Ida L. Martin

Pension File: 776810, 486403 (Special Act)
P.O.: Huntsville, Alabama
Service: nurse at Jeffersonville Hospital, Indiana
Applied: 1890
Status: Accepted

Martin's file is one of the slim ones: 7 papers in total.  But it's definitely an interesting one.  Ida's first husband, Zelotas H. Martin (love these names!) enlisted in 1862 in Co. M, 5th Michigan Cavalry, part of what would become the famous Custer Brigade.  Zelotas died on July 5th, 1863, from wounds received at Gettysburg.  Shortly after, Ida was assigned to Jeffersonville General Hospital, and remained there until July 6, 1865.  Seems like a logical time to stop working: the war's over, hospitals are closing down.  Apparently, Ida had another reason altogether.  She was suffering from what she termed "paralysis of the nerves" and could no longer work.  I don't know what that translates to in modern terms, but whatever it is, it's bad, because within a few years, Ida had one leg amputated below the knee.  The second was amputated a few years later.  Somewhere in the midst of all this, though, Ida met her second husband, Andrew J. Martin, also a Union soldier, and the two were married on August 3, 1868.
Ida and Andrew moved to Huntsville sometime before 1870, and continued to live there for the next twenty odd years.  By 1890, Andrew was getting too old to support himself and an invalid wife, and Ida petitioned for a pension based on her disability.  It looks like the fact that her service had so clearly disabled her allowed her to ignore the precedents set for how much to pay for nurses pensions--poor old Berry and Cockrell must have been miffed--because she won a $24 pension, twice the going rate.  Martin's case is one of the first times I've seen a nurse so clearly disabled as a result of her service.  Usually they list "general disability," "rheumatism," or just old age, sometimes linked to their service.  I've had several cases of malarial poisoning, chronic diarrhea, broken bones, deafness, and in one or two cases actual gunshot wounds, but nothing approaching what Martin endured.  It's time to dig out the medical reference books and figure out just what kind of "paralysis of the nerves" means and why it caused her to lose her legs.
On a side note, heading in to Boston within the next few days to hit up Schlesinger and Houghton Libraries at Harvard, finally check out Memorial Hall, and maybe swing by the Boston Archives and Massachusetts Archives if I have the time.  They have more Barton papers, some Dix papers, and letters from Harriet Patience Dame which, fingers crossed, should be interesting.  Also going to the Medford Historical Society on Sunday--the WRC had its headquarters there for several years, so they may have some documents.  Shall let you know what I find.