was born January 16, 1843, in Bainbridge, New York, to Harvey Anable Wakeman and Emily Hale Wakeman. She was the oldest of nine children in the farming family of Afton, New York.[2]: 36 [3] By the age of seventeen, she had received some formal education and was working as a domestic servant. Wakeman understood the tremendous financial pressure her family was under, and without possible suitors to take on her expenses, Wakeman left her home as a man in 1862 and went to work as a boatman for the Chenango Canal.[2]: 38 Wakeman's letters to her family allude to some sort of rift between them before her departure.[2]: 40
While on her job, she met army recruiters offering a $152 bounty[4] and enlisted on August 30, 1862, using the name Lyons Wakeman and claiming to be 21 years old. The bounty would have been incredible motivation for Wakeman to enlist, being far more than what she could earn as a woman. Wakeman enlisted as a private of Company H of the 153rd New York State Volunteers in Root, New York.[2]: 40 The description on her enlistment papers stated that she was five feet tall,[1] fair-skinned, brown hair with blue eyes. She misrepresented her age on the papers which stated that she was twenty-one at the time of her enlistment when in fact she was actually seventeen or eighteen.[5]
Military service
Her regiment was assigned guard duty in
One point of interest in Wakeman's service is her time spent as a guard at Washington's Carroll Prison.[2]: 46 During her time there, one of the three women held at the prison was arrested for a crime Wakeman herself was committing: impersonating a man to fight for the Union.[2]: 47
Wakeman finally saw battle as the 153rd Regiment was transferred to an active battle field in February 1864. Her unit participated in Major General Nathaniel P. Banks ill-fated Red River Campaign.[1] The battle that ensued took place at Pleasant Hill, Louisiana. This force probably numbered around 11,000 soldiers. Wakeman survived her only apparent combat engagement on April 9, 1864.[1] After Wakeman's arrival, she sent her last letter home from the Grand Ecore Landing on the Red River.
The last letter Wakeman sent reported her battle experiences: "Our army made an advance up the river to Pleasant Hill about 40 miles (64 km). There we had a fight. The first day of the fight our army got whip[ped] and we had to retreat back about 10 miles (16 km). The next day the fight was renewed and the firing took place about eight o'clock in the morning. There was a heavy Cannonading all day and a Sharp firing of infantry. I was not in the first day's fight, but the next day I had to face the enemy bullets with my regiment. I was under fire about four hours and laid on the field of battle all night. There was three wounded in my Co. and one killed. I feel thankful to God that he spared my life, and I pray to him that he will lead me safe through the field of battle and that I may return safe home."[6]
Death and legacy
The
Her letters and their record of her military experiences were discovered more than a century after her death in a relative's attic in 1976.[2]: 37 Wakeman's letters were subsequently edited and published by Lauren Burgess in 1994 as An Uncommon Soldier: The Civil War Letters of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, alias Pvt. Lyons Wakeman, 153rd Regiment, New York State Volunteers, 1862 - 1864.[1] Her relatives still have the letters, a photograph, and a ring of Wakeman's.[2]: 50
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 0-313-32708-4.
- ^ ISBN 9780762743841.
- ISBN 0-3930-4712-1.
- ^ "Civil War Trust: Sarah Rosetta Wakeman". Archived from the original on August 1, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
- ^ Leonard (1999), p. 192.
- ISBN 9781595587138. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
- OCLC 30933373.
Further reading
- Eggleston, Larry G. (2003). Women in the Civil War: Extraordinary Stories of Soldiers, Spies, Nurses, Doctors, Crusaders, and Others. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 0786414936.
- Wakeman, Sarah Rosetta (1994). An Uncommon Soldier: the Civil War letters of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, alias Private Lyons Wakeman, 153rd Regiment, New York State Volunteers. Pasadena, Md.: The Minerva Center. OCLC 30933373.
- Ring, Trudy (November 26, 2014). "Photos: Civil War LGBT – and Feminist - Heroes". Advocate. Retrieved November 25, 2015.