Mehala Edwards

Pension: 701157
P.O.: New York City
Service: Nurse on hospital boats 'Elm City' and 'Louisiana'
Applied: 1888
Final Status: Rejected

Another day, another find.  Mehala Edwards' pension file was unremarkable until I came to the Surgeon General's report to the Pension Bureau about Edwards' service: "The name of Mahala Jackson [her maiden name] appears on a list of contrabands on board the steamer Elm City July 26" 1862 with remark, 'Received at Fort Monroe.'"
Turns out, Mehala was an escaped slave from King William County.  It looks like she followed the example of so many others and escaped to Fort Monroe soon after the war broke out (either July of 1861 or early 1862), and then enlisted as a nurse.  Mehala served on the 'Elm City' and the 'Louisiana' on the James River until the close of the war.
The pension file is sparse on what happened to Mehala after the war, but what there is paints a picture of a strong woman.  In 1888, she applied for a pension based on her service as a nurse, drawing on the precedents set by the Special Acts.  Her application was ultimately turned down because there was no law allowing pensions for nurses, but the fact that she took the initiative and applied anyway...here is a remarkable woman that the records have overlooked.  And there are probably dozens like her we haven't found yet.  Mehala was a reminder of one of the reasons I do what I do: to give these people a voice.  Hopefully, that's what I'll end up doing.
Cheers to you, Mehala.