Mysterious Private Thompson The Double Life Of Sarah Emma Edmonds, Civil War Soldier

Chapter One: New Brunswick, Canada December 1841 December is bitterly cold on the granite-strewn shores of Magaguadavic Lake, and the night that Sarah Emma Edmondson was born was no exception. The lake was a three-foot sheet of ice; the rocky ground was covered in hard-packed snow. The vast, dense forest of hemlock and white pine surrounding the lake was dark and foreboding. But as cold and inhospitable as it was outside, a different, icier chill permeated the Edmondsons' small farmhouse the night that Betsy Edmondson gave birth to her sixth child, and fifth girl. Betsy's husband, Isaac, a stern and taciturn Scot, had been hoping for a son, as most farmers in New Brunswick did. It was hard work to carve a farm out of this remote wilderness, harder still to work the unforgiving land and to keep the forest at bay. It was a part of the world attractive only to tough, resourceful, and independent people, most of whom were there because, and only because, it afforded them the chance to work for themselves. What hired help could be found sought out one of the many logging camps along the Saint James or Miramichi rivers, where pay was better than most farmers could afford. The only way to ensure a decent workforce was to raise it yourself.The four older sisters did what they could to help, but for Isaac, it was never enough. To make matters worse, Emma's only brother, Thomas, was an epileptic, and therefore of no use at all in Isaac's eyes. Any farmer in his position would have been disappointed at the arrival of yet another girl. But Isaac's reaction went well beyond annoyance. Isaac was prone to violent rages, a tendency that had increased with the birth of each child, but always he held out hope that God would grant him healthy sons one day. But this time was different. Betsy was now well into her thirties and not strong to begin with. Years of childbearing had taken their toll, and this baby would likely be -- and in fact was -- her last. As that realization dawned on Isaac that December night, his periodic rage curdled into a permanent, poisonous anger that would seethe within him for the rest of his life.Emma, as the baby girl was called, could not immediately understand how unhappy a home she had joined, but years later, she would say that she believed that some of the despair and anger that permeated that house had seeped into her veins through her mother's milk. "I think I was born into this world with some dormant antagonism toward man. I hope I have outgrown it measurably, but my infant soul was impressed with a sense of my mother's wrongs before I ever saw the light, and I probably drew from her breast with my daily food my love of independence and hatred of male tyranny."Life on the shores of Magaguadavic Lake was never easy, but it was not always bleak; for brief golden moments each year, it was paradise. In the spring and autumn, the ill-humored, ice-covered forests of winter were transformed into an inviting, beautiful, magical realm. The woods were full of game -- whitetail deer, moose, and black bear -- and riotous color, and valuable hardwoods and other timber. When the ice finally melted, the lake became a playground. The huge granite boulders that laced the shoreline were perfect for climbing and hiding, and here and there tiny spits of sand formed private, pristine beaches. The water was cold even in the summer, but the few hardy children who grew up on its shores became accustomed to it. And fishing -- for landlocked salmon, and bass, and trout -- was almost always rewarding.Even at the Edmondson farm, there were some perfect summer days, when the sun was shining, the winds were gentle, and loons sang their eerily beautiful songs to one another. On those rare days, Isaac's hard mood would soften. If it happened to be washing day, Betsy would make a picnic for the family to eat on the edge of the lake, and the children wouGansler, Laura Leedy is the author of 'Mysterious Private Thompson The Double Life Of Sarah Emma Edmonds, Civil War Soldier', published 0015 under ISBN 9780743242806 and ISBN 0743242807.