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South After Gettysburg: Letters of Cornelia Hancock from the Army of the Potomac, 1863-1865
173 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1937
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 9, 2017
The letters of Civil War nurse Cornelia Hancock read as entertaining as any novel and reveal a plucky and humorous heroine. Cornelia writes to her niece that her motto is "What is vigorously set about can generally be accomplished" and her experiences show that she firmly acted upon it. When a carriage arrives from Philadelphia and her mother wonders what has happened, Cornelia tells her, "Oh, nothing, Mother. Doctor has sent for me to go to war!" And with that, she departs with her brother-in-law Dr. Child to the front at Gettysburg, arriving three days after the battle and beginning two years of labor as a nurse in the Civil War.
Cornelia shows herself to be a strong and capable woman during the rest of the war, although also headstrong and opinionated. In one letter to her sister she candidly states, "I like people to do as I tell them even if in some cases it may turn out wrong." But her actions as a nurse win her fame and friends; as one patient stated, "She is well known and as much loved in the 2nd Corps as Florence Nightingale was in the British Army."
A more unpleasant revelation in her correspondence was the various degrees of racism displayed, regardless of devotion to the Union cause. While all sought to defeat the "Secesh" and the "Rebs," not all of Cornelia's companions were "Abolitionists." Cornelia criticizes her close friend Dr. Dudley, who is not an abolitionist, for his demeaning (though not cruel) treatment of the young boy who works for him. She claims that "Dudley is not pro-slavery... but he thinks nothing of the black man himself." Yet she defends him to her family, asserting that she must "allow freedom of speech and thought even on the slavery question."
In a similar manner, when Cornelia observes the plight of the escaped slaves in camps at Washington DC, she appeals to her brother, "Where are the people who have been professing abolition?" and asserts that "A contraband [escaped slave] is a breathing human being." Yet she seems unaware of her own racist comments that riddle her letters, particularly her opinion of how anyone could "be so ignorant as these people", even saying, "true to their nature, stupid to the last". Although she strives towards a higher ideal, claiming, "To be able to love a white man equally well with the black is my kind of humanity," it is apparent that her views spanned the spectrum of abolitionism and racism, dismissive condescension and warm-hearted philanthropy. However, she seems genuinely to have had a heart for the lot of the freed slaves, as she spent the next ten years of her life teaching at a school for African-American children in South Carolina.
Cornelia's letters give a full picture of the experiences of her life as a Civil War nurse, both the enjoyment and the sorrow, reveal both her strengths and her weaknesses, and are altogether a delight to read. She tells her mother, "I want my letters preserved as I keep no other diary," and I am glad that they were indeed preserved, so that we can echo what her acquaintance exclaimed: "Thee is a real heroine!"
Cornelia shows herself to be a strong and capable woman during the rest of the war, although also headstrong and opinionated. In one letter to her sister she candidly states, "I like people to do as I tell them even if in some cases it may turn out wrong." But her actions as a nurse win her fame and friends; as one patient stated, "She is well known and as much loved in the 2nd Corps as Florence Nightingale was in the British Army."
A more unpleasant revelation in her correspondence was the various degrees of racism displayed, regardless of devotion to the Union cause. While all sought to defeat the "Secesh" and the "Rebs," not all of Cornelia's companions were "Abolitionists." Cornelia criticizes her close friend Dr. Dudley, who is not an abolitionist, for his demeaning (though not cruel) treatment of the young boy who works for him. She claims that "Dudley is not pro-slavery... but he thinks nothing of the black man himself." Yet she defends him to her family, asserting that she must "allow freedom of speech and thought even on the slavery question."
In a similar manner, when Cornelia observes the plight of the escaped slaves in camps at Washington DC, she appeals to her brother, "Where are the people who have been professing abolition?" and asserts that "A contraband [escaped slave] is a breathing human being." Yet she seems unaware of her own racist comments that riddle her letters, particularly her opinion of how anyone could "be so ignorant as these people", even saying, "true to their nature, stupid to the last". Although she strives towards a higher ideal, claiming, "To be able to love a white man equally well with the black is my kind of humanity," it is apparent that her views spanned the spectrum of abolitionism and racism, dismissive condescension and warm-hearted philanthropy. However, she seems genuinely to have had a heart for the lot of the freed slaves, as she spent the next ten years of her life teaching at a school for African-American children in South Carolina.
Cornelia's letters give a full picture of the experiences of her life as a Civil War nurse, both the enjoyment and the sorrow, reveal both her strengths and her weaknesses, and are altogether a delight to read. She tells her mother, "I want my letters preserved as I keep no other diary," and I am glad that they were indeed preserved, so that we can echo what her acquaintance exclaimed: "Thee is a real heroine!"
February 19, 2023
Incredible first-hand account by a battlefield nurse for scholars of the Civil War.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews