A very belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone! I'm sorry I dropped off the map like that. School work took precedence over the blog. But now I'm back, and I have a buffer built up so when papers interrupt I still have something to post. My dream this semester is to not miss an update. My goal (i.e. my realistic dream) is to miss as few as possible. I have three months to whip this thesis into shape. Here's hoping I can do it!
Anna Platt
Pension File: 808722, 504548
P.O.: Washington, D.C.
Service: served at Ward C, Armory Square Hospital, February, 1863 to the close of the war
Applied: 1886
Status: Accepted (Special Act)
My first nurse of the semester is something of an old friend. Last semester I took a class on Civil War music, and ended up writing a paper on how nurses used music in hospitals to help legitimize their presence. Anna Platt was one of the nurses I examined--her co-worker, Amanda Akin Stearns, published her diary/letters after the war (The Lady Nurse of Ward E), which records all kinds of musical activities, some of them starring Platt. Of course, I couldn't resist pulling out her pension file to see what exactly was in there.
There isn't much in the file of a personal nature, or on the details of her service, only the usual glowing testimonials as to her devoted and loving care. If you want details on that, I highly recommend The Lady Nurse of Ward E--it's a fascinating read. The file does reveal something about her life post-war, though. Platt, fondly known to Stearns as 'Sister Platt,' served for two years at Armory Square Hospital. When she finally left the service, Platt almost immediately contracted typhoid and brain fever. The prognosis wasn't pretty: Platt was delirious for three weeks and her family didn't think she'd pull through. But Platt proved them wrong and pulled through, though her health was never what it was.
Moving on, we know Platt's father died shortly after in 1871, leaving Platt and her mother on their own. Platt managed to support the two of them by obtaining a government job (I'm not sure what it was, but she was most likely a clerk). By 1886 though, Platt was out of a job and out of options, so she turned to the Army Nurses Association (love these women). Platt's private act was introduced to Congress on June 30, 1886, but Congress didn't reach it that session (seems to happen regularly). The same thing happened in 1888, despite the ANA's not so subtle nudge to get a move-on. The bill put forward that session stressed Platt's many sacrifices, the loss of her health, her mother's age (she was by now 93), and their lack of any means of support. The ANA also asked Congress to date the bill from 1886, so that Platt could receive arrears dating to when her petition was first put forward. At $25 a month, that's almost $600.
Three guesses how that went over in Congress. The bill did not pass that session, and again sat in limbo until 1890, when it was finally passed. Based on the file, I'm not sure if Platt received arrears or not. In fact, after this point, the record is blank--I only have the legislative file, not the full pension file. I put in a request, but the searchers at the Archives couldn't find the file. If anyone has examined Platt's file before, please let me know! I'd like to finish up Platt's story.
Showing posts with label Armory Square. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Armory Square. Show all posts
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Hannah Babb Hutchins
Pension File: 816506, 505146 (Special Act)
P.O.: Freeport, Maine
Service: one of Dix's nurses in Washington, D.C.
Applied: 1886
Status: Accepted
Hutchins was one of over twenty Special Acts I found today (let's hear it for the guys in legislation! I don't know how they find this stuff, but whatever they're doing, it's working!). Her story is simple enough compared to others I've described here: her husband and four children died just before the war began, and she enlisted as a nurse in June of 1862. Hutchins served for three years and three months in various hospitals in D.C., in particular Armory Square and Harewood Hospital, and (here's a rarity) was paid for her services, though all of it went to purchasing things for the soldiers. On New Years Day, 1865, Hutchins slipped on the steps between wards at Harewood Hospital and fractured her ribs. It was enough to keep her confined to her quarters for a month.
Hutchins was discharged in May, 1865 and went home to Maine. She married again, to one Solomon S. Hutchins, who died in 1880 and left her with no money to her name. By this time she was into her seventies, her injury kept her from supporting herself, and the chronic diarrhea she had also contracted from her wartime service was growing worse.
In 1886, Hutchins applied to Congress for a pension, believing "she is justly entitled to aid from the nation precisely as if she had been a soldier and been incapacitated from labor by injury received in the line of duty." Congress, in its infinite wisdom, decreed that since Hutchins was paid while enlisted as a nurse, she did not merit a pension larger than $12.
I give you an extract from one of many letters in the same vein sent from Hutchins to her friend Harriet Corts:
Anyway, back to Hutchins and the ANA. Corts rallied the troops, sent in evidence pertaining to Hutchins' desperate need for an increased pension, and wrote her own biting letter to the Chairman of the Pension Committee. The end result? Hutchins's pension was increased to $25 in 1888.
So, my question is: where is the ANA later on in the fight for the Pension Act? Why can't I find more on them? And what exactly is their angle?
So many questions!!!
P.O.: Freeport, Maine
Service: one of Dix's nurses in Washington, D.C.
Applied: 1886
Status: Accepted
Hutchins was one of over twenty Special Acts I found today (let's hear it for the guys in legislation! I don't know how they find this stuff, but whatever they're doing, it's working!). Her story is simple enough compared to others I've described here: her husband and four children died just before the war began, and she enlisted as a nurse in June of 1862. Hutchins served for three years and three months in various hospitals in D.C., in particular Armory Square and Harewood Hospital, and (here's a rarity) was paid for her services, though all of it went to purchasing things for the soldiers. On New Years Day, 1865, Hutchins slipped on the steps between wards at Harewood Hospital and fractured her ribs. It was enough to keep her confined to her quarters for a month.
Hutchins was discharged in May, 1865 and went home to Maine. She married again, to one Solomon S. Hutchins, who died in 1880 and left her with no money to her name. By this time she was into her seventies, her injury kept her from supporting herself, and the chronic diarrhea she had also contracted from her wartime service was growing worse.
In 1886, Hutchins applied to Congress for a pension, believing "she is justly entitled to aid from the nation precisely as if she had been a soldier and been incapacitated from labor by injury received in the line of duty." Congress, in its infinite wisdom, decreed that since Hutchins was paid while enlisted as a nurse, she did not merit a pension larger than $12.
I give you an extract from one of many letters in the same vein sent from Hutchins to her friend Harriet Corts:
"You, and also Mr. Reed, want to know my financial condition; --I got the 12 dollars pension last week, $36., paid $15 interest on mortgage; $14.33 to Gore & Davis, $5 to Dr. Burbank, I had $1.62 left; there are debts and must be paid. I never was rich, and surely never was in such straitened circumstances...This has been a very hard winter, it is so very col,d and coal $8 per ton. It seems as though I should perish, and this diarrhea,--up 4 and 6 times in a night; hardly get warm before i have to get up again. My living is mostly Graham crackers, it don't take any fuel toc ook them; it is not very luscious diet to live on! Hattie, you don't think I had better go to the poor-house now? I don't want to go there, it would not be anyt credit to the country. Oh dear! I don't know what to do, can you tell me? what in the world is there for me to do? Oh please let me hear from you soon...P.S. This is very humiliating to let anybody know how reduced I am; it makes me very nervous to think of it..."Luckily for Hutchins, she had a good friend in Harriet Corts. And Corts happened to be the Secretary for the Army Nurses Assocation. The ANA, as far as I can make out, was a Dix brainchild, an organization of women who had worked for her during the "last unpleasantness." It was also the other major organization mixed up in trying to get the Army Nurses Pension Act passed, and supporting various pension claims. Hutchins's pension file is the first time I've seen the ANA petitioning on behalf of a nurse. There's no fancy letterhead like the WRC, but from the little I've seen it's much more aggressive. There are a couple more nurses I pulled today who were also endorsed by the ANA--they're high on my list of nurses to go over.
Anyway, back to Hutchins and the ANA. Corts rallied the troops, sent in evidence pertaining to Hutchins' desperate need for an increased pension, and wrote her own biting letter to the Chairman of the Pension Committee. The end result? Hutchins's pension was increased to $25 in 1888.
So, my question is: where is the ANA later on in the fight for the Pension Act? Why can't I find more on them? And what exactly is their angle?
So many questions!!!
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Ellen W. Dowling
Pension: 688614, 423631 (Special Act)
P.O.: Somerville, Massachusetts
Service: Nurse at Armory Square Hospital
Applied: 1888
Final Status: Accepted...multiple times
I fully expected Dowling's file to be skinny--hers was, after all, a Special Act, so everything should be in the legislative file. When it turned out to be rather thick, I thought it was because she'd also applied for a widow's pension and the paperwork had been mixed in a la Mrs. Blaisdell. Half true. Here's Ellen W. Dowling's story, as far as I can make out from the file:
Ellen White began working as a nurse at Armory Square Hospital, D.C., in 1863. Some time that year, Isaac A. Dowling, a private in Co. K, 12th Massachusetts, was admitted for chronic diarrhea. They married in August of '64, had four children, and a happy marriage. Isaac, however, never recovered from his service in the army. His chronic diarrhea worsened, and he also began to suffer from heart trouble. He applied for and received a pension in the early 1870s--and as his condition worsened, and he was forced to quit work, the amount went up.
Isaac passed on July 9, 1888. I suspect Ellen had her special act already in the works at that point, because the bill was signed into law on February 12, 1889. In December, Ellen sent a letter to the Pension Bureau, filing the paperwork needed to claim a widow's pension, and asking for the arrears of said pension from the time her husband died to the time her Special Act was passed.
The Pension Bureau did not like this. Legally, you can only draw on one pension at any given time, and Ellen was, inadvertantly or not, trying to draw on two. So, they told her, she had a choice: the widow's pension at $16 a month, or her Special Act at $12 a month. Ellen replied, "I desire to have my name entered on the pension rolls as Ellen White Dowling, Army Nurse. I prefer this as it is on my own service, and some day Congress may give my children their just due."
Here's where things get a little fuzzy. It appears that the Bureau ignored Ellen's request to be listed as a nurse and continued to list her as a widow. Why is beyond me. Ellen petitioned to be listed as a nurse again in 1897, and a third time in 1902. Finally, in 1902, someone listened. Ellen's motives, however, had changed over time. A note attached to her nurse's pension form reads: "this claim for renewal of pension, as nurse, is submitted for admission for the reason that a substantial benefit amy accrue to claimant, viz: the privilege of remarriage without loss of pension as nurse." It's hard to say what Ellen's motivation was for the change: was she considering remarrying? Or was she the kind of woman who preferred to draw on her own service rather than someone else's, as she'd earlier claimed? It certainly wasn't because she got more money. Suffice to say though, she wanted her name entered as Ellen White Dowling, Army Nurse.
Oh, and the note wasn't finished yet. Apparently, the official processing the claim was just as confused as I was. "A similar claim [to change to her nurse's pension] was filed in 1897, and approved, but that action was cancelled on the ground that "pensioner was not entitled to a second election." The decision upon which that statement is based is not mentioned. Aside from the filing of a declaration, the examiner has not been able to find that claimant elected to take a widows pension."
Oops.
Having finally gotten things sorted out, Ellen remained on the pension rolls as a nurse until her death in 1912. After that, the file has no further information.
Ellen's case has really peaked my interest. Why exactly did the Bureau keep her listed as a widow rather than a nurse as she wanted? And Ellen's avowed motivation for being listed as a nurse--was it that she wanted to draw on her own service? Or was she keeping the way open for her children to draw pensions as dependent minors? Also, the bit about being able to remarry and not loose her pension answered a question I'd had in the back of my mind. Women drawing widows' pensions had to remain widows if they wanted to keep drawing their pension (if you're interested in the reasons behind this, read Megan J. McClintock's 'Civil War Pensions and the Reconstruction of Union Families.'). I've been wondering if Congress's policy on widows had extended to my nurses, but Ellen's papers suggest that they didn't. For answers to my other questions...looks like another legislative file needs to be pulled.
P.O.: Somerville, Massachusetts
Service: Nurse at Armory Square Hospital
Applied: 1888
Final Status: Accepted...multiple times
I fully expected Dowling's file to be skinny--hers was, after all, a Special Act, so everything should be in the legislative file. When it turned out to be rather thick, I thought it was because she'd also applied for a widow's pension and the paperwork had been mixed in a la Mrs. Blaisdell. Half true. Here's Ellen W. Dowling's story, as far as I can make out from the file:
Ellen White began working as a nurse at Armory Square Hospital, D.C., in 1863. Some time that year, Isaac A. Dowling, a private in Co. K, 12th Massachusetts, was admitted for chronic diarrhea. They married in August of '64, had four children, and a happy marriage. Isaac, however, never recovered from his service in the army. His chronic diarrhea worsened, and he also began to suffer from heart trouble. He applied for and received a pension in the early 1870s--and as his condition worsened, and he was forced to quit work, the amount went up.
Isaac passed on July 9, 1888. I suspect Ellen had her special act already in the works at that point, because the bill was signed into law on February 12, 1889. In December, Ellen sent a letter to the Pension Bureau, filing the paperwork needed to claim a widow's pension, and asking for the arrears of said pension from the time her husband died to the time her Special Act was passed.
The Pension Bureau did not like this. Legally, you can only draw on one pension at any given time, and Ellen was, inadvertantly or not, trying to draw on two. So, they told her, she had a choice: the widow's pension at $16 a month, or her Special Act at $12 a month. Ellen replied, "I desire to have my name entered on the pension rolls as Ellen White Dowling, Army Nurse. I prefer this as it is on my own service, and some day Congress may give my children their just due."
Here's where things get a little fuzzy. It appears that the Bureau ignored Ellen's request to be listed as a nurse and continued to list her as a widow. Why is beyond me. Ellen petitioned to be listed as a nurse again in 1897, and a third time in 1902. Finally, in 1902, someone listened. Ellen's motives, however, had changed over time. A note attached to her nurse's pension form reads: "this claim for renewal of pension, as nurse, is submitted for admission for the reason that a substantial benefit amy accrue to claimant, viz: the privilege of remarriage without loss of pension as nurse." It's hard to say what Ellen's motivation was for the change: was she considering remarrying? Or was she the kind of woman who preferred to draw on her own service rather than someone else's, as she'd earlier claimed? It certainly wasn't because she got more money. Suffice to say though, she wanted her name entered as Ellen White Dowling, Army Nurse.
Oh, and the note wasn't finished yet. Apparently, the official processing the claim was just as confused as I was. "A similar claim [to change to her nurse's pension] was filed in 1897, and approved, but that action was cancelled on the ground that "pensioner was not entitled to a second election." The decision upon which that statement is based is not mentioned. Aside from the filing of a declaration, the examiner has not been able to find that claimant elected to take a widows pension."
Oops.
Having finally gotten things sorted out, Ellen remained on the pension rolls as a nurse until her death in 1912. After that, the file has no further information.
Ellen's case has really peaked my interest. Why exactly did the Bureau keep her listed as a widow rather than a nurse as she wanted? And Ellen's avowed motivation for being listed as a nurse--was it that she wanted to draw on her own service? Or was she keeping the way open for her children to draw pensions as dependent minors? Also, the bit about being able to remarry and not loose her pension answered a question I'd had in the back of my mind. Women drawing widows' pensions had to remain widows if they wanted to keep drawing their pension (if you're interested in the reasons behind this, read Megan J. McClintock's 'Civil War Pensions and the Reconstruction of Union Families.'). I've been wondering if Congress's policy on widows had extended to my nurses, but Ellen's papers suggest that they didn't. For answers to my other questions...looks like another legislative file needs to be pulled.
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