From 1862 to 1865 Phoebe Pember served as matron of a division of Chimborazo hospital in besieged Richmond. This hospital was the largest ever built in the Western Hemisphere.Phoebe's account of her experiences there is written with merciless realism tempered with humor. She tells of the scandals, the gossip, the greed and the selfishness,along with the courage and the needless suferring of the wounded soldiers in that dark age of medicene.
Well worth reading.
One of those books which should be read by anyone interested in the American Civil War, as it is often quoted by many CW historians.
My favorite part of the trouble she had at the hospital was obtaining control of the medicinal whiskey from the doctors who drank most of it up.
My favorite part of the trouble she had at the hospital was obtaining control of the medicinal whiskey from the doctors who drank most of it up.
Experiences of Phoebe Pember, matron of a rebel hospital in Civil War Richmond.
