Sarah Rosetta Wakeman

Born:  January 16, 1843, Bainbridge, New York

Died:  June 19, 1864, New Orleans, Louisiana

Resting Place:  Chalmette National Cemetery, Chalmette, Louisiana

Brief History:  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. She served in the Union Army during the American Civil War under the male name of Lyons Wakeman. The description on her enlistment papers stated that she was five feet tall, fair-skinned, brown hair with blue eyes. During her almost two years in the ranks, her female identity was either not discovered or at least not reported. On one recorded occasion Wakeman defended herself in a fight with another soldier, and she self-reportedly fit in as one of the guys and lived “wildly” until rediscovering religious devotion.

Her regiment finally saw action at Pleasant Hill, Louisiana on April 9, 1864. Standing shoulder to shoulder with the men in her company, Wakeman fired round after round into the advancing Confederates, beating them back six times. One point of interest in Wakeman's service is her time spent as a guard at Washington's Carroll Prison. 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. On May 3, Wakeman reported to the regimental hospital, suffering from chronic diarrhea. She was transferred to a hospital in New Orleans, arriving there on May 22. By this time she was gravely ill and on June 19, 1864, she died.