Tag Archives: Louisa May Alcott

I’d no idea a ’orspittle was such a jolly place

A sick or wounded Maine soldier could not evade the army’s bureaucracy forever; sooner or later he either returned to duty or went home “Discharged for Disability.” The army preferred a soldier rejoin his unit; an experienced soldier back in the ranks was worth several angry draftees under guard while en route to the front. […]

Louisa May Alcott and a Mainer witness a soldier’s death

The first death that Louisa May Alcott witnessed as a Civil War nurse likely involved a Maine soldier — and the other witness was a Mainer by way of Ireland. We remember Alcott as an extraordinary writer and poet, and the recent movie Little Women recalled her probably best-known novel. Alcott, an abolitionist, “and her […]