Civil War Hospitals

[Gene C]

For an inside look at what it was like to be a nurse at a hospital during the Civil War you might find this book interesting, "Echoes From Hospital and White House.

https://archive.org/details/echoesfromhospit00boyd

I rarely write long posts, but this is an amazing story and the more I read, the more I appreciate this book, this woman, and others like her.

Nurse Pomeroy also served at the White House to Mary and Tad following the death of Willie Lincoln, and following Mary's carriage accident. (Chapter 3)
I've read about one third of the book so far. Very interesting. The book has a strong underlying theme of faith in God, which I found encouraging. It is well worth your time to read or at the least, to glance through.

This from chapter 4...
She writes shortly
after the battle of Winchester :
" I can assure you
we are seeing trouble sometimes. Two hundred and fifty came to us last week, and last
night, just at dark, we had sixty poor, wounded,
discouraged soldiers, so worn out that as they
came up the stairs it seemed as though they
would faint away. I cannot describe my feelings
when told to arrange my beds for more
wounded men, and let those who are getting
better sleep on the floor, if there was no
other place for them."After they were conducted to the bath room
and washed, and had clean clothes, I took them
by the hand and told them they had come to a
good place, and I would do all for them I could.
You never saw such gratitude. They had not
heard a kind, womanly word since they left home ;
and then the tears ! O, Mrs. F., were you
here, your heart would ache, for seeing and
assisting to dress the wounds, is very different
from hearing about it a long way off. My
hands and head and heart are full ; for I have
never seen anything like this before. . . ."

She writes, later on :
" It is just nine months
to-day since I set foot into this place of suffering,
and I have no desire to return home
while I can make myself use full I do not
know any one with whom I would exchange
situations ; for in spite of the rudeness of his
surroundings, there is a charm that invests
the poor soldier boy. When once you have
enlisted his affection, he makes a confident
of you, and before you are aware of it, you
are mother, nurse and friend. Then he will
listen to reproof and instruction.
"I have a little Vermont fellow for an attendant,
for whom I feel responsible to God.
He is an orphan boy, and loves me dearly. He
says I am the only mother he ever knew.
He shares with me all my presents, and when,
the other day, I gave him a piece of pie, he
did not speak for the tears that choked him.
He says I am too good to him. He had been
cruelly treated before coming here, and is all
the more susceptible to kindly influences now.
God grant me help to reach his inner feelings,
so as to instruct him in becoming a good
Christian boy."