Rebecca Wiswell
Rebecca Wiswell | |
|---|---|
Rebecca Wiswell, from an 1895 publication | |
| Born | September 24, 1806 Provincetown, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | October 29, 1897 (age 91) Plymouth, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Occupation | Nurse |
Rebecca Wiswell (September 24, 1806[1] – October 29, 1897[2]) was an American nurse who served under Dorothea Dix in the American Civil War.
Early life and education
Wiswell was born in Provincetown, Massachusetts,[1] the daughter of George Rix Wiswell and Salome Nickerson Wiswell.[3] Her father was a sea captain, born in England.[4]
Career
Wiswell was a nurse in Boston for much of her life,[5] and was a skilled weaver, spinner, knitter and quiltmaker.[3][6] She was a Union Army nurse during the American Civil War,[7] serving from 1862 to 1865 under Dorothea Dix at the Seminary Hospital in Georgetown, D.C., and at hospitals in Winchester and Fortress Monroe.[6][8] Wiswell presented letters signed by Dix and several physicians and politicians, and by former patients, as evidence for her successful 1886 petition to Congress, requesting a federal pension. The Plymouth post of the Grand Army of the Republic, and the Plymouth Board of Selectmen, also endorsed her petition.[9] In reviewing her petition, the House Committee on Invalid Pensions declared that "this claimant is a most worthy woman."[10]
In 1876, for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Wiswell and one of her sisters demonstrated spinning and weaving in the New England Log Cabin exhibit. She played a character called "Aunt Tabitha". She also demonstrated spinning and weaving at the Soldiers' Home Bazar in Boston.[4]
Personal life and legacy
Wiswell was known for singing hymns of early New England.[11] She died in 1897, at the age of 91, in Plymouth.[2][12] The Rebecca Wiswell Tent of the Daughters of Veterans, a chapter based in Quincy, Massachusetts, was named in her memory.[13]
References
- ^ a b "She Nursed the Boys in Blue; Miss Rebecca Wiswell of Plymouth". The Boston Globe. 1895-03-02. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-08-31 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Deaths of Army Nurses Reported from Department of Massachusetts" Journal of the Sixteenth National Convention of the Woman's Relief Corps (September 1898): 188.
- ^ a b "Recent Deaths; 'Aunt Rebecca' Wiswell; The Oldest Army Nurse of the Civil War". Boston Evening Transcript. 1897-10-29. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-08-31 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Oldest Army Nurse Dead". Times Union. 1897-11-02. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-08-31 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Boston Directory. Sampson & Murdock Company. 1851. p. 268.
- ^ a b Coddington, Ronald S. (2020-10-06). Faces of Civil War Nurses. JHU Press. pp. 105–109. ISBN 978-1-4214-3795-8.
- ^ Convention, Woman's Relief Corps (U S. ) National (1890). Journal of the Annual Convention of the Woman's Relief Corps. E.B. Stillings. p. 163.
- ^ Holland, Mary A. Gardner (1895). Our army nurses. Interesting sketches, addresses, and photographs of nearly one hundred of the noble women who served in hospitals and on battlefields during our civil war. The Library of Congress. Boston, Mass., B. Wilkins & co. pp. 298–302.
- ^ "Report of the Committee on Invalid Pensions". House document no. 2727. June 5, 1886. pp. 1–2.
- ^ Congressional Record. U.S. Government Printing Office. July 30, 1886. pp. 7770–7771.
- ^ "'I'm an Old Maid'; Miss Rebecca Wiswell's Interesting Career". The Boston Globe. 1889-11-10. p. 2. Retrieved 2025-08-31 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Honor Paid to the Late Rebecca Wiswell". Boston Evening Transcript. 1897-11-08. p. 8. Retrieved 2025-08-31 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Its First Anniversary Celebrated by Rebecca Wiswell Tent, D. of V., of Quincy". The Boston Globe. 1914-04-01. p. 6. Retrieved 2025-08-31 – via Newspapers.com.