The Civil War, to say the least, was a terrible event in our country's history. Thousands of young men were killed during the five years of the war between 1860 and 1865. But there were others who died as well. Nurses, doctors, civilians and women posing as male soldiers. That's right! There were literally hundreds of females who, for one reason or another, dressed as men and managed to fool the recruiters into allowing them to inlist. A few of the reasons that they did this was for adventure or because there were no marriage proposals at home and they needed to fill the time during this period or because they needed money and males were payed much more than females at that time or because they really wanted to help their country.

If a woman was discovered in the ranks, they would be sent home or worse, thrown into prison. A terrible way to treat a patriot. But that was the times.

Sarah Wakeman was a woman born into a poor family and she needed to support them the best that she could. She managed to inlist in the Union Army and was lucky enough to never be found out. However, Sarah would never see her home and family again. She would die from illness. Even at her burial she was not discovered to be a woman. In the military field hospitals during the Civil War, the dead were simply taken and buried right away.

Sarah Wakeman's story is a tragic one. She was a patriot just as any man was at that time. She lived a short life but surely an exciting one. Today there are thousands of female soldiers in all branches of our military and they fight and die right beside their male counterparts. But in 1860, times were much different. Women were thought of as weak and mild creatures who had to be protected. Of course, we today know this isn't true. And it was women like Sarah Wakeman who taught us this. She fought hard and with dignity and served our country with pride. Just as any male soldier has done.