In this ""unpretending story"" published in 1867, Sarah Palmer, known to the Union soldiers she nursed during the Civil War as ""Aunt Becky,"" tells simply and directly one woman's tale of war. Palmer, believed to have been the first woman to serve as a Union Army nurse, cared for countless sick, wounded, and dying soldiers during her three years of service. Said one soldier, ""I never knew a woman so much thought of as she was by the boys - she never showed any partiality - we all got the same attention - officers no more than privates.""

After more than three years of grim fighting, General Ulysses Grant had a plan to end the Civil War--laying siege to Petersburg, Virginia, thus cutting off supplies to the Confederate capital at Richmond. He established his headquarters at City Point on the James River, requiring thousands of troops, tons of supplies, as well as extensive medical facilities and staff. Nurses flooded the area, yet many did not work in medical capacities--they served as organizers, advocates and intelligence gatherers. Nursing emerged as a noble profession with multiple specialties. Drawing on a range of primary and secondary sources, this history covers the resilient women who opened the way for others into postwar medical, professional and political arenas.

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