Hospital Sketches
by Louisa May Alcott
Louise May Alcott, who rose to wider fame as the author of Little Women, became known for her stories about her work as a volunteer nurse at an Army hospital. His live posts, written in the winter of 1862-63, were published in the Commonwealth newspaper, where they were easily read by friends and family of soldiers. Then, as now, these chronicles revealed the desperate realities of medicine on the battlefield and the previous first steps of women in military service. Writing under a pseudonym, Alcott spoke of the grievances of his two-day trip from his home in Concord, Massachusetts, to Washington, D.C. Feverish baptism in nursing practice awaited her at Washington Hospital if it came soon after the slaughter of the Potomac's army at the Battle of Fredericksburg. Alcott's rapidly evolving prose graphically depicts the realities of hospital life and deftly balances pathos with gentle humor. A vivid and accurate portrait of an often overlooked aspect of the Civil War, this book remains one of the most striking reports on the medical practice of the period and a poignant testimony to the human cost of war.
