INDEX
abolitionism
Alcott family and, 1, 9–10
Hannah Ropes and, 85
Louisa and, 102–103, 166
Adams, John, 82–83
Alcott, Abba “Marmee”
Alcott’s letters from Washington and, 113–114
boarders and, 32
childrearing beliefs, 14
death of, 194
declining health of, 186, 187
distress at Louisa’s illness, 151, 152
employment office of, 21
feminism of, 22
at Fruitlands, 16–18
helping Louisa prepare for trip to Washington, 55–56, 57
on Louisa as nurse, 27
as matron of water cure spa, 21, 172
nursing ailing Louisa, 145–146, 148, 149
as social worker, 21
struggle with family poverty, 2–3, 18–19, 20–21
support for husband, 19
support for women’s rights, 193–194
Alcott, Abigail “May,” 23
on birth of Anna’s son, 154
on Louisa’s condition with typhoid, 144, 146
Louisa sewing clothes for, 33
on Louisa’s recovery, 153
meeting Louisa’s train from Washington, 143, 144
on mother’s nursing of Louisa, 148
paintings by, 157, 158
seeing Louisa off to Washington, 56
swimming at Walden Pond, 50–51
teaching in Syracuse, 32
trip to Clark’s Island, 162–163
Alcott, Anna, 13, 14
as actress, 36
birth of baby, 153
letter informing her of Louisa’s illness, 146–147
married and living in Cambridge, 32, 50, 51
new dress for Louisa and, 33
personality of, 15, 23, 51
visit to recuperating Louisa, 151
Alcott, Beth “Lizzie,” 23, 26–27, 123, 151
Alcott, Bronson
appreciation for Louisa’s strengths, 147, 155
belief in virtues of pears, 55–56
daughter’s success and, 190–191
educational reform beliefs of, 13
education of, 12–13
as father, 14–15
feminism and, 1
Fruitlands and, 16–18
fugitive slave and, 10
hearing Lincoln speak, 138–139
helping nurse ailing Louisa, 146, 147
inability to support family, 2, 18–19, 32, 173, 186
journey home with ailing Louisa, 142, 144–145
lecture tours, 21, 186, 190–191
on Louisa’s condition with typhoid, 146, 148
on Louisa’s recovery, 150
meeting and marrying Abba, 19–20
narcissism of, 20
publication of Tablets, 186, 189
regret over Louisa’s work in war, 155
relationship with Louisa, 14–15, 23, 147, 155
School of Philosophy, 193, 195
as school superintendent, 31–32, 33, 173
as schoolteacher, 12, 13
seeing Louisa off on train to Washington, 56–57
showing “Thoreau’s Flute” to Sophia Hawthorne, 161
support for women’s suffrage, 195
transcendentalism and, 11–12
visit to Anna and baby, 153
in Washington to bring ailing Louisa home, 137–139, 144
Alcott, Louisa May “Lu”
abolitionism and, 1, 102–103, 166
as actress, 36–37
administering kindergarten, 35
advancing cause of human rights, 164–165
attempts to win parents’ approval, 22
birthdays, 53, 166, 180, 189
Bronson’s discipline of, 14
calomel treatment and, 136, 150
campaign for women’s suffrage and, 193–197
Christmases, 7–8, 113–115, 118–119, 166–167, 181, 190
as companion to Anna Weld, 171–175, 180–181, 181–182
Concord sewing bees for solders’ clothing and, 33, 37
delusions while ill, 148–149
desire to support the Civil War, 1–2
disagreements with Polk family while in Switzerland, 174–177, 180
dislike of spotlight, 190
dress of, 9, 10–11, 33
early nursing experience, 26–27
on evidence of war on train trip to Washington, 66–67
experiencing delirium and fever fits, 147–148
failing health of, 189, 190
as father’s pupil, 13
on father’s School of Philosophy, 193
feminism and, 1, 24, 173
Fruitlands and, 17–18
fugitive slave and, 9–10
generosity with family, 162–163
as governess, 35
helping mother with housework, 32, 33
John Brown and, 9, 10
journals and letters, 3
journey home to recuperate, 141–145
Ladislas (Laddie) Weisneiwsky and, 177–179, 180–181, 182–183
letter to Anna congratulating her on birth of son, 153–154
letter to Ned Bartlett and Wilkie James, 52–53
loss of hair while ill, 149, 150
on marriage, 24
mother’s influence on, 21–22
as paid companion, 23–24, 171–175, 180–181, 181–182
parent’s disapproval of, 15, 22–23
plan to be rich and rescue family from poverty, 23
preparing care packages for soldiers, 51, 52–53
pride in hair, 10–11
prize money for story, 158
redecorated house and, 157–158
relationship with father, 14–15, 23, 147, 155
running and, 2, 8–9, 111, 129
saying goodbye to Concord Artillery, 30–31
seeing working slaves in Maryland, 67
as servant, 23
sewing skills of, 22, 33
slow recovery from typhoid, 149–153
as spinster by choice, 25
suicidal thoughts, 34–35, 151
support for Frank Sanborn, 31
swimming at Walden Pond, 51
tomboy nature of, 22–23
in typhoid state, 141–142
visit from spiritualist, 152
voting in Concord, 195–196
See also writing career
Alcott, Louisa May “Lu,” as army nurse
aching feet of army nurse, 101
application to become army nurse, 40
arrival of wounded from Fredericksburg, 91–98
assisting doctors on rounds, 97–98
care of Confederate soldier, 96
considering being an army nurse, 27
conversing with man on train to Washington, 64–65
declining to witness dissection, 109
desire to serve at field hospital, 107
diagnosed with typhoid fever, 136–137
enlistment of, 2
father in Washington to bring Louisa home, 137–139
first day as nurse, 81–84, 89–91
helping wounded write letters home, 99–100
hospital attendants and, 106
illness while at Union Hotel Hospital, 100, 127–128, 129, 133–137
John Suhre and, 112–113, 116–118, 120–122, 179
John Winslow and, 109–111, 127, 135, 136, 149
journey to Washington, 59–69
learning course of injuries and healing, 107
letter calling for her to report as army nurse, 53, 55
letters to and from home, 113–114
meals offered at Union Hotel Hospital, 82, 83–84, 101–102
on night shift, 111–112
obtaining free ticket to Washington, 60–64
preparing to leave Concord, 49–50, 51, 56–57
reflecting on experience
, 154–155
relationships with other nurses, 102
repairing soldier’s clothing, 133–134
on satisfaction of being army nurse, 100–101
washing wounded, 93–95
Alcott family
abolitionism and, 1, 9–10
John Brown and, 9
poverty of, 2–3, 13, 20, 22, 35, 187
women’s suffrage and, 22
Alexandria Gazette (newspaper), 47, 115
American Medical Times (periodical), 38
American Red Cross, 39
amputations by army surgeons, 97–98, 107, 108
Andrew, John, 60, 61
anesthesia, 98
Antietam, battle of, 45–46, 47, 72, 89, 108
Armory Square Hospital (Washington), 55
Christmas at, 119
Louisa’s visit to, 129–130
Army of the Potomac
Burnside and, 71–72
Lincoln’s address to, 105
Arnold, Benedict, 59
Atlantic Monthly (magazine), 24, 34, 161–162
Baden Baden (Germany), 174
Bain, Robert “Baby B.,” 95–96, 99–100, 111–112, 163–164, 176
Baltimore Riot, 66
Bartlett, Edward (Ned), 51–52
Bartlett, Josiah, 51, 146, 148, 150
Barton, Clara, 45–46
battles, Civil War
Antietam, 45–46, 47, 72, 89, 108
Bull Run, first battle of, 73, 107–108
Bull Run, second battle of, 44, 89
Fredericksburg, 77–79, 104–105
Gaines’s Mill, 43
Marye’s Heights, 77–79
Rawl’s Mill, 52
Bedford Gazette (newspaper), 104–105
Bernard, A. M. (Alcott nom de plume), 36
Betty (black nurse), 177, 179–180
birthdays, Louisa’s
thirtieth, 53
thirty-first, 166
thirty-six, 189
thirty-third, 180
Blackwell, Elizabeth, 38
bleeding patients as medical treatment, 110
Bliss, Mrs. E. A., 152
Bliss, Willard, 130
blistering as medical treatment, 110, 138, 148
Blue Room (White House), 131, 132
Boston Commonwealth (periodical), 144, 154, 158
Boston Transcript (newspaper), 159
Boyce, Mary, 114–115, 128–129, 140
Brown, Annie, 31, 32
Brown, John, 9, 10, 31, 85, 160
Brown, Sarah, 31, 32
Browning, Robert, 111, 135
Bull Run
first battle of, 73, 107–108
second battle of, 44, 89
Burnside, Ambrose
blame for Fredericksburg and, 104, 105
campaign to recapture Richmond, 75–79
as commander of Army of the Potomac, 71–72, 73–74
life before Civil War, 72–73
McClellan and, 73
new plan to attack Lee’s army, 134
plan to recapture Richmond, 74–75
calomel
George Stipp and use of, 90–91, 110, 136, 150, 189
given to Louisa, 136, 150, 189
Camp Curtin (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania), 43–44
camphor oil, 99
Chancellorsville, 159
Chase, Salmon, 46
chloroform, 98
Christmas
at Armory Square Hospital, 119
1860, 7–8
1865, 181
1869, 190
1863, 166–167
at Union Hotel Hospital, 113, 114, 115–116, 118–120
City of Boston (ferry), 65
Civil War
Louisa’s desire to support, 1–2
start of, 29
women supporting, 37–39
See also battles, Civil War
Clark, A. M., 84, 86–88
Clark’s Island (Massachusetts), 162
Colborn, Phoebe, 42
Concord Artillery of the Fifth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, 30–31
Concord (Massachusetts)
Orchard House, 7, 8, 157–158, 166
transcendentalism in, 11–12
women’s suffrage in, 194–196
convulsions, typhoid and, 147–148
Conway, Moncure, 144, 154
Cranston House (Ropes), 85
Crosby (doctor), 54
“Debby’s Debut” (Alcott), 24
delirium, typhoid fever, 145, 147
Dickens, Charles, 112
diseases at Union Hotel Hospital, 91
dissections of dead at Union Hotel Hospital, 108–109
Dix, Dorothea
Alice Ropes opinion of, 135
appearance in Louisa’s delusions, 149
assessing Louisa’s condition when ill with typhoid, 137–138, 142
Hannah Ropes and, 84
seeing Louisa and her father off home, 142
Stevenson and, 53–54
as superintendent of female army nurses, 39–40
doctors, training of, 109
Douglass, Frederick, 10
Dover’s Powder, 110
Dunn, James, 46
East Room of the White House, 68
Emancipation Proclamation, 46, 72, 130, 132–133
Emerson, Edward, 33, 37
Emerson, Ellen, 30
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 2, 11, 12, 25
empathy, Louisa’s, 118
ether, 98
Evening Star (newspaper), 29, 119
Eyebright, Daisy (pseudonym), 64
feminism
Alcott family and, 1, 22
Louisa and, 1, 24, 173
fever fits, of typhoid, 147–148
field hospitals, 54, 107–108
Fields, Annie, 161
Fields, James, 34, 35, 161–162, 164, 165
Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, 166
Finley, Clement, 38–39
First Battle of Bull Run, 73
field hospital at, 107–108
Fitzpatrick (doctor), 106
amputations and, 97–98, 108
demotion and transfer of, 135
Hannah Ropes’s distrust of, 123
on John Suhre’s fate, 117
treatment of patients, 97–98, 110, 112
Fort Sumter (South Carolina), start of Civil War and, 29
Fort Wagner (South Carolina), 166
Forty-Fourth Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteers, 51
Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, 35–36, 113, 158
Frederick (Maryland), 44, 46–47
Fredericksburg (Virginia), 74
second battle of, 77–79
blame for, 104–105
Union army capture and looting of, 75–76
free black nurses, 40, 135
Fruitlands (Harvard, Massachusetts), 16–18
fugitive slaves, helped by Alcott family, 9–10
Gaines’s Mill, battle of, 43
gangrene, 98
Genth, Adolph, 172
germ theory, 90, 107
Gordon, Douglas, 76
Greeley, Horace, 152
Halleck, Henry, 74
Hammond, William, 86–87, 88, 108
Hancock, Dorothy, 61
Hancock, John, 19, 61
Hardee (hat), 95
Harpers Ferry raid, 10
Hawthorne, Julian
character of “Laurie” in Little Women and, 187
as friend of Alcott family, 33, 55, 56, 114
May and, 50–51, 56, 144, 162
on Wilkie, 52
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 52, 55–56, 152, 190
Hawthorne, Sophia
Christmas celebrations and, 114
helping Alcott family during Louisa’s illness, 151–152
helping Louisa prepare to leave for Washington, 56, 57
“Thoreau’s Flute” and, 161
Hawthorne, Una, 151, 162
Haymarket Square, 62, 63
Heidelberg (Germany), 174
Hoar, Rockwood, 31
Home, William, 37
homeopathic remedies, 148
hospital attendants, 106
“Hospital Sketches” (Alcott), 158, 159–160, 161, 162
Hospital Sketches (Alcott), 163–164, 166, 167
The House of Seven Gables (Hawthorne), 52
“How I Went Out to Service” (Alcott), 34
human rights, Louisa advancing cause of, 164–165
Illinois Railroad, 73
Independent (magazine), 163
The Inheritance (Alcott), 25
ipecac, medical use of, 110
The Iron Waters of Schwalbach (Genth), 172
James, Garth Wilkinson (Wilkie), 51–52
James, Henry, 52, 158
James, Wilkie, 158, 166
John, Matilda Cleaver, 135
Johnson, Sophia Orne, 64
Julius (convalescing patient), incarceration of, 87–88
Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), 85
Kendall, Julia, 93–94, 102, 133, 141
Lake Geneva, 171, 181
Lausanne (Switzerland), 174
Lee, Robert E.
Battle of Antietam and, 45, 72
Battle of Gaines’s Mill and, 43
Burnside’s plans to attack again, 134
defense of Richmond, 74, 75
Second Battle of Bull Run and, 44
surrender of, 175
Leslie, Frank, 35. See also Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper
Lincoln, Abraham
address to Army of the Potomac, 105
approval of Burnside’s plans, 74–75, 134
assassination of, 175
Bronson’s visit to Senate Chamber and, 138–139
calling up volunteers to defend the Union, 29–30
Christmas at Washington hospitals and, 115
on death of son, 68–69
election of, 1
Emancipation Proclamation and, 46, 130, 132–133
McClellan and, 45, 47
New Year’s reception at White House and, 130–132
redecoration of the White House and, 68
replacing McClellan with Burnside, 72, 73
Stipp and, 90
unpopularity of, 104–105
visiting Armory Square Hospital, 119
visit to Frederick (Maryland), 46–47
Lincoln, Mary Todd, 68, 115, 119, 131–132
Lincoln, Willie, 68–69, 131–132
Little Women (Alcott), 3, 185, 186–188
sequel to, 188–189, 190
lobelia, as medicine, 128
“Love and Self-Love” (Alcott), 24
Low, Sarah, 54, 106, 107
lupus, Louisa and, 189
maggots in wounds, 98–99
malaria, 110
manifest destiny, 176
A Manual of Etiquette with Hints of Politeness and Good Breeding (Eyebright), 64
Marye’s Heights, battle of, 77–79
Massachusetts Volunteers, 30
Forty-Fourth Regiment, 51
Sixth, 66
May, Abba, meeting and marrying Bronson, 19–20. See also Alcott, Abba “Marmee”
Louisa on the Front Lines Page 20