Louisa May Alcott

Civil War Nurse, Writer & Poet (1832 1888) Louisa May Alcotts service as a nurse during the Civil War was short lived, only on a winter month between 1862 and 1863. She served at the Union Hotel Hospital in Georgetown, Virginia. However, while in the nursing service, Alcott contracted typhoid pneumonia and forced to go back home to regain good health. She suffered permanent health damage because of the fever and of the calomel dose or mercurous chloride, causing recovery to become long and gradual. Alcotts nursing career was not as bold as that of other Civil War heroic nurses to be able to be lined among the famous nurses list. However, her experience as nurse, which she wrote in her book Hospital Sketches, published in 1863, made her extremely popular. Moods and Scenes from Dickens were also published, the latter completed to benefit the Sanitary Commission. Alcott became well known through her literary pieces, published more than 30 different books and collections of stories. On March 6, 1888, Louisa May Alcott passed away.