FEMALE SPIES
EDITH CAVELL was a nurse from England who was working in Belgium during WWI. While not a spy, she secretly helped British, French, and Belgian soldiers to escape from behind the German lines. She housed as many as 35 refugees at once in the nursing school where she was the administrator. By 1915 she had helped more than 100 British and an additional 100 French and Belgian soldiers. But the Germans grew suspicious and arrested her in August. Her trial lasted only two days and, in spite of appeals from both the American and Spanish ambassadors for clemency, resulted in a death sentence. On the morning of October 12th, 1915, Edith Cavell was executed by a German firing squad and buried nearby. Eventually her body was exhumed and returned to her native soil in Great Britain for reburial - you will find these words on her statue in St Martin’s Park - "'Humanity, Fortitude, Devotion, Sacrifice".
QUIZ: Who is often called the “female Paul Revere”?
ANSWER: On April 26, 1777, sixteen year old SYBIL LUDINGTON rode 40 miles through the night on horseback to gather soldiers to protect Danbury. The 400 troops that assembled successfully thwarted the British.
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