Hospital Sketches by Louisa May Alcott
In an earlier post I wrote about the free Civil War and Reconstruction class I'm taking from Yale Open Courses. The class is taught by Professor David Blight. It is available on Itunes and here. During the past few days I've tried to get through Hospital Sketches by Louisa May Alcott. Alcott wrote some books for adults. Alcott told of her experiences as a volunteer nurse in 1862. She served in Washington, D.C. and at the beginning of her term Union soldiers from the battle of Fredericksburg filled the hospital. The battle of Frederickburg took place in Virginia from December 11-15, 1862. There were many more Union casualties than Confederate. Wounded Soldiers outside hospital Hospital Sketches is really hard to read because the young men that Alcott took care of were full of holes, missing limbs, had parts of their heads and faces blown off, and emotionally traumatized. Mercifully some of them died. Yes, it was that bad....