Contributed by Maine Historical Society
Description
Rebecca Usher of Hollis (1821-1912) left her home in Maine in late November 1862 to travel to Pennsylvania to begin work as a nurse at the U.S.A. General Hospital in Chester.
In this letter to her sister "Mat," Martha Usher Osgood, she recounts the difficulties of traveling -- lack of hotel space in New York, poor weather, and train delays.
She asked her sister to send stockings, bandages, dried apples, slipper, towels, handkerchiefs, shirt collars, her red cloak, wooden needles, and a bar of soap.
She concluded, "I am delighted with hospital life feel like a bird in the air or a fish in the sea, as if I had found my native element."
Transcription
About This Item
- Title: Rebecca Usher on trip to begin nursing work, 1862
- Creator: Rebecca Randall Usher
- Creation Date: 1862
- Subject Date: 1862
- Location: Chester, Delaware County, PA
- Media: Ink on paper
- Dimensions: 21 cm x 13 cm
- Local Code: Coll. 9, Box 1/4
- Collection: Rebecca Usher papers
- Object Type: Text
Cross Reference Searches
Standardized Subject Headings
- Hospitals--Pennsylvania--Chester.
- Manuscripts
- U.S.A. General Hospital (Pa.)
- United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Participation, Female.
- United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal narratives.
- Usher, Rebecca, 1821-1919--Letters.
- Women in war--History--19th century
People
Other Keywords
For more information about this item, contact:
Maine Historical Society485 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101
(207) 774-1822 x230
Website
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