5 September 2010 - by admin

Hospital Sketches

Several years before Louisa May Alcott created Little Women (1868), her most well known novel, she worked as a nurse at a soldiers’ hospital in Washington, D.C., during the Civil War. Drawing on that experience, Alcott wrote Hospital Sketches (1863), a vivid account that offers rich insights into women’s wartime roles, the shocking conditions in soldiers’ hospitals, the lives of the soldiers themselves, and the racial prejudice of the time. Part of a vast outpouring of popular Civil War l

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Review by for Hospital Sketches
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Louisa May Alcott was the first Civil War army nurse to publish an account of her service. Not yet famous at the author of “Little Women,” the appearence of “Hospital Sketches” in the summer of 1863 was the also the first of her works to win her widespread attention.

Bored with life at home and wanting to contribute something to the war effort, Alcott volunteered to serve as an nurse. After a wait of several months, she was assigned to the Union Hotel Hospital in Washington DC.

She arrived in mid-December, and her very first day brought her responsibility for forty patients when another nurse fell ill. It was a sign of things to come. Three days after her arrival, the hospital was flooded with wounded from the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Initially horrified at the idea of giving the wounded sponge baths, Alcott quickly overcame this misplaced modesty and became accoustomed to the sights and sounds of the the ward. By the end of her brief service, she had learned how to feed, bathe and comfort the wounded, change dressings and administer medicine. . .even watch amputations without revulsion.

It was as the night nurse on a three-room ward that she found the vivid charachters she would bring to life in “Hospital Sketches.” There was a little Ohio sargent she called “Baby B,” who had lost his right arm in battle and was teaching himself to write left handed. (He would later become one of her faithful correspondents) There was a 12-year old drummer mourning the loss of a buddy, a helpful Prussian who spoke no English, and a nameless man so addled by war that he was given to running up and down the aisles yelling all night long. Most poingant was the story of John, a Virginia blacksmith whose death was a model of the 19th Century Christian ideal.

Only six weeks after she arrived in Washington, Alcott fell dangerously ill with typhoid fever. Doctors wrote her parents, and before long her father had arrived to take her home. She would spend months recovering. Given a mercury-based compound common in the treatment of typhoid, she would suffer the effects of mercury poisioning for the rest of her life.

She was still confined to bed when she began writing “Hospital Sketches.” As “Nurse Tribulation Periwinkle” — a name adopted under the dictum that a lady’s name should not appear in print — the short book illustrated the flair for charachterization and the delightful sense of humor that would make her later works so popular.

Anonymous on September 5th, 2010 at 7:36 pm

Review by Caitlin for Hospital Sketches
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I loved “Hospital Skeches” by Louisa May Alcott. It tells of many wounded soldiers that Louisa actually met in her nursing period at the Georgetown Hospital. It tells of Sergeant Bane and his “Dearest Jane”, Doctor P., the ‘quiet sleeper’, who “would like a drink of water, if you ain’t too busy”, Billy, Kit, and many others. The only things that I didn’t absolutly love about “Hospital Sketches was the font, which was difficult to read, and the fact that Louisa herself isn’t the exact main character, name and all. However, Nurse Periwinkle, who replaces Louisa, is an almost carbon copy of Alcott, so I can’t really complain. People just don’t write books that are as good and as true as this anymore. As I said in my title, this is a truly vivid account of the wounded men and the nurses in the Civil War.

Caitlin on September 5th, 2010 at 7:52 pm

Review by Dennis M. Rozarto for Hospital Sketches
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What aroused my interest in this book? No snazzy title. No enticing aroma of mystery or intrigue about it at all. But am I glad that I did read it? Unquestionably! From start to finish this book never falters, never flags in evoking the times, the place, and the human experience. Louisa’s style may require some adjustments and patience from modern readers, and it probably will appeal to a more mature audience. (I don’t see young people dropping Harry Potter for the tale Louisa tells.) As another reviewer eloquently noted, the book tears at the heart and makes you smile and laugh. Would that I could write half as good.The truth of the book cannot be denied. Read it and decide for yourself.

Dennis M. Rozarto on September 5th, 2010 at 8:32 pm

Review by Bettye Hull for Hospital Sketches
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The book came in new condition, and quickly. As for the book, it is a small paperback. I was pleased to find it because I enjoy Louisa May Alcott (and the style of writing 100+ years ago), and had never heard of this one. Also being a historian, it was a wonderful glimpse into the Civil War on a personal, female level. It was obviously a reprint of an old product because the print was small and hard to read in places – much different from the quality we enjoy now. Nevertheless, it was a very interesting read.

Bettye Hull on September 5th, 2010 at 9:26 pm

Review by Dr. Emily Kurtz for Hospital Sketches
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I read this book because I had never heard of it and it was mentioned in “Eden’s Outcasts.” It was interesting as a biographical moment in LM Alcott’s life. Some of the sketches were informative and heart-wrenching. But it was a bit amateurish (no wonder, as she was still an amateur), and it was more like a pamphlet than a book. Still, I am glad I read it. If you are a Civil War buff, you’ll get some valuable, detailed information about hospital procedures and the sheer lack of medical care, expertise, and supplies–even in DC.