Louisa May Alcott -- Beloved Author, and Early Friend of Veterans

Many people know Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) as a famous American woman writer, from the 1800s, the author of the beloved children's classic, Little Women, and a contemporary of Emerson and Thoreau, who were friends of her family in Concord, Massachusetts.  What many people don't know is that Louisa May Alcott was an early "FOV" -- or Friend of Veterans.  Readers of Little Women may remember that the family sewed bandages for Civil War veterans, regardless of the side on which they fought; but Alcott the author also travelled to Washington, D.C. to see how she personally could aid the veterans of the Civil War.  She ended up serving as an Army nurse in the so-called Union Hospital, in Washington, D.C., from 1862 to 1863.  Her little known book, Hospital Sketches, which predates her other works, is a compilation of journal entries, etc., from that time.  Alcott actually became gravely ill ministering to the soldiers, and was given a medication that ultimately resulted in her death, in her mid 50s.  I've got a copy of Hospital Sketches: An Army Nurse's True Account of Her Experiences During the Civil War, ordered from Amazon, and am eager to read what her reflections were on caring for the wounded, when nothing but her conscience and her interest prompted her to get involved. (The photo on the right is "Orchard House," where Alcott and her family lived for years.)