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== Louisa May Alcott, Hospital Sketches, 1862-1863 ==

In Louisa May Alcott's description of being a Union nurse, it is apparent that women are new to the field of nursing, and even then, their definition of nursing is not what it is today. Alcott writes, "I find real pleasure in comforting, tending, and cheering these poor souls who seem to love me, to feel my sympathy though unspoken, and acknowledge my hearty good-will, in spite of the ignorance, awkwardness, and bashfulness which I cannot help showing in so new and trying a situation." Alcott's main role was to keep up the spirits of the men, not doing any actual medical aide. Furthermore, she describeds fulfilling these duties with awkwardness and bashfulness. This is likely because ladies were supposed to be in the home, and if they are out of the home they are certainly not supposed to be dealing with men they are not married to. --Clare O



== Mary Livermore, [Northern women on farm during war], 1890 -- Woloch and Major Problems readings. ==


== Louticia Jackson’s letter in 1863 ==


== Eva Jones to Mary Jones, her mother-in-law, 1865 ==


== Accounts of former slaves, 1865-1937 ==


== VA woman, recorded by abolitionist Laura Haviland in 1866 ==


== Harriet Tubman, from her white female biographer, Sarah Bradford, 1886 ==


== Clara Burdett, to notary in Union camp in KY, March 1865 ==


== Fanny Berry, in Weevils in the Wheat, 1937 ==


== Tennessee Woman, 1929 [TN Nanny] ==


== Mary Anderson, NC ==


== Katie Darling, in TX ==


== Sarah and Lucy Chase, Teaching the Freedmen, 1866-1868 ==

I really enjoyed these articles because these women existed as outliers in a nation where race is a decisive issue.  I especially liked the end of the last letter by Sarah Chase to Mr. May "No matter how strict the rules, and wise and kind the teachers plans, for the comfort, and rights of the black scholar; the ''feeling'' of the whites expressd or not -- ''will'' keep the sensitive African away; though he would willingly bear cold, hunger, and whippings if need be--to 'get a little larning.' (280)"  This expression of doubt by Sarah Chase bears a reflection of the tension of race relations in the south and other integrated areas.  If I had to choose between feeding and clothing myself or attending college it really would not be a choice.  One can talk about the importance of education until they're blue in the face, but basic necessities, including safety for these blacks, are ultimately more important. --Sara S. 

== Susie King Taylor, Reminiscences of My Life in Camp, 1902 ==


== Ada Bacot, Confederate Nurse, 1862 ==

I found Ada Bacot's comments on Two Wounded Yankees extremely interesting. She is a Confederate nurse, and yet she feels she has a duty to treat them. She describes them as human beings, something her male counterparts would likely gloss over and simply describe them as the enemy. But Ada feels pity, and although she doesn't like it, she helps the soldiers. This is likely due to the role of women as being caretakers and motherly. She continues to fill that role regardless of the color of the men's uniforms. --Clare O


I completely agree with Clare on this.  This document made me feel really empathetic towards the people fighting in the Civil War.  It's easy to paint the picture of Southerners being barbaric slave owners and Northerners being too concerned with industrialization and profit to care about the lives of humans, but here it is a confederate woman who isn't fighting for slavery or against industrialization, but is fighting to keep dying men alive.  "I can't help feeling pity for them, they are human beings.  They are our enemys too, wounded and in our power.  It will be hard to treat them as I do the other men but I know it is my duty.  The heat is almost over powering. (202)" This makes the war human, and having been in Charlottesville for the summer months before, I can only imagine how awful the hospital smelled and felt especially without air-conditioning. --Sara S.


== Maria Daly, 1862, Northerner in the South (New Orleans) ==


== Sarah Morgan, 1863, Teen diary ==


== Cornelia Hancock, Union Nurse, 1863 ==


== Caroline Kirkland, 1863, defends Northern women’s support of Northern men ==


== Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas, January 1865 ==