Louisa May Alcott 
Hospital Sketches 
An Army Nurses’s True Account of Her Experience During the Civil War

This early work by Louisa May Alcott was originally published in 1863 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. Alcott, watched men go off to war from her home town and wrote in her diary, ‘ as I can’t fight, I will content myself to help those who can.’ On her 30th birthday she went to Washington D. C. to sign up as a nurse. She spent 6 weeks serving in a field hospital and what came out of it were this slightly fictionalized and highly successful sketches of what she had seen.

About the author

Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) was an American author born in Philadelphia, USA. She began her career writing short stories under pen names, including A. M. Barnard. Alcott is best known for her children’s novel Little Women, 1868, and its subsequent sequels: Good Wives, 1869, Little Men, 1871, and Jo’s Boys, 1886. She received great critical acclaim during her lifetime and was able to support herself and her family through her writing career. Alcott was also a determined activist and was heavily involved in abolitionism and feminist movements.