Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/399

364 Mrs. Belle Alter was Miss Belle Thompson, and served as a volunteer nurse, beginning her work in the Taylor house, which was used as a hospital, in Winchester, Va., September, 1864 and was assigned to duty by the surgeon in charge, Dr. S. Sharpe. She assisted in caring for the wounded from Frohus Hill and Cedar Creek battlefields, until the middle of January, 1865, when she returned home with her brother who was badly wounded. He was Captain Thompson, Company A., 40th Pennsylvania Volunteers. He was a helpless cripple, and she nursed him the two years he lived. Mrs. Alter is 64 years of age, and her home is at Port Royal, Pennsylvania.

Mrs. Elizabeth Baldridge, as Miss Elizabeth Lee, served as a volunteer nurse at Memphis, Tennessee. Mrs. Baldridge is 78 years old, and lives in Pomona, California.

Mrs. Catherine M. Beck, served five months as a volunteer nurse at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, at which place she was living. She is now 78 years of age and is living at Los Angeles, California.

Mrs. Mary E. Bell enlisted as a volunteer nurse, and her first work was at Covington, Kentucky, assisting her husband, who was in the medical department, in an epidemic of measles.

While the regiment was in camp, smallpox and spotted fever broke out. She also served in a hospital at Jeffersonville, Indiana. Her service extended over three years. She is 70 years old and lives in Albion, Michigan.

Mrs. Helen M. Burnell was a regular nurse under her maiden name of Helen M. Becket. She served two years and six months in the hospital at Memphis, Tenn. She is now 81 years of age. Her home is in Pasadena, California.

Mrs. Mary K. Boyington became a nurse through going to the field of Gettysburg to care for her wounded husband, who was a member of Company L. 105th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. When he was sent to the hospital at York, she accompanied him, and was enrolled as a nurse, serving from July, 1863 to March, 1864, receiving the warm commendation of the surgeons for her services. She is 68 years old and lives in Carner, Okla.

Mrs. Nancy M. Brown, as Miss Nancy M. Nelson, was for eighteen months in West Hospital, Baltimore, and for two years at Gratiot Street Hospital Prison, St. Louis. With her husband after the war she lived in Ashtabula, Ohio, but since his death she has lived with her son in Washington, D. C. Her husband was a veteran. Mrs. Brown is 79 years old.

Mrs. Susan L. Brown was Miss Sue McLaughlin when she answered a call for volunteer nurses sent out by Governor Morton of Indiana. For the nine months she was on hospital boats on the Mississippi River and in hospitals in Memphis. She is very active in all patriotic work, and is the wife of S. C. Brown,