Ready for Duty
“Thirty years old. Decide to go to Washington if
I could find a place.” - LMA Journal
I could find a place.” - LMA Journal
Louisa’s excitement and determination to enlist as a Union Army nurse was indicated in her journal of November 1863. “I love nursing and must let out my pent up energy in some new way,” she wrote, “I want new experiences and am sure to get ‘em if I go.”
While limited in options due to her sex, Union Army nursing could provide Louisa with the experiences she so desired. Historian Jane Shultz states that women’s desire to serve as Civil War nurses was fueled by “patriotism, self-sacrifice, [and] the prospect of adventure…” Louisa’s orders to report to the Union Hotel Hospital arrived in December. She was ready to report within a day![6]
References Required
Appointments to serve as Union Army nurses were not easy to come by. In addition to the age and marriage requirements, a personal connection and character verification were also needed. Louisa made her connection with Miss Hannah Stevenson, a well known Boston reformer, through a mutual friendship with Theodore Parker, a minister, transcendentalist, and abolitionist. Apparently, Miss Stevenson’s recommendation secured Louisa’s position, and as such Alcott dedicated Hospital Sketches is to her. Thanks to Miss Stevenson's support, Louisa May Alcott received her nursing orders from Dorothea Dix on December 11, 1862. [7]