Rebecca Usher diary, 1865

Rebecca Usher diary, 1865
  • MMN Item 1451
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Description

Rebecca Usher of Hollis, who had served as a nurse at the U.S. General Hospital in Chester, Pennsylvania, starting in 1862, returned to Maine after that hospital closed in 1863.

When Usher returned to nursing service during the war -- at City Point, Virginia -- in January 1865, she kept a diary. The narrative portion of the diary begins January 10, 1865, and concludes on March 22, 1865.

She discusses the duties of the nurses, the relationship between the Sanitary Commission, for which Usher worked, and the Christian Commission, as well as various Maine soldiers and officers she met, and other nurses, including Ruth Mayhew and Sarah Sampson, both of Maine.

The leather-bound diary also contains several pages that record a few expenses. Those pages range from 1855 to 1872.

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