Dorothea Dix Letter to Dr. Flowers Regarding Appointment of Nurse

Dublin Core

Title

Dorothea Dix Letter to Dr. Flowers Regarding Appointment of Nurse

Subject

United States -- History --Ohio Women -- Military Ohio--Civil War--Nurses--Nursing

Description

Dorothea Dix (1802-1887), the Union's superintendent of female nurses, wrote this letter to Dr. Flowers accepting the service of Miss Susan Free at the Union hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. Dr. Flowers then sent Dix's letter to Governor David Tod of Ohio requesting a pass for Miss Free to travel to and from the hospital. The letters are one page each and are written on the front and back of one sheet of paper that measures 5" x 8" (12.7 x 20.32 cm). During the Civil War, Ohio provided the third largest number of men for the Union and the largest number of soldiers in relation to the population of the state. It is estimated that 346, 326 Ohioans served in the Union army. Of those that served, 11, 588 were fatally wounded in battle.

Creator

Dix, Dorothea

Source

Ohio Memory; Ohio Historical Society; Unpublished material (archives/manuscripts); State Archives Series 147

Date

1862

Contributor

Nick Kelly

Rights

For rights and reproduction requests, go to the Ohio Historical Society's Audiovisual and Graphic Reproduction Services page at http://www.ohiohistory.org/resource/audiovis/photodup.html

Coverage

New Lexington (Ohio)
Perry County (OH)

Contribution Form

Online Submission

No

Document Item Type Metadata

Text

Page 1:

F.L. Flowers, M.D.
Dear Sir-The service of Miss Susan Free is accepted for any General Hospital [underlined] to which the Resident Surgeon will admit her-TheRules [underlined] of this service grant [illegible word crossed out] admission to field [underlined] hospitals for women-how do they allow their service under any title while armies are in active [underlined] service [illegible]. I think if
Miss Free possesses the qualifications you describe she will find her place in a General [underlined] Hospital. [illegible] Sir with Respect,
Feb. 4th 1862. D. L. Dix

Page 2:

New Lexington. O
Feby 8, 1862.
His Excellency Gov. Tod.
Columbus Ohio
Dear Sir:
According to your direction, some days since application was made to Miss Dix, by me, [caret mark] for Miss Free [written above line] and as you will discover by [crossed out] [illegible], her services are accepted by her. As intimated before by me, Miss Free exhausted her [illegible] in gratuitously assisting in the Military Hospital of Lexington Ky. during the summer. She desires to return there to the service to which she is accepted. The object of this note is, to solicit from the proper source a free pass [underlined] for her to return thither and to & from the Hospital.
Any assistance you can grant her in this direction would be gratefully received by her as much as by
Yours Respectfully- F.L. Flowers

Files

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Citation

Dix, Dorothea, "Dorothea Dix Letter to Dr. Flowers Regarding Appointment of Nurse," in Ohio Civil War 150 | Collections & Exhibits, Item #1878, http://www.ohiocivilwar150.org/omeka/items/show/1878 (accessed February 10, 2012).

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Special Thanks to Ohio Memory, a joint project of OHS and the State Library of Ohio.