Echoes From Hospital and White House

[Gene C]

By Anna Boyden, subtitled A Record of Mrs. Rebecca R. Pomroy' Experience in Wartimes. Copyright 1884, shortly after Mrs. Pomroy's death. About 240 pages.

There is some question regarding the correct spelling of her last name, Pomroy or Pomeroy. All through this book it is Pomroy.

Mrs. Pomroy served as a nurse during the Civil War in hospitals around Washington D.C. Following the death of Willie Lincoln she attends to Tad and Mary Lincoln and becomes quite close to the family. She attends to Mary Lincoln following her carriage accident, and is a frequent guest at the White House. Most of the book deals with her nursing wounded and sick soldiers and hospital conditions.
Many of the soldiers under her care refer to her as "mother".

A nurse's life could sometimes be difficult....
" At one time, fifteen men were brought in
whose left legs required amputation. Morning
and evening, for the space of three months,
she held the shattered stumps while the surgeon
dressed and bandaged them.
One peculiarly trying case was that of Skennel,
of Maine. He was brought' in from the
battle-field with an ugly wound in the leg,
resulting from having his horse shot under him.
He had complained for several hours of a
crawling and biting sensation in his wound,
which gave him so much uneasiness and pain
that he could get no rest. The young surgeon
who attended him, anticipating an evening
of gayety in Washington, and anxious to leave
for the night, declared there was no help for
it, and that he would do nothing more for
him, leaving him in care of his nurse.
The poor fellow's limb was confined firmly
in a wooden box, where he had no means of
moving it. The biting and crawling feeling
still continued, and the nurse filled with sympathy
for his distress, determined, wath the
help of her assistant, to unstrap the limb and
examine the wound. As she did so, a sickening
sight was brought to view; for it was
literally alive with vermin which had bred
there, through some insect germ in the cotton,
it was supposed.
With her attendant's aid Mrs. Pomroy
washed and dressed the wound and put it
back into place, as she had seen the surgeon
do. This accomplished, the poor soldier's eyes
shone with relief and gratitude, then closed
in peaceful slumber for the remainder of the
night, while his weary nurse rested also, with
the consciousness of another day's work completed"

The book also has a strong message of faith in God and prayer, without being "preachy". p189
"** Friends at the North, pray for us ; for when
the next battle comes it will be a hard one;
and we have our work to do. God grant that
we may have strength equal to our day; that
we may never flinch from duty, but prove ourselves
true women —true to ourselves, our
country, and our God.
Mrs. Pomroy had a strong and sincere faith which she shared with many under her care, including President Lincoln.

I can highly recommend this book. Easy to read, the subject matter is often overlooked. It's a powerful story in more than one way.
I read this copy on internet archives.
https://archive.org/stream/echoesfromhos...7/mode/2up
Reprints are available through various retail and internet book dealers.