Episode 13: Louisa May Alcott and the Georgetown Union Hospital after the Battle of Fredericksburg
Mar 20, 2024
William Coghlan
Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women in 1868, decided to become a Nurse in late 1862 and was assigned to the Union Hospital, a converted Hotel, which was in the Georgetown Neighborhood of Washington D.C. "Nurse Periwinkle," as she called herself, arrived at the "Hurly-burly House," the nickname of the Union Hospital, just three days before 40 wagons carrying wounded men from the Battle of Fredericksburg, 11-15 December 1862, arrived to receive medical treatment, which included at least one wounded Confederate Soldier.
Nurse Alcott proceeded to wash the wounded men, help them write letters back home, and fed them. She was eventually assigned the night shift, and recalled tending to one wounded Soldier from New Jersey as he relived the horrors of the Battle of Fredericksburg in his dreams.
Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women in 1868, decided to become a Nurse in late 1862 and was assigned to the Union Hospital, a converted Hotel, which was in the Georgetown Neighborhood of Washington D.C. "Nurse Periwinkle," as she called herself, arrived at the "Hurly-burly House," the nickname of the Union Hospital, just three days before 40 wagons carrying wounded men from the Battle of Fredericksburg, 11-15 December 1862, arrived to receive medical treatment, which included at least one wounded Confederate Soldier.
Nurse Alcott proceeded to wash the wounded men, help them write letters back home, and fed them. She was eventually assigned the night shift, and recalled tending to one wounded Soldier from New Jersey as he relived the horrors of the Battle of Fredericksburg in his dreams.
hello. My name is bill Conklin. And welcome to first person civil war podcast, which retails the stories of the soldiers officers. And in this episode, nurses, after a battle in the civil war, For women's history month, episode 13, we'll highlight the contributions of nurses in Washington, DC. And is entitled Louisa may Alcott's and the Georgetown union hospital. After the battle of Fredericksburg. And relies on her book, hospital sketches. Published in 1863. Before I begin. I have a note to the listener. This episode contains descriptions of the wounded that may be viewed as graphic in nature. Discretion is advised. Louisa may Alcott though, born in Pennsylvania. Lived in Boston, Massachusetts for most of her life. As a child Alcott studied under the likes of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. And discovered she had a knack for writing. As she published short works and wrote for the Atlantic monthly. Now known as the Atlantic. One story she published in October 18, 60 is entitled a modern Cinderella. Or the little old shoe. Louisa may Alcott's family were abolitionists. And active in the underground railroad while in Boston. Which provided a stop for men and women who were traveling up to Canada. Placing themselves out of reach of slaveholders and therefore became free. By 1862, the second year of the war. Louisa may Alcott wanted a change in her life and asked friends and family for advice. I want something to do. This remark being addressed to the world in general. No one in particular felt in their duty to reply. So I repeated it to the smaller world about me. Receiving the following suggestions. And settled the matter by answering my own inquiry. As people are apt to do when very much in earnest. Write a book, quote, the author of my being. Don't know enough, sir. First live then. Right? Try teaching again, suggested my mother. No. Thank you. Ma'am 10 years of that is enough. Take a husband like Darby. And fulfill your mission said sister, Joan. Turn actress and immortalize. Your name said sister Vashti. I won't. Go nurse. The soldiers said my young brother, Tom panting for the tender field. I will. Louisa may Alcott interviewed for a nursing position and was approved in early December, 1862. Now nurse Alcott waited for a week in Boston for an assignment, hoping for a position in the armory hospital in Washington, DC. But instead her orders sent her to the Hurly burly house, which was a nickname for the union hospital. She then traveled by boat and train from Boston down to Washington, DC. At the beginning of the civil war. The need for hospitals in Washington, DC. Increased greatly. And the government began converting hotels into hospitals to accommodate the wounded. That arrived from the battlefields. The union hotel located in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC. Received such an order in 1861. And by the time nurse Alcott arrived just before the battle of Fredericksburg. Which was 11 through 15, December, 1862. Signs of its hasty conversion into a hospital where still evident. Nurse Alcott tended to the wounded in a room with the sign. Ballroom still over the door. Which was the wing of the union hospital that cared for their worst cases. Of the 80 total beds at the union hospital. The ballroom housed 40. The wounded that arrived from the battle of Fredericksburg proved to be the first men that received care. After her arrival at the union hospital. Nurse Alcott seemed to be anxious after they received dreadful reports following the union defeat. They've come they've come. Hurry up. Ladies. You're wanted. Who have come the rebels. This sudden summons in the gray Dawn was somewhat startling to a three days nurse like myself. And as the thundering knock came at our door. I sprang up in my bed prepared. To gird my woman's form and on the ramparts die. The Confederate army was not at the gates of Washington DC. But the concern was valid. The union army of the Potomac had suffered a great defeat at the battle of Fredericksburg. The union army fought and occupied the town of Fredericksburg, Virginia on 11 and 12, December on 13, December major general Ambrose Burnside. The union commander launched an assault upon the Confederate defenses west of the town. Where the Confederate army formed, received new names that summed up the heavy amount of fighting. Prospect hill, for example. Became thereafter known. As the slaughter pen. 40 ambulances in total arrived at the union hospital that morning. And nurse Alcott prepared for work in her. her. room. The first thing I met was a regiment of the vitalist odors that ever assaulted the human nose and took it by storm. Cologne with it's seven and 70 evil savers was a Posey bed to it. And the worst of this affliction was everyone had assured me that it was a chronic weakness of all hospitals. And I must bear it. I did armed with lavender water. I was soon after known among my patients. As the nurse with the bottle. While receiving these wounded men, the hospital became a hive of activity. And nurse Alcott made her way to the ballroom. Having been run over by three excited surgeons. Bumped against by migratory Cole Haans or buckets. Water pails and small boys. Nearly scalded by an avalanche of newly filled teapots. And hopelessly and tangled in a knot of colored sisters coming to. Wash. I progressed by slow stages upstairs and down till the main hall was reached and I paused to take a breath and survey. There they were our brave boys. As the papers, justly, call them. For cowards could hardly have been so riddled with shot and shell. So torn and shattered. Nor have been born suffering for which we have no name with an uncomplaining fortitude. Which made one glad to cherish each as a brother. By the time the wounded men from Fredericksburg arrived at the Georgetown union hospital. They had already received some form of medical treatment. Not all that arrived would receive treatment. However, In the came someone's stretchers, some in men's arms, some feebly staggering along the prompt or rude crutches and one lay stark and still with covered face. As a comrade gave his name to be recorded. Before they carried him away. To the dead house. All was hurry and confusion. The hall was full of these wrecks of humanity. For the most exhausted could not reach a bed till duly ticketed and registered. The walls were aligned with rows of such as could sit the floor covered with the more disabled. The steps and doorways filled with the helpers and lookers on. And in the midst of it, all the matrons motherly face brought more comfort to many, a poor soul. Then the cordial drafts. She administered. Nurse Alcott took in the sight of so many injured men before resolving herself to caring for them. The site of several stretchers each with its legless, armless or desperately wounded occupant entering my ward. Admonished me that I was there to work. Not to wonder or weep. So I corked up my feelings and return to the path of duty, which was rather a hard road to travel just then. With the ballroom of the Hurly burly house now, full nurse Perry Winkle. The name Louisa may Alcott's took on while at the hospital. Would continue to care for them. She began cleaning the men as the other nurses provided medical care. I chanced to light on a weathered old Irishman. Wounded in the head. Which caused that portion of his frame. To be tastefully laid out like a garden. The bandages being the walks and his hair, the shrubbery. He was so overpowered by the honor of having a lady wash him. As he expressed it. That he did nothing, but roll up his eyes and bless me. In an irresistible style. Which was too much from my sense of the ludicrous. So we laughed together. And when I knelt to take off his shoes, He flopped also. Or felt embarrassed. And wouldn't hear of my touching them dirty craters. And she continues. Some of them took the performance like sleepy children. Leaning, they're tired heads against me as I worked. Others looked, grimly, scandalized, and several of the roughest colored, like bashful girls. Nurse Alcott spoke with the men that she cared for. Some about trinkets. They war. Or how a girl would react to an honorable scar. When a wounded man finally got back home. The next scrubby was a nice looking lad. He lay on a bed with one leg gone. And his right arm, so shattered. That it must evidently follow. Yeah, the little Sergeant was as Merry as if his afflictions were not worth lamenting over. And when a drop or two of salt water. Meaning tears. Mingled with my suds at the site of this strong young boy. So Martin maimed. The boy looked up with a brave smile. Though there was a little quiver in the lips, as he said, Now don't you fret yourself about me, miss I'm first rate here. For it's nuts to lie still on this bed after knocking about in those confounded ambulances. Nurse Alcott discovered that this man had been in six battles prior to Fredericksburg without a wound. And at quite the morbid, but still humorous outlook on his life. But it's done the business pretty thoroughly for me, I should say. Lord what a scramble there will be for arms and legs. When we all boys come out to our graves on the judgment day. I wonder if we should get our own again, if we do, my leg will have to tramp from Fredericksburg. My arm from here. I suppose. And meet my body. Wherever it may be Nurse Alcott does not provide any names or regiments of the men that were in her ward. But there was at least one Confederate soldier. That was brought in with the 40 wagons. And one wounded union soldier could not stand to see him in the hospital. That red headed devil over yonder. Is a Reb. Damn him. You'll agree to that. I'll bet. He's got shit of a foot. Meaning he's missing his foot. Or he'd cut like the rest of the lot. Don't you wash him. Nor feed him. But just to let him holler till he's tired. It's a blasted shame to fetch them fellers in here. Alongside of us. And so I'll tell the chap that bosses, this concern cuss me. If I don't. Louisa may Alcott does admit that she should have admonished the man for saying such things. But she didn't. Given that she was an ardent abolitionist. She even admits that she reluctantly went over to the wounded Confederate to wash him as well. And she. Privately resolved to put soap in his eyes. Rob has knows the wrong way. And excoriate his cuticle generally. Or around the fingernails. If I had the washing of him. I approached with as Christian and expression as my principal would allow. Asked the question, shall I try to make you comfortable, sir? All I got for my pains was a gruff. No. I'll do it myself. Here's your Southern chivalry with a witness. Thought I dumping the basin down before him. And she continues. One redeeming trait. He certainly did possess. And the floor is speedily testified. For his appellations were so vigorously performed. That has bed soon stood like an isolated island. In a sea of soap suds. If cleanliness is a near neighbor to godliness. Then was the big rebel, the godliest man in my ward that day. For the rest of the day, nurse Alcott helped the wounded men eat and served as scribe for letters, home to friends. Family and love interests. Given the amount of men that arrived at the hospital. And the immediate need to clean and feed them. Any further operations, specifically amputations. Would not be scheduled until the next day in the hospital. Louisa may Alcott was eventually assigned as a night shift nurse. Caring for the wounded men at night, differed greatly from the daytime. As she recalled of one young soldier. My headquarters were beside the bed of a New Jersey boy. Crazed by the horrors of that dreadful Saturday. A slight wound in his knee, propped him there, but his mind had suffered more than its body. Some string of that delicate machine. Was overstrained. And for days he had been reliving in imagination, the scenes, he could not forget. Till his distress broke out. And incoherent ravings pitiful to here. As I sat by him endeavoring to soothe his poor distracted brain by the constant touch of wet hands over his hot forehead. He lay cheering his comrades on hurrying them back. Then counting them as they fell around him. Often clutching my arm to drag me from the vicinity of a bursting shell. Or covering up his head. To screen himself from a shower of shot. His face brilliant with fever. His eyes restless. His head never, still. Every muscle strained and rigid. While an incessant stream of defiant shouts whispered warnings and broken laments poured from his lips with that forceful bewilderment, which makes such wanderings so hard to over here. Nurse Alcott's description of this sleeping soldier from New Jersey. As he relived the battle of Fredericksburg in his sleep can be defined today. As post traumatic stress disorder. This term was not used during the civil war. But a soldier could be diagnosed with nostalgia. Which included sleep problems following combat. Or he could have soldiers, heart. With symptoms such as rapid pulse. And anxiety. Nurse Alcott did not use any specific term in her book to describe this soldier. But the Georgetown union hospital endeavored to take care of these wounded men and their psychological effects. That stayed with them after the battles of the civil war. Nurse Louisa may Alcott worked at the Georgetown union hospital for a relatively short period of time. Six weeks in total. While at the hospital, nurse Perry Winkle contracted typhoid fever, and could no longer perform her duties as a nurse and returned to Boston in early 1863. After recovering Louisa may Alcott published her experiences at the union hospital. In the Commonwealth. Uh, newspaper located in Boston. And in her book, hospital sketches. Both in 1863. Following the civil war. Louisa may Alcott became an accomplished author. And published her most well-known book. Little women. In 1868. Thank you for listening to the 13th episode. The link to Louisa may Alcott's book is now available on the podcast website. First person, civil war, podcast.com. On Instagram, X, Facebook, and LinkedIn this week. You will find pictures of Louisa may Alcott in 1862. Which was the year of the battle of Fredericksburg. And the union hospital. Converted back into the union hotel. Following the civil. A war. Please like comment and follow the podcast on your app of choice and leave a review. If you have liked the content that first person, civil war podcast provides. Please consider supporting the podcast. There is a link entitled support podcast at the top of each webpage. Any contribution is greatly appreciated. Lieutenant Robert M. Franklin. Adjutant of the Texas sailors, artillerymen cavalry men and volunteers aboard the CS by U city. Provides next week's first person account at the battle of Galveston. My name is bill Coughlin. And thank you for listening to first person civil war podcast.
