Maine Memory Network

Contributed by Maine Historical Society

Description

Writing to her sister, Rebecca Usher described in detail, including a sketch, the U.S. General Hospital at Chester, Pennsylvania, where she arrived about two weeks earlier to nurse Union soldiers.

Usher, 41, of Hollis, had been educated at an Ursuline convent in Quebec. She and her sisters were active in Civil War relief efforts.

She wrote that the hospital's main building was built as a normal school and was in a beautiful setting of fields, trees, a stream and the Delaware River in the distance.

She also describes the nurses' quarters, the state of the building (poorly made), the daily routine, what the men eat, and some of her fellow nurses as well as some of the patients.

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Transcription

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About This Item

• Title: Rebecca Usher description of military hospital, Pennsylvania, 1862
• Creator: Rebecca Randall Usher
• Creation Date: 1862-12-05
• Subject Date: 1862
• Locations:
  • Bar Mills, Buxton, York County, ME
  • Chester, PA
• Media: Ink on paper
• Dimensions: 20.2 cm x 12.7 cm
• Local Code: Coll. 9, Box 1/4
• Collection: Rebecca Usher papers
• Object Type: Text

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Cross Reference Searches

Standardized Subject Headings

• Manuscripts
• Women in war--History--19th century
• Usher, Rebecca, 1821-1919--Letters
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal narrative
• Hospitals--Pennsylvania--Chester
• Nurses, American
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Participation, Female
• U.S.A. General Hospital (Pa.)

People

• Osgood, Martha Usher
• Usher, Rebecca Randall
• Welch, Ellen

Other Keywords

• Daily routines
• Union soldiers

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For more information about this item, contact:

Maine Historical Society
485 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101
(207) 774-1822 x230
Website

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