June 23, 2025

Slipped on a Pair of Trousers: Sarah Rosetta Wakeman

History's attics hide remarkable stories, and few are as compelling as Sarah Rosetta Wakeman's. At just 19, this strong-minded woman from rural New York made a decision that defied every convention of her time—she cut her hair, put on men's clothing, and became Lyons Wakeman.

The eldest of nine children born to struggling tenant farmers in 1843, Rosetta faced limited options. Marriage wasn't in the cards, and her family's crushing debt demanded all hands working. When she discovered that coal hauling on the Chenango Canal paid better than any "women's work," she embraced a male identity that offered both financial stability and personal freedom.

But when Union Army recruiters appeared offering a $152 enlistment bounty (worth over $3,000 today), Rosetta saw an opportunity she couldn't pass up. As Private Lyons Wakeman of the 153rd New York Infantry, she performed every soldier's duty—standing guard, drilling with precision, even engaging in fistfights—all while maintaining her secret identity. Her letters home reveal a practical motivation far removed from patriotic fervor: "I am as independent as a hog on ice," she wrote, proud of her $13 monthly salary that helped sustain her family back home.

For almost two years, Rosetta served without detection, first in Washington DC and later in Louisiana during the brutal Red River Campaign. She survived the Battle of Pleasant Hill only to fall victim to dysentery, dying at 21 in a New Orleans hospital where not even the attending doctors discovered her biological sex. Buried under her male identity, her remarkable story remained hidden until her letters were discovered a century later.

Dive into this incredible story of a woman who challenged 19th-century gender expectations not through protest, but through quiet, determined action. Her surviving letters paint a vivid picture of Civil War life and reveal a pragmatic spirit who saw male disguise not as political statement but as a practical path to independence. Subscribe to hear more hidden stories from history that will change how you see the past—and perhaps the present too.

- An Uncommon Soldier: The Civil War Letters of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, alias Pvt. Lyons Wakeman, 153rd Regiment, New York State Volunteers, 1862-1864 by Sarah Rosetta Wakeman https://amzn.to/463jhcu
- Wakeman, Sarah Rosetta – Civil War letters and biography. An overview by the American Battlefield Trustbattlefields.orgbattlefields.orgbattlefields.org.
- Bierle, Sarah Kay – “From History’s Shadows: Sarah Rosetta Wakeman.” Emerging Civil War (Mar. 30, 2024) – Analysis of Wakeman’s letters and life

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00:00 - Podcast Introduction and Beer Tasting

12:24 - Sarah Rosetta Wakeman's Early Life

21:27 - Joining the Union Army as Lyons Wakeman

30:03 - Life as a Soldier in Washington DC

36:52 - The Red River Campaign and Battle

43:10 - Dysentery and Wakeman's Lasting Legacy

50:18 - Wrapping Up and Final Thoughts

WEBVTT

00:00:16.076 --> 00:00:16.957
Oh, hey there.

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That was aggressive.

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Oh hey there.

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I'm Kate.

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And I'm Bradley.

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How are you?

00:00:24.152 --> 00:00:25.254
And we're the History of Foods, oh yeah.

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And I am good.

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And I'm Bradley, how are you?

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And we're the History of Buffoons.

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Oh yeah, and I am good, that's us, that's us.

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We are what you would call buffooning around here.

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This took a minute to get going.

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I had a little technical difficulties with my camera setup, which is, in other words, my phone.

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The secret's out.

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Was it really a secret, though?

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I mean only if you ever say it like that again.

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That was amazing.

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No, it's.

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We don't have what you would call a studio.

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We don't have what you would call a high class setup.

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I'm fucking high class.

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I don't know what you'll call a high class setup.

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Um, I'm fucking high class.

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I don't know what you're talking about.

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Let's not get carried away.

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We do what we can with what we got.

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We still have fun.

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It's good times.

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I'm warm as fuck because I just set it all up, so let's get into the beer hey, we went on yeah so we went camping with some friends, a lot of friends.

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A lot of friends and we thought it would be fun to bring some beers back for our podcast because, well, we like to drink beer, and so what we did specifically is we got some beers from the states that we drove through and were in.

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So this is the Ohio one, correct?

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Yeah, yes, so we were the Ohio one, correct?

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Yeah, yes.

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So we were in Ohio, camping, camping, and on our way back we picked up some, well, beer.

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Moeller Brew Barn.

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Moeller Brew.

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Barn Established in 2015.

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So we both each have an individual flavor that we picked for this.

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I have a honeywagon ipa what mine comes with jokes does it really.

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Yeah, I wonder if mine does too I just can't bottom if I wonder, if I just can't read it, it's at the very bottom okay, I don't think mine does then okay, so I've got the berry, cherry, wheat, and it says berry, punny jokes.

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And it says what do you call a bear that gets caught in the rain?

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What A drizzly bear.

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Oh dear Dad jokes why did the grizzly bear wear a vest?

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Why.

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Because he had the right to bear arms.

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Yeah, okay, I like that one better.

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Why don't bears ever look sad?

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Why, when they have a problem, they grin and bear it that was a par, but we'll take it that's fantastic no, I wish now I feel cheated that mine doesn't have jokes this one is from maria stein, ohio, 5.7 ABV, and this is the Berry Cherry Wheat.

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Mine is, ooh, 6.6.

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Hello, and it's a tropical IPA with honey, malt, sweetness, mango and pineapple notes and big aromatics.

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Ooh, I almost read that wrong.

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I actually kind of did read it wrong.

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So we are going to have this new beer.

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I was instructed to bring Katie back up Medello in case she didn't like it.

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But cheers, cheers, ooh.

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That's very cherry wheat.

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Is it very cherry.

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It's very cherry, it's very cherry if you will cherry, it's very cherry.

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Is it Very cherry, if you will?

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I see what you did there.

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Thank you, I wish you wouldn't have but um it's is it too, cherry Undetermined.

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Can you grin and bear it?

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Yeah, I feel like, even though these are cold, yeah this one in particular needs to be colder, and you know how I feel about cold beverages.

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I'm not as particular as you are.

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I like my shit fucking cold.

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You are typically whatever kind of attitude towards if it's a little warmer or cooler or whatever.

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Yeah, but this one I feel like it needs to be very, very cold.

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It needs to be very cold.

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Very cold.

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Otherwise I can't grin and bear.

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Okay, that's we're beating a dead horse here, but it's good, it's good, I like it, do you?

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I like the cherry, I like the wheat.

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It needs to be like frozen.

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Maybe a slushy type thing.

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Just under me, just under slush.

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Under slush, under slush.

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Yeah, can I have an under slush please?

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What anyways?

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Uh, this one's pretty tasty.

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I like this one.

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It's got some good flavor to it.

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So, yeah, thank you, ohio, for, uh, some decent beers here.

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Yeah, this one's awesome I was excited fun fact ohio has drive-through liquor stores had no idea.

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That was a thing, no idea.

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I had to run out and pick up some beers for some of the people at one point and I was looking for I was gonna get them at a gas station nathan and I got thirsty yeah and um.

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Well, I found a liquor store.

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I'm like, oh, I'll stop there.

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And I got out of my car and I'm like, oh, nope, this isn't happening.

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So I got back in the car and I then proceeded to drive you didn't tell me you got out of the car.

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I don't think if you did, I forgot I did and you forgot.

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But that's okay because, remember, I went into that little parlor with a you order pizza.

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It's like a pizza joint attached with a liquor drive-thru liquor store and I was gonna ask a question but it took the chick forever to take an order over the phone.

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So I just walked out and I'm like I guess I'm driving through then, but it's like I can't, I can't look at all this yeah, you can't look at it all it's like if you go in there, it's like either you say give me a moment, and you like slow, roll it through it, or you know what the fuck you want yeah, or you have to like hey, can I see what that can says, because I can't read it?

00:06:08.728 --> 00:06:09.653
nope, that's not what I want.

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Give it back.

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And they have to put it like it's weird it was strange, but you know I mean different.

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I've never I mean I've seen drive through liquor stores before.

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Yeah, I've never experienced it like that, though and the limited exposure I had to ohio liquor stores was only drive-through, so apparently that's an ohio thing.

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I had no idea.

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Yeah, if they have traditional like what we're used to, beyond me yeah but it was strange, it was different but we got there and we didn't even have to leave her car.

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So but like when, when?

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When we asked the person like, hey, what ohio beers do you have?

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She had no clue they were very nice people though so nice they were very nice um, didn't have the knowledge, the one was up front and saying I don't know anything about beer, let me go ask.

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I forget her name.

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I'm apologized.

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I'm sure they won't listen to this anyways, but uh, and then she asked her.

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I also didn't really know yeah I had.

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I got lucky and said what's that?

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And I had to like literally guide her to it, and it just happened to be an ohio beer, so it fucking worked out perfectly we're like we'll take it.

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Yeah, let's do it, let's, let's give it a go, and um, yeah, anyways.

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So this episode's got Ohio beer.

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We have another episode that will have Indiana beer.

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Indiana beer, because, well, we drove through both states.

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Surely did.

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Surely did.

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Wow, that just reminds me of that.

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Was it from Airplane?

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Don't call me Shirley.

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I never jest.

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And stop calling me Shirley or whatever the fuck it is.

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Shirley, you jest.

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Anyways, what do you got for us today?

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I have a story.

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Okay, I know I'm going to bend this way.

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No, for a particular reason.

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Okay, wall, I'm just making sure.

00:08:01.528 --> 00:08:03.144
And Bradley's shoulder.

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Hello shoulder.

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Was it the cold shoulder that was?

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not a good one.

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Is that an idiom?

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Is that an idiom?

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I don't know what a stuman is.

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Is everything an idiom?

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Are you an idiom, am I?

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I think so.

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We're going to talk about Sarah Rosetta Wakeman.

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Wakeman Rosetta Wakeman Wakeman.

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She was born in 1843 in Bainbridge, New York.

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Can I ask a question real quick?

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What have I said already that deserves a question?

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Is this a sad story?

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So?

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this one is.

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That means yes, to a degree.

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No, it's a bigger picture story.

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It's a bigger picture story.

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It's a bigger picture story.

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What does that even mean?

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Okay, so it's 1843, right?

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I know it well.

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Yes, she dead okay.

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She died in 1843?

00:08:56.197 --> 00:08:58.639
No, oh, she's already dead in 1843.

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No she was born in 1843, but because it was so long ago, you can assume that she is now dead.

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She almost died 200 years ago, so she's dead right now.

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Oh, my God.

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Cheers to Kate wanting to kill Bradley.

00:09:18.850 --> 00:09:23.890
Yeah, okay, so she was the oldest of nine kids.

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That's a lot of fucking kids.

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Because back then you had a family to work.

00:09:29.220 --> 00:09:32.447
So how old was she in 1843?

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She was born.

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Oh, that's when she was born.

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I'm sorry, she was zero.

00:09:35.614 --> 00:09:40.051
Yeah, she was zero in 1843.

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I'll bust the crickets out again.

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Her family was a farming family.

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They struggled.

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They had debts.

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And you said this is in New York.

00:09:48.424 --> 00:09:49.067
Yeah, okay.

00:09:50.341 --> 00:09:53.149
She worked her tail off even from a young age.

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She was eventually like a domestic servant, and all of this was to help the farm Sure, help her family.

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Right by her late teens, marriage was not in the cards for her.

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Her dad was drowning in debt and there wasn't a lot of opportunity for women at the time, so she was kind of a.

00:10:15.813 --> 00:10:20.811
There was a lot of financial pressure at home, with her family in deep debt.

00:10:21.331 --> 00:10:21.653
Excuse me.

00:10:22.120 --> 00:10:23.504
And the eldest of nine kids.

00:10:23.524 --> 00:10:42.086
She was expected to work, as opposed to marry and leave oh sure, yeah, because they needed her, her help, they needed her yeah, her hard labor, yeah, um, and marriage wouldn't mean essentially abandoning that duty it kind of reminds me of something my son said the other day about getting something.

00:10:42.086 --> 00:10:44.129
I'm'm like, well, you can get a job, and then we can get it.

00:10:44.129 --> 00:10:45.513
He's six.

00:10:45.513 --> 00:10:48.528
So no, he can't get a job, he's six.

00:10:48.528 --> 00:10:52.308
I'm like, yeah, go ahead, buddy Work.

00:10:56.321 --> 00:10:59.049
The Wakemans were also poor tenant farmers.

00:10:59.049 --> 00:11:03.364
Rosetta had very little dowry.

00:11:03.364 --> 00:11:05.110
Her name is Sarah Rosetta, but they call her Rosetta.

00:11:05.520 --> 00:11:06.865
Do you know what their main crop was?

00:11:07.586 --> 00:11:08.910
I don't, I didn't look it up.

00:11:10.261 --> 00:11:11.466
I mean, I don't know what they grow in.

00:11:11.466 --> 00:11:16.208
New York area, yeah, Because obviously, like well, you're familiar with corn.

00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:20.250
Having been a corn husker for most of my life.

00:11:20.581 --> 00:11:24.061
Well, I mean, I think your bassinet was made out of corn life.

00:11:24.061 --> 00:11:27.947
Well, I mean, I think your bassinet was made out of corn now.

00:11:28.167 --> 00:11:30.951
Rosetta was a really strong-minded woman.

00:11:30.951 --> 00:11:37.373
She was kind of frustrated with how limited roles women had back then and she really wanted more.

00:11:37.373 --> 00:11:44.873
She wanted money, she wanted freedom and she wanted a lot less family drama, which apparently there was some between her parents.

00:11:45.013 --> 00:11:54.985
Okay, I mean with that kind of upbringing, with needing the help like she did, I can see why there'd be tension, even just from that alone yeah, let alone, other factors, I'm sure.

00:11:54.985 --> 00:11:55.749
Yeah, okay.

00:11:56.341 --> 00:11:58.469
In August 1862.

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So she would have been 19.

00:12:00.485 --> 00:12:00.967
19.

00:12:00.967 --> 00:12:02.663
She made a bold move.

00:12:03.004 --> 00:12:04.990
Oh, she got a stone, rosetta Stone.

00:12:05.500 --> 00:12:07.046
She slipped on a pair of trousers.

00:12:07.647 --> 00:12:08.490
She slipped on.

00:12:08.490 --> 00:12:10.206
Oh, she actually put them on.

00:12:10.206 --> 00:12:11.947
I'm like, is she okay?

00:12:16.081 --> 00:12:16.663
That's something.

00:12:16.663 --> 00:12:19.640
I would have said what do you mean?

00:12:19.640 --> 00:12:21.082
She slipped on trousers.

00:12:21.082 --> 00:12:22.466
Is she okay?

00:12:22.466 --> 00:12:28.836
Is she okay Okay?

00:12:29.961 --> 00:12:32.345
I mean you can understand why I was confused there.

00:12:32.345 --> 00:12:39.884
Sorry, oh dear, oh dear, I can't stop it.

00:12:39.884 --> 00:12:41.869
It's so funny, Beer me.

00:12:41.869 --> 00:12:46.703
Oh my God, my mind did not go.

00:12:46.703 --> 00:12:49.490
Does she put on clothes at all?

00:12:49.490 --> 00:12:53.429
I don't know how I did that, but that was pretty great.

00:12:53.429 --> 00:12:56.164
My cheeks hurt.

00:12:58.380 --> 00:12:59.725
I'm not even going to attempt to drink them.

00:12:59.725 --> 00:13:02.167
Okay, she put on a pair of pants.

00:13:02.167 --> 00:13:03.023
Okay, thank you.

00:13:04.620 --> 00:13:06.005
She slipped on some trousers.

00:13:06.005 --> 00:13:08.582
Oh no, Did Dad leave them in the floor?

00:13:10.006 --> 00:13:11.650
Shit, oh, my God.

00:13:11.650 --> 00:13:12.732
It stops, okay.

00:13:12.732 --> 00:13:13.903
She also cut her hair.

00:13:13.903 --> 00:13:15.830
Oh, like a boy, uh-huh.

00:13:15.830 --> 00:13:23.043
And she picked a new name, lyons Wakeman L-Y-O-N-S, because I know you got a joke in there somewhere.

00:13:23.264 --> 00:13:25.168
Is there any other way to spell lions?

00:13:25.168 --> 00:13:26.312
I mean seriously.

00:13:28.100 --> 00:13:30.808
So, just like that, she walked out of her old life.

00:13:31.371 --> 00:13:32.034
And into her new.

00:13:32.250 --> 00:13:34.839
And into a new one as a working man.

00:13:35.451 --> 00:13:36.315
But she wasn't a man.

00:13:37.250 --> 00:13:42.861
So her first stop was Chenango Canal, which is in central New York.

00:13:42.861 --> 00:13:43.783
It's a canal.

00:13:43.783 --> 00:13:50.321
She landed a job hauling coal onto barges.

00:13:50.321 --> 00:13:53.736
Oh, okay, sure, not glamorous, but it paid.

00:13:53.736 --> 00:13:59.197
Better than her laundry services, I'm sure, yep, and it than her laundry services, I'm sure Yep and it offered her some independence.

00:13:59.437 --> 00:14:01.716
Well, right, I mean.

00:14:01.716 --> 00:14:03.802
So did she not tell her parents or her family?

00:14:03.842 --> 00:14:04.365
She just up and left.

00:14:04.365 --> 00:14:04.765
She did.

00:14:05.831 --> 00:14:13.461
Her family did know that she, yeah, okay, yep, perfectly know, so that was kind of part of the plan to let them know, hey, I'm going to go try and make more money.

00:14:13.461 --> 00:14:13.782
Yeah.

00:14:13.782 --> 00:14:18.176
Them know, hey, I'm gonna go try and make more money.

00:14:18.196 --> 00:14:20.344
Yeah, okay, yeah, I'm not sure if they knew that, what the details were.

00:14:20.344 --> 00:14:21.870
Yeah, I'm not sure if they knew that she pretended to be a man.

00:14:21.870 --> 00:14:28.163
Yeah, gotcha um, they probably did eventually, but I'm not remembering offhand, that's all right.

00:14:28.163 --> 00:14:41.102
So she was working under the name lions wakeman, but also occasionally she'd switch it over to edwin wakeman and I'm not sure why one or the other, but it was mostly lions how did she come up with lions?

00:14:41.364 --> 00:14:42.005
I don't know.

00:14:42.125 --> 00:14:47.780
That's interesting I mean, that's really interesting quite a unique, I don't know maybe it's her, her dad's middle name.

00:14:48.302 --> 00:14:49.530
I mean, and it very well could be.

00:14:49.530 --> 00:14:51.974
It's hard to say, but that's just.

00:14:51.974 --> 00:14:52.375
I don know.

00:14:52.375 --> 00:14:53.796
I find that rather unique.

00:14:53.836 --> 00:15:03.073
I guess is all so but she could prove that she could do the hard physical labor just as well as any guy around her.

00:15:03.073 --> 00:15:05.655
Sure, um, and she wasn't shy about it.

00:15:05.655 --> 00:15:13.172
She wrote a lot of letters back home and they have all most of them, if not all have survived which is why we know the story.

00:15:13.172 --> 00:15:14.033
Oh, very cool.

00:15:14.033 --> 00:15:22.664
She wrote to her parents quote I'm as independent as a hog on ice, and if they don't let me alone, they will be sorry for it.

00:15:26.311 --> 00:15:28.653
How independent is a hog on ice.

00:15:28.653 --> 00:15:37.539
So isn't it kind of sad in the world we live in that you can't go back through letters and develop a story from someone's life?

00:15:37.539 --> 00:15:41.783
I got to go to your Instagram posts, Fucking stupid.

00:15:42.082 --> 00:15:43.443
Yeah, we don't write letters anymore.

00:15:43.745 --> 00:15:44.325
It's really sad.

00:15:44.325 --> 00:15:49.994
I still remember I've mentioned him to you before our family friend out in California.

00:15:49.994 --> 00:15:55.918
When I was a little kid I used to actually write him letters back and forth because, well, I like to do that.

00:15:55.918 --> 00:15:59.677
I haven't written a letter to somebody, wow.

00:16:00.658 --> 00:16:01.000
Cherry.

00:16:02.101 --> 00:16:04.876
Cherry In a long fucking time.

00:16:04.876 --> 00:16:06.899
So it's kind of sad.

00:16:06.899 --> 00:16:07.724
I feel like it's a loss.

00:16:07.724 --> 00:16:13.157
I'm sure I know people still do it, obviously, Just in my world not so much.

00:16:13.157 --> 00:16:14.440
It's just kind of sad.

00:16:15.081 --> 00:16:15.322
Yeah.

00:16:15.370 --> 00:16:19.216
Because you can't develop stories like and what was this person doing?

00:16:19.476 --> 00:16:43.600
yeah but anyways yeah, now you have to go back through facebook and instagram and twitter x and, yeah, all the social medias which don't get me started on that text messages yeah yeah, yeah, but see, that's why I'm not on any of that we do it for our podcast because, well, we like to try and grow our podcast.

00:16:43.620 --> 00:16:44.342
That's it.

00:16:44.342 --> 00:16:53.934
And individually, you and I both don't social media very much so I'm on youtube and pinterest yeah, it's just because you watch videos on youtube.

00:16:53.955 --> 00:16:56.158
Yeah, and I'm not even like active doing stuff.

00:16:56.178 --> 00:17:01.909
Right, you're just watching videos and you're crafting things you like and whatever but, you know.

00:17:01.909 --> 00:17:03.774
So that's a little different to me.

00:17:03.774 --> 00:17:07.747
Not like posting, why would you do that?

00:17:07.747 --> 00:17:09.191
Like when someone did something?

00:17:09.191 --> 00:17:10.372
So you have to be so negative?

00:17:10.372 --> 00:17:13.497
Be fucking positive, yeah, yeah, support people.

00:17:13.497 --> 00:17:20.530
That's all I'm saying yes, so sorry that was my social media rant when.

00:17:20.530 --> 00:17:34.779
So she's a hog on ice, apparently independent I think that might be the name of the episode hog on ice I already highlighted it did you really look at you go being proactive Now?

00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:35.701
we're going to use something else.

00:17:35.701 --> 00:17:36.442
Quote from the woman.

00:17:37.104 --> 00:17:37.344
Okay.

00:17:37.625 --> 00:17:42.500
Okay, she ended up enlisting in the Union Army of the Civil War.

00:17:42.500 --> 00:17:47.099
Oh shit, as Lion's Wakeman, okay Boom.

00:17:48.231 --> 00:17:49.678
She's going to fuck some shit up.

00:17:50.632 --> 00:17:54.396
No longer hauling corn, I'm just going to wear my Union blues.

00:17:54.939 --> 00:18:00.990
Union Jack hauling corn.

00:18:01.010 --> 00:18:03.417
I'm just gonna wear my union blues union jack and I'm gonna own, own oh have get receive my own cash.

00:18:03.438 --> 00:18:09.775
That took a long time to get there yeah, I didn't know which word I wanted to use, so I just used them.

00:18:09.775 --> 00:18:13.560
Oh, that's great slipped on trousers.

00:18:13.560 --> 00:18:16.125
That still might be the title too.

00:18:18.730 --> 00:18:28.494
So while working in the canal she ran into some army recruiters Okay, and With her cart or what she ran into them with her cart.

00:18:28.494 --> 00:18:29.459
Oh for fuck's sake.

00:18:31.270 --> 00:18:33.700
Hey, you started the episode with dad jokes.

00:18:33.700 --> 00:18:35.519
That's not on me.

00:18:35.650 --> 00:18:37.650
No, the beer started with dad jokes.

00:18:37.789 --> 00:18:38.773
You did not have to read.

00:18:39.655 --> 00:18:39.957
Okay.

00:18:40.218 --> 00:18:40.819
Okay, sorry.

00:18:41.009 --> 00:18:48.442
The 153rd New York Infantry was handing out $152 enlistment bounties.

00:18:49.044 --> 00:18:51.454
Bounties, so like if you enlisted, you got a.

00:18:51.997 --> 00:18:54.182
You got this money you got $152.

00:18:54.410 --> 00:18:58.480
And in 1862, that's quite a chunk of change.

00:18:58.741 --> 00:19:00.633
Yes, do you know how much it would be today?

00:19:01.955 --> 00:19:02.678
$3,000?

00:19:02.678 --> 00:19:02.678
.

00:19:02.758 --> 00:19:03.097
Yes.

00:19:03.538 --> 00:19:03.900
Seriously.

00:19:04.161 --> 00:19:04.821
Good job?

00:19:04.821 --> 00:19:07.430
No fucking way, yeah, $3,112.

00:19:07.970 --> 00:19:09.250
I'll take it High five.

00:19:09.250 --> 00:19:11.491
Cross the room, high five, okay, fuck yeah, yes.

00:19:11.833 --> 00:19:19.137
So you could say that's going to be amazing for a poor working family.

00:19:19.238 --> 00:19:20.238
Here's $3,000.

00:19:20.238 --> 00:19:25.602
That's kind of I don't want to say life changing per se but it could be for some people, for some people back then.

00:19:25.602 --> 00:19:27.363
That was fucking huge, Wow Okay.

00:19:27.843 --> 00:19:33.826
And then, beyond that original enlistment bounty, the regular pay was $13 a month.

00:19:34.508 --> 00:19:34.788
Right.

00:19:37.471 --> 00:19:38.193
How much is that?

00:19:38.273 --> 00:19:41.383
in today's $3.50.

00:19:41.383 --> 00:19:44.500
$2.66.

00:19:44.500 --> 00:19:44.842
Overshot it.

00:19:46.329 --> 00:19:47.172
I didn't win the challenge on.

00:19:47.172 --> 00:19:53.202
Price is Right but that is great money for domestic workers, for hardworking farm families.

00:19:53.222 --> 00:19:53.963
No, that's huge.

00:19:55.291 --> 00:19:58.640
It was basically survival.

00:19:58.840 --> 00:19:59.561
They had nine kids.

00:19:59.561 --> 00:20:00.654
They should have enlisted all of them.

00:20:01.829 --> 00:20:02.994
Well, to be fair.

00:20:03.537 --> 00:20:03.979
I'm kidding.

00:20:04.611 --> 00:20:05.836
She was only 19.

00:20:06.217 --> 00:20:07.509
I know, and you said she was the oldest.

00:20:07.509 --> 00:20:13.780
So at this point, do you have any idea how many more of their siblings were in existence or no?

00:20:14.041 --> 00:20:15.444
No, no, that's okay.

00:20:15.444 --> 00:20:18.479
Well, she was, I would assume, all nine.

00:20:18.880 --> 00:20:27.222
but as she was 19 probably oldest, she could not enlist yet why, is not.

00:20:27.383 --> 00:20:30.152
Is she not old enough, or do they have to be 18?

00:20:30.152 --> 00:20:30.772
Way back then?

00:20:31.554 --> 00:20:39.385
I assume you had to be 18, but even back then people enlisted at 16 and 17 for World War II let alone the Civil War.

00:20:39.809 --> 00:20:42.400
She lied, saying that she was 21.

00:20:42.990 --> 00:20:49.241
Oh then maybe I guess, I don't know, I guess I never knew an age limit back for the Civil War.

00:20:50.692 --> 00:20:51.856
Do we dare look it up?

00:20:52.150 --> 00:20:53.674
I mean, I feel like you should.

00:20:53.694 --> 00:20:55.559
Yes, yes, there, look it up.

00:20:55.559 --> 00:20:57.184
I mean I feel like you should.

00:20:57.184 --> 00:20:59.333
Is there, yes, yes?

00:20:59.333 --> 00:21:03.082
Is there an age limit in the Civil War?

00:21:03.082 --> 00:21:05.578
Let's do it.

00:21:06.250 --> 00:21:07.095
Let's do it.

00:21:07.095 --> 00:21:08.973
Sorry, I dipped off a camera.

00:21:08.973 --> 00:21:11.401
There we're back.

00:21:11.710 --> 00:21:17.122
Is there an age limit to rent a car For jury duty in Wisconsin For jury duty to join the military on American Idol To donate blood for Pope?

00:21:17.122 --> 00:21:18.874
Oh my God, is there an age limit to rent a car For jury duty in Wisconsin For jury duty to join the military on American Idol to donate blood For Pope?

00:21:18.874 --> 00:21:20.363
Oh my God, is there an age limit for Pope?

00:21:21.805 --> 00:21:22.246
For Pope.

00:21:22.246 --> 00:21:24.296
Does the Pope shit in the woods?

00:21:24.296 --> 00:21:27.393
Answer is yes, hard fucking yes.

00:21:28.836 --> 00:21:30.141
Okay, 18.

00:21:31.711 --> 00:21:32.454
For a civil war?

00:21:32.454 --> 00:21:34.153
Yeah, so why would she say that?

00:21:34.212 --> 00:21:36.799
I wonder why she was like I'm 21.

00:21:37.930 --> 00:21:39.292
That's interesting.

00:21:39.292 --> 00:21:43.942
It almost makes me ask the question did it benefit her station within the army?

00:21:43.942 --> 00:21:50.663
I have no idea, but that's kind of odd that she would lie to be 21 when you only had to be 18, and she was 19 at this point.

00:21:50.910 --> 00:22:00.298
But at the same time, during their physical exam, they're like you've got hands and arms and legs, You're good to be our warrior.

00:22:01.250 --> 00:22:02.875
Good thing they didn't have to check other parts.

00:22:04.680 --> 00:22:04.921
Nope.

00:22:05.569 --> 00:22:06.694
Thank goodness for that.

00:22:06.816 --> 00:22:09.278
Nope, she passed as a man, get this.

00:22:09.278 --> 00:22:11.116
She was only five foot tall.

00:22:12.511 --> 00:22:13.275
Oh, just like straight.

00:22:13.275 --> 00:22:14.258
Five foot, five foot.

00:22:14.258 --> 00:22:16.778
Holy fuck, teeny tiny.

00:22:16.778 --> 00:22:29.316
That is a short mother fucking person fair-skinned, blue-eyed wow I I, that throws me off just because I am six three, so I am decently tall.

00:22:29.316 --> 00:22:31.361
Yeah, I always wanted to be six five.

00:22:31.361 --> 00:22:35.857
Came up two inches short but, um, wow, five foot.

00:22:35.897 --> 00:22:44.853
That's crazy, that is super short so apparently, all you have to do is put on some pants and you're a man or you slip on them whatever trousers.

00:22:44.853 --> 00:22:54.756
Yeah, am I right so private lions wakeman, now officially a soldier of the 153rd new york state volunteers company h.

00:22:54.756 --> 00:22:58.042
A three-year term, no turning back.

00:22:58.711 --> 00:22:59.736
No, turning back.

00:22:59.990 --> 00:23:04.421
By October she was shipping out with the regiment, heading south to Washington DC.

00:23:04.421 --> 00:23:11.459
Okay, and it was the first time she traveled so far from home and probably like the first time, she had to sleep next to like 40 other farting men.

00:23:15.565 --> 00:23:23.192

Slipped on a Pair of Trousers: Sarah Rosetta Wakeman

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