I Don't Feel Afraid to Go

Powerful women are awesome! Nothing makes me prouder to possess the features (ahem) that make me a women more than a female who is not afraid to stare into the face of death and walk forward anyway. Courageous women of the American Civil War are my inspirations for reenacting as a disguised female soldier. On that note, I am going to tell you all the story of one of my heroes, Sarah Rosetta Wakemen aka Lyons Wakemen.

 

 

Keep in mind that Sarah was just one of hundreds of women who disguised themselves in order to fight on the front lines. However, Sarah is more well known because the letters she wrote home were kept by her family and eventually published, giving insight into both her soldier life and her masquerade life. If you are interested in reading about the personal side of the Civil War, pick up a copy of An Uncommon Soldier: The Civil War Letters of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman.

 

Sarah was born in New York on January 16, 1843. She had fair skin and blue eyes and grew to be about five feet tall (according to her enlistment papers). She was the oldest of nine children in a poor farming family. The story of her early life ended here. 

Her real story began in 1862 when she left home disguised as a man. The exact reason for this choice remains unknown. Some historians claim that she had no prospects of marriage and wanted a good paying job (sometime women of the time period did not have) since her family was in debt.

Sarah first did manual labor as a boatman on a coal barge. After her initial trip, she met recruiters for the 153rd New York Infantry Regiment. She enlisted under the name "Lyons Wakeman" on August 30, 1862. She was paid a bounty of $152. The regiment left for Washington DC on October 17th.

They would serve provost and guard duty in Alexandria, Virginia and in Washington DC before being transferred to the command of Major General Nathaniel Banks in February of 1864. On March 15th, the regiment was sent down to Louisiana and the Red River Campaign. Sarah would survive the march through the swamps and the poor food and drinking water. Others would not. 

She described the dead as being "sometimes in heaps and in rows…with distorted features, among mangled and dead horses, trampled in mud, and thrown in all conceivable sorts of places. You can distinctly hear, over the whole field, the hum and hissing of decomposition."

On April 9, 1864, her company would beat back Confederate forces at Pleasant Hill in Louisiana before being forced to retreat. They would fight again at Monett’s Ferry on April 23rd. Just as before, the regiment would hold off Confederates before retreating to safety in Alexandria, Louisiana.

 

Sarah wrote home that "our army made an advance up the river to Pleasant Hill about 40 miles. 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. 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."

On May 3, Sarah reported to the regimental hospital because she was suffering from chronic diarrhea. She was transferred to a hospital in New Orleans and arrived there on May 22. She died on June 19, 1864. Her true sex was not discovered and she was buried under the name "Lyons Wakeman." Her grave can still be seen in Chalmette National Cemetery in Louisiana.

 

 

What is your opinion of Sarah Wakeman's story? Leave a comment down below if you so wish.

 

As we celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, spare a thank you for brave, strong women like Sarah Rosetta Wakeman. Remember the past and present female soldiers that fought and still fight for our freedom and way of life.

 

"I don't know how long before I shall have to go into the field of battle. For my part I don't care. I don't feel afraid to go. I don't believe there are any Rebel's bullet made for me yet."

 

-Private Lyons Wakeman

 

Until next time.

 

XOXO, Kate