Charlotte Bradford

Hey, all. Sorry I haven't posted in a while--it's been a little hectic.  But I promise, I have been working.  I went in to Boston yesterday to look at some Dix papers at Harvard, and I'm planning on hitting the state Historical Society some time this week.  I also finished transcribing everything I found at Schlesinger, and the legislative papers on the Pension Act I found in D.C.  I even started going through the 1888 petition, looking at state/Department reports to get a sense of where support for the bill was coming from.  The best part, though, was going to Duxbury with Mum last week to see the Charlotte Bradford papers. Can you say "jackpot?"  Because I nearly yelled it when I saw what was in that file.
Backing up: here's what I know about her from the pension file (yes, I'm being mean. So?)

Pension File: 777413, 486398 (Special Act)
P.O.: Duxbury, Massachusetts
Service: hospital boat 'Elm City', various hospitals in D.C., and the Sanitary Home in D.C.
Applied: 1890
Status: Accepted

The file doesn't contain a great deal, since I never located the legislative file.  According to the House Report, Bradford was seventy-six years old and one of three maiden sisters living together in Duxbury when she applied for a Special Act in 1890.  She'd volunteered her services as a nurse in April, 1862, and continued to serve until 1865, by which time she was matron of the Sanitary Home (not technically a hospital, more like an inn with medical facilities where soldiers could find a quick meal or spend a few days and rest before continuing on).  The only other thing of note in Bradford's file was a note in the House Report that Bradford was briefly mentioned in Frank Moore's book, "Women of the War," published in 1866.

Charlotte Bradford (Courtesy of the Duxbury HS)

I don't much care for Frank Moore. Regardless, the man always leaves a paper trail (Duke has a small collection of his papers which I've used before, and I'm pretty sure there are other collections out there).  So, I plugged Bradford's name in to Google to see what was out there.  That was when I found the collection at Duxbury.  It is a spectacular collection.  Bradford wrote her sisters regularly when she left for D.C. in '62, and continued to write them until she returned home in '65--which means there are a good number of letters..  Bradford also kept a diary from July, 1863, to some time in '64, and another diary of her time on the hospital boats in Virginia.  There's also an account book where she recorded sheets and pillows sent out for cleaning for the Sanitary Home, as well as who was visiting (like "Emily Smith visited her brother, Jacob Smith, 1st MA"); a book entitled "Copperheads" which depicts various nasty things happening to Copperheads in caricature; several USSC publications; a soldier's pocket bible; and almost a dozen pencil sketches of the Virginia landscape and camp life.  There was even a cookbook for Mum to study!  Oh, and since her nephew was Frederick C. Knapp, director of the USSC Special Relief Department (which ran homes like the Sanitary House), some of his papers are included as well.
Specific to my research though, were three documents: Bradford's pension certificate, a form letter from the Bureau that accompanied the certificate, and a telegram from Massachusetts Representative Elijah A. Morse.  It reads simply: "Pension passed house ten oclock tonight under suspension rules upon my motion and now only awaits signature of president certain."
I've been immersed in the pension process for months, but I've never felt this...connected to the process.  I don't quite know how to say it, only that I felt for the first time that I was dealing with a human being at both ends, rather than a faceless Bureau employee.  I could see the process, read the dialogue, if you will, between Bradford and Morse, trying to get this thing passed.  None of my other Special Act files have yielded any evidence of this.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that between the telegram and the letters, Bradford is more human to me, more real, than almost any of the other women I've studied.  I just hope I can do the same for the rest.
Moving on before I get sentimental.  I'm heading back to Duxbury at some point to go through the collection again--my camera battery died before I got too far into the collection and I forgot to bring my charger, or a back-up.  I'm also visiting the Maine Historical Society for Ellen Tolman's letters on Friday or Saturday--Mum's been craving a trip to the beach, and Dad wants to go bookshopping, so we're making it a two-day trip.  No worries, the research comes first, then the beach.
One last thing: Bradford has a facebook page.  Plug her name in and take a look--the curator takes an excerpt from her diary every day and posts it.  it's wonderful reading.