Conclusion
While Louisa May Alcott only worked at Union Hotel Hospital for six weeks in 1862 and 1863, her time there is forever preserved in her journals and Hospital Sketches. In describing her journey to the hospital, its conditions, her work with soldiers, and ultimate illness and departure, Louisa’s writing brings a strong element of compassion and humanity to the Union Hotel Hospital experience. The circumstances at Union Hotel Hospital were similar to the norm for Union Army soldiers, doctors, and nurses of the period, yet Louisa May Alcott’s personal descriptions of her time there brings a deeper and more meaningful understanding of Civil War nursing, hospitals, and medical care than traditional histories can provide.