Civil War Union Soldier. The oldest child in a poor, large farming family in upstate New York, she left home at nineteen years of age and found she could make more money by dressing as a man and working as a coal handler on a canal boat. Upon learning she could make thirteen dollars a month as a soldier, she disguised herself as a man and enlisted on 30 August 1862 in Montgomery County, New York, as "Lyons Wakeman" in the 153rd New York Volunteer Infantry, Company G which shortly thereafter would be redesignated as Company H. She served until she died of dysentery after fighting in the Battle of Pleasant Hill in Louisiana. Details of her experiences are found in her letters compiled in a book entitled "An Uncommon Soldier" edited by Lauren Cook Burgess. Her total service in the U S Army covered more than one year and seven months.
Civil War Union Soldier. The oldest child in a poor, large farming family in upstate New York, she left home at nineteen years of age and found she could make more money by dressing as a man and working as a coal handler on a canal boat. Upon learning she could make thirteen dollars a month as a soldier, she disguised herself as a man and enlisted on 30 August 1862 in Montgomery County, New York, as "Lyons Wakeman" in the 153rd New York Volunteer Infantry, Company G which shortly thereafter would be redesignated as Company H. She served until she died of dysentery after fighting in the Battle of Pleasant Hill in Louisiana. Details of her experiences are found in her letters compiled in a book entitled "An Uncommon Soldier" edited by Lauren Cook Burgess. Her total service in the U S Army covered more than one year and seven months.
Bio by: Bigwoo
Inscription
Lyons Wakeman N.Y.
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