
Hospital Sketches
' Hospital Sketches' Summary
Tribulation Periwinkle opens the story by complaining, "I want something to do." She dismisses suggestions to write a book, teach, get married, or start acting. When her younger brother suggests she "go nurse the soldiers", she immediately responds, "I will!" After substantial hardship in trying to obtain a spot, she has further difficulty finding a place on the train. She then describes her travel through New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore en route to Washington DC.
Immediately after her arrival, Periwinkle must attend to the wounded from the Battle of Fredericksburg. Her first assignment is washing them before putting them to bed. She converses with the various wounded soldiers, including an Irishman and a Virginia blacksmith. The death of the blacksmith, a man named John, in particular touches her deeply.
Book Details
Author

Louisa May Alcott
United States
Alcott was an abolitionist and a feminist. In 1860, Alcott began writing for the Atlantic Monthly. When the American Civil War broke out, she served as a nurse in the Union Hospital in Georgetown, DC,...
More on Louisa May AlcottDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
- Select Speed
Related books

A Visit to Three Fronts: June 1916 by Arthur Conan Doyle
My experiences and impressions are here set down, and may have some small effect in counteracting those mischievous misunderstandings and mutual belit...

The Belgian Twins by Lucy Fitch Perkins
This story is based upon the experiences of two Belgian refugees in World War I. When their parents are marched of by Germans, Jan and Marie are left...

The Sword of Deborah by F. Tennyson Jesse
"The Sword of Deborah" contains the reflections of a woman journalist visiting women working behind the lines in France during World War I. She writes...

The Petticoat Commando by Johanna Brandt
In introducing the English version of this book I venture to bespeak a welcome for it, not only for the light which it throws on some little-known inc...

The New Army in Training by Rudyard Kipling
An unexpected threat looms large, summoning the reluctant heroes of a nation to face a daunting challenge. As the familiar battlefields of Europe witn...

Chancellorsville and Gettysburg by Abner Doubleday
Abner Doubleday began the Civil War as a Union officer and aimed the first cannon shot in response to the bombardment opened on Ft. Sumter in 1861. Tw...

The Winnowing Fan: Poems On The Great War by Robert Laurence Binyon
This little gem of a book contains twelve poems about World War I. There is more to it than its intrinsic value as verse. Edward Elgarset three of the...

Station Life in New Zealand by Mary Anne Barker
STATION LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND is a fascinating account of the time Lady Mary Anne Barker lived on a sheep station on the south island of New Zealand. It...

War Is a Racket by Smedley Butler
A highly decorated United States Marine Corps major general. In this captivating and eye-opening work, Butler presents a compelling argument about the...

History of the Thirty Years War, Volume 4 by Friedrich Schiller
Volume Four covers the battle of Lutzen (November, 1633) to the death of Wallenstein (February, 1634) focusing on the reaction of the Protestant force...
Reviews for Hospital Sketches
No reviews posted or approved, yet...