Pension File: 762083, 480886
P.O.: Colebrook, Ohio
Service: nurse in Dix's nursing corps
Applied: 1888
Status: Accepted (Special Act)
I am ready for a vacation. Lucky me, Fall break starts this Friday (W&M is strange like that, we don't get the usual Monday holidays off, we get a Monday and Tuesday "break"), so I am heading up to Gettysburg tomorrow night to enjoy my couple of days off...and do work. Lots of work. There are a number of nurses who I have legislative files for, but no pension files, and a couple who I have pension files for but no legislative files, so I'm heading in to D.C. on Friday to fix that. It may carry over into Monday if I have too many files to pull, but I'm hoping not. And when I'm not in D.C., I'll be catching up on school work and writing chapter one of this behemoth. But at least Gettysburg is the perfect place to work on this, and I get home cooking...
Gotta earn it first. Alright, Elizabeth Tuttle: busy, busy woman. Nothing in the census records yet, but there are some papers at the Lilly Library at Indiana University which I'm having photocopied and sent to me. Tuttle started her nursing career at Locust Spring Hospital in Keedysville, Maryland, just after the Battle of Antietam as one of Dix's nursing corps. Apparently she cared for men from both sides, because her file contains a letter from General Cox acknowledging the receipt of her note. Her note had accompanied the letter of a Georgian prisoner, and she wanted the General to ensure it reached its destination--this he promised to do. Tuttle was transferred to Harper's Ferry in December, where she supervised the cooking department, and then to Camp Letterman after Gettysburg. She stayed there until Letterman was closed down in November, and then headed west per Dix's instructions to work for Mr. Yeatman (he headed the Western Sanitary Commission). She worked as matron of the linen rooms in General Hospital No. 2 in Chattanooga, then transferred to No. 1 on January 10th, 1865. Tuttle was finally relieved of duty on September 18th, 1865 and went home to Philadelphia, at which point we lose her story until 1888 when she applied to Congress for a special act.
Apparently Mary Bickerdyke was the lead on Tuttle's case. She filed the paperwork, and Tuttle wrote to her asking about her bill's progress, and once making corrections when the bill called her Miss Tucker instead of Miss Tuttle. Apparently Tuttle was living alone with her mother--who was 95 years old--and Tuttle's health was rapidly failing. "Nothing but need," she wrote, "would induce me to--well hope I may be excused for my impertunity [sic]." That was in mid 1888. Congress gave Tuttle a $12 pension, but it took them 2 years to get around to it.
Tuttle file is a wonderful example of networking between army nurses. Tuttle has Bickerdyke for her attorney--and at the same time Bickerdyke is also working on the claim of Harriet Dada Emens, another nurse. Despite the fact that Bickerdyke did work as a pension and claims agent, I've never seen Bickerdyke get involved in a pension before--I'm hoping the letters from Indiana U will give me some information on how she got wrapped up in all this. Bottom line, however: Tuttle and Emens are getting in touch with a fellow former nurse rather than a lawyer--something that doesn't happen so much post-1892. This is definitely going in chapter one.
I think I've earned at least one home cooked meal, no?
Showing posts with label Harper's Ferry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harper's Ferry. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Susan Barry
Pension File: 599141, 352072 (Special Act)
P.O.: San Francisco, CA
Service: served under Dix at at least 11 different hospitals from 1861 to 1864.
Applied: 1887
Status: Accepted
Susan Barry's file was really two files in one. One was her husband's pension file; the other was hers. Robert, the husband, emigrated from England as a child. Susan was a native. Robert enlisted in the Stokes Battery, Illinois Light Artillery; Susan was selected as a nurse in May of 1861 and began courses at Bellevue Hospital. After two months, Dix assigned her to Alexandria, Virginia. She stayed there for eight months before being transferred to Winchester. From then on, every few months found her at a new hospital: Harpers Ferry, Georgetown, Aquia Creek, Murfreesboro--she was everywhere. There's no indication in the records as to how Robert and Susan met, but the two were married in May, 1866, at Hoomer, New York.
Robert almost immediately began to suffer from neuralgia and a variety of other maladies which he traced back to his service. The Bureau, however, didn't buy it until 1890, and in the meantime, Susan applied for a Special Act of her own. In 1887, Congress granted her a $12 pension. Once again, the file's a little sparse on exactly how Barry pushed through a Special Act, but given the trouble Robert was having getting his own pension, it was probably a good thing. The Bureau didn't think his disabilities kept him from doing manual labor in any significant way, and there were allegations that his 'nervous prostration' was due to some excessive drinking. Susan, however, supported her husband's claim, writing letters, signing affidavits, and helping with the special investigation launched in 1900. Robert died in 1905 at the age of 67; Susan passed a few years later in 1912.
No big surprises, no intriguing mysteries or hints, just a simple story of a woman and her husband and their experiences. Though...Susan has a special act file buried somewhere in the depths of the Archives--with four years of service, I bet there'll be some interesting finds!
P.O.: San Francisco, CA
Service: served under Dix at at least 11 different hospitals from 1861 to 1864.
Applied: 1887
Status: Accepted
Susan Barry's file was really two files in one. One was her husband's pension file; the other was hers. Robert, the husband, emigrated from England as a child. Susan was a native. Robert enlisted in the Stokes Battery, Illinois Light Artillery; Susan was selected as a nurse in May of 1861 and began courses at Bellevue Hospital. After two months, Dix assigned her to Alexandria, Virginia. She stayed there for eight months before being transferred to Winchester. From then on, every few months found her at a new hospital: Harpers Ferry, Georgetown, Aquia Creek, Murfreesboro--she was everywhere. There's no indication in the records as to how Robert and Susan met, but the two were married in May, 1866, at Hoomer, New York.
Robert almost immediately began to suffer from neuralgia and a variety of other maladies which he traced back to his service. The Bureau, however, didn't buy it until 1890, and in the meantime, Susan applied for a Special Act of her own. In 1887, Congress granted her a $12 pension. Once again, the file's a little sparse on exactly how Barry pushed through a Special Act, but given the trouble Robert was having getting his own pension, it was probably a good thing. The Bureau didn't think his disabilities kept him from doing manual labor in any significant way, and there were allegations that his 'nervous prostration' was due to some excessive drinking. Susan, however, supported her husband's claim, writing letters, signing affidavits, and helping with the special investigation launched in 1900. Robert died in 1905 at the age of 67; Susan passed a few years later in 1912.
No big surprises, no intriguing mysteries or hints, just a simple story of a woman and her husband and their experiences. Though...Susan has a special act file buried somewhere in the depths of the Archives--with four years of service, I bet there'll be some interesting finds!
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