Frances Hook's Hospital Stays and Encounters

In a previous blog post from January 9th, I wrote about nurse Annie Wittenmyer's encounter in Chattanooga and Nashville with a soldier who turned out  to be Frances Hook whose real name was Elizabeth Quinn.  Click (HERE) for the post. 

Wittenmyer wasn't the only nurse who wrote about meeting the woman soldier.

Mary Walker, from Wikipedia

Quinn arrived at Hospital No. 2 in Chattanooga on February 18th, 1864.  It was there where she crossed paths with Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, who would become the only female recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Walker described her as "...about medium hight (sic), with dark hazel eyes, dark brown hair, rounded features and feminine voice and appearance."   Hook was not the only woman soldier connected with Mary Walker.  But that's another post.








Martha Baker's husband, Abner, enlisted in the 90th Indiana Infantry in February 1862.  Following the battle of Chickamauga, he was sent to Nashville where he was transferred to the 160th Veteran Reserve Corps and detailed as a wound dresser.  He wrote to Martha asking her to travel to Nashville in order provide assistance.  She left Stockwell, Indiana with their young daughter in January 1864.  Upon arrival, she began work in the special diet kitchen where she prepared food for the Officers' Hospital and Hospital No. 2.  It was during her stay when she crossed paths with not only Hook but another woman as well.  According to Baker,

I met two soldier girls who had donned the blue.  One, Frances Hook, alias Harry Miller, served two years and nine months; the other was called Anna.  She was put in our charge until the military authorities could send her North.  (Our Army Nurses, Mary Holland, 1895, p. 230)

The identity of Anna and her fate are unknown at this time.  Quinn's story, however, continues.  She was transferred from Hospital No. 2 in Chattanooga to the Officers Hospital in Nashville on March 1st, 1864, and this is the one where both Baker and Wittenmyer encountered her.  This hospital, also called Hospital No. 17, was the former Planter's Hotel. 

Courtesy Battle of Nashville Preservation Society

The site is now a surface parking lot located on the northeast corner at the intersection of Deadrick St. and 5th Avenue.

 I then blended the two pictures:  then and now.

Quinn remained here until May 5th when she was transferred to Hospital No. 1, which was at a location of an old gun factory on College Hill on 4th Avenue (formerly Cherry Street).   The building was not there at the time, but this is the general location of the hospital.

(Photo by Mark Hidlebaugh)

RG 94, NARA

Quinn sustained the wound that sent her to these hospitals while reportedly serving in the 90th Illinois Infantry late in 1863.  As to the nature of the injury, Annie Wittenmyer wrote, "She was wounded in the thigh.  No bones were broken; but it was a deep, ugly flesh wound, as if torn by a fragment of shell."  (Under the Guns, Wittenmyer, p. 17)  Another account claims she was shot through the calf. (Pictorial Book of Anecdotes and Incidents of the War of the Rebellion, Frazar Kirkland, 1867, p. 567). Hospital registers note that it was a thigh wound, however.  Regardless, it turned gangrenous and crippled Hook to the point where it required lengthy hospital stays. She was finally released in June 1864, having spent approximately six months recovering.  This wound undoubtedly bothered her for the rest of the few years she had remaining.  She died of dropsy in 1872 at the age of 27.

My Talk for the Margaret Reed Crosby Memorial Library

When one ages, is it common for one to become increasingly late to destinations?  I have always prided myself in arriving early to everywhere.  But it seems lately I am struggling to get myself in gear, and I don't like it.  At least it wasn't my fault yesterday.

150th Anniversary of the Battle of Bentonville

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the first day of the 3-day battle of Bentonville.  There was at least one woman who participated, Margaret Plyler Torry.  On April 11th, 1865, the Charlotte Western Democrat ran an article from two Raleigh papers, the Progress and Daily Conservative detailing her story, the former of which incorrectly calling her "Plyde."

My Triple Header

Last week, Mark and I hit the road to give three talks in three nights.  As we left the rental car place in south Mississippi, we were hoping the Ohio license plates wouldn't draw unneeded attention in central Alabama and southern Tennesseee.  I would be able to talk my way out of anything with my Mississippi accent.  But Mark probably wouldn't, considering he is from Iowa.....and would be wearing his Federal uniform.  Of course, I say all of this in jest.  We have always been treated extremely well everywhere we have gone.

It's All Fun and Games Until Somebody Gets Hurt

Not woman soldier related.  Sgt. Henry Howell, 11th Illinois Cavalry, "sporting" around.  From Corinth National Cemetery:  click on pictures to enlarge.  I wonder what the story behind this is.

Source:  U.S. Burial Registers, National Cemeteries, and Military Posts, 1862-1960

My Talk for the Poplarville Historical Preservation Society, 2/12/15

The crowd had just started filtering in as I was in the final stages of getting all of my gadgets plugged in.  An elderly gentleman walked in, turned to look at my title slide projected on a wall, and said, "I didn't know women fought in the Civil War."  It is something I hear a lot.  And it strengthens my desire to continue giving these presentations for the purposes of education and preservation of the memory of these extraordinary women.

Presentation for the Poplarville Historical Society

If you're in the area, stop by! It's this Thursday, 2/12 at the Poplarville Methodist Church at 5:30. It is free and open to the public. Click below for directions and address.

Post by Shelby Harriel - "Forbidden, Hidden, and Forgotten".

Scared To Death

This isn't about women soldiers, so please forgive me for veering off topic.  I wanted to share an unusual bit of information I stumbled upon when scouring the pages of U.S. Burial Registers, Military Posts and National Cemeteries, 1862-1960 last week.  Lots of interesting information can be gleaned from its pages, some of it a bit morbid but interesting nevertheless.  You'll find where soldiers were originally buried before being reinterred, if there was an epithet left by their pards carved on a headboard or neighboring tree, their name/age/rank/unit/date of death if known, what they were wearing, the color of their hair, if they were buried with any personal effects such as rings or photographs, any visible injuries, and where they currently lie.  Some were killed by bushwhakers.  I even saw some who were drowned either by accident or at the hands of others.  I came across soldiers who were buried in blankets and coffins.  Some were holding pictures of a wife and/or children.  Some had bushy beards while others were whiskerless. Some had gold teeth.  Some were missing legs just past the knee or arms above the elbow.  Some were missing jaws.  Some had bullet holes in their head while others had the entire skull smashed in.   It was obvious how these poor souls met their demise.  And then there was this guy who is buried in Chattanooga National Cemetery: (click the photos to enlarge them)

"said to have been scared to death"

 

"A Campaign Incident"

(Library of Congress)

Henry Clinton "Clint" Parkhurst was born December 9th, 1844, in LeClaire, Iowa, which, incidentally, was Buffalo Bill Cody's hometown.  He began writing poetry at a young age and,  before the war, worked as a printer.  Once hostilities broke out, Parkhurst heeded Iowa's call and on February 12th, 1862, enlisted in Company C of the 16th Iowa Infantry.  He was 17 years old, 5'6" with blue eyes and blonde hair.

Parkhurst saw action in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Georgia with the 16th.  During the Atlanta campaign, he was taken prisoner and sent to Andersonville, Millen, and Florence.  Parkhurst survived the horrors of prison camp life  and was discharged on June 8th, 1865.

(Post war photo; Library of Congress)

 He returned to Iowa where he became a reporter for various newspapers.  He also worked on his memoirs, and published Songs of a Man Who Failed, a collection of his poems, in 1921.

 Parkhurst died on November 16th, 1933, at the Soldier's Home in Marshalltown, Iowa.

Florena Budwin

 Today, marks the 150th anniversary of the death of Florena Budwin. Residents of Philadelphia, she and her husband, John, enlisted in an unknown unit. One account says he was killed in an engagement in South Carolina. Another says that they were both captured in South Carolina and sent to Andersonville where her alleged husband, a captain, was said to have been killed by a guard. She remained at Andersonville until September 1864, when she was sent with a group of other prisoners to Florence, South Carolina, in the wake of Sherman's operations in close proximity to Andersonville. While at Florence, she contracted pneumonia and died January 25th, 1865, at the age of 21. She lies in a mass grave in section D and is believed to be the first woman buried in a national cemetery.  However, this not entirely correct.  Chalmette National Cemetery was established a year before Florence and serves as the resting place of Rosetta Wakeman who was buried over six months before Budwin. But Wakeman is buried under her male alias, “Lyons Wakeman,” whereas Budwin’s feminine name appears on her headstone. Other female soldiers died before Budwin and removed to national cemeteries established after Florence.  Budwin is the first woman to be buried under her entire feminine name in a national cemetery, and it is more than likely an alias.  Fanny Wilson died about four months before Budwin and was re-buried as F. Wilson in what would become Memphis National Cemetery in 1866.

Florena is the only one in section D with a marked grave. 
There are over 2000 unknown soldiers buried around her.
Someone had placed artificial flowers at her grave.
Photo by Mark Hidlebaugh

Click [HERE] to view an album from my visit to Florence National Cemetery.

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Ancestry.com