Sarah Chauncey Woolsey to her cousin, Georgeanna at Portsmouth Grove. New Haven, October, ’62. And now for Miss Wormeley’s delightful letter; my dear, it sounds too good to come true, all of it, and yet I can’t help thinking that Providence smiles on the scheme and will bring about papa’s consent. . . . We [...]

On September 17th the fierce battle of Antietam was fought by the Army of the Potomac,–a drawn battle, little better than a defeat for us; and though the rebels retired there was no following up on our part, and no result worth the enormous loss of life. And now the moment had come for the [...]

Abby Howland Woolsey to H. Gilman. Litchfield, Sept. 22. Charley is trying for a Lieutenancy in one of the new regiments, and Governor Morgan has promised, as all governors do, to “see about it.” This is going to be a great drain on Mother’s spirits and strength, if the application succeeds, and will bring us [...]

  The interchange of letters between Miss Wormeley and G[eorgeanna] ended in an agreement that they should join hands again for hospital work at Portsmouth Grove, and as G. made bold to propose… Jane and Sarah Woolsey as co-laborers, all three of them were given the chance they coveted. Miss Wormeley’s plan for organizing will [...]

Mr. Lincoln’s call for 300,000 more troops was being answered. All over the country camps were being formed and boys drilled in all the pleasant villages of the land. Mother and all of us went to rest awhile, after Charley and G. came home, in Litchfield, and watched the drilling and recruiting. Abby Howland Woolsey [...]

Chaplain Henry Hopkins to Georgeanna Woolsey. Alexandria Hospital, Sept., 1862. My dear Miss Woolsey: In great haste I write to say that to dispense anything which will do the bodies of these poor sufferers good will be a most welcome task. . . . Outside of the house, at the Mansion Hospital, we fed 1,500, [...]

The retreat from the Peninsula was almost immediately, (August 29, ’62,) followed by the “Second Bull Run” disaster, which again filled the Washington and Alexandria hospitals to overflowing and taxed the hospital workers to the utmost. Chaplain Hopkins, still on hard service in Alexandria, writes: Office of General Hospital, 12 O’clock Sunday Night. Alexandria, August [...]

  A camp for sick and wounded had been established at Portsmouth Grove, near Newport, R. I., and as a matter of course it appealed to Miss Wormeley, its near neighbor. She was allowed only a short rest before earnest request came to her to take charge of the nursing there. We were all hankering [...]

On the 14th of August–McClellan’s attempt to reach Richmond via the Chickahominy swamps having proved a disastrous failure–the transfer of the army to Washington began. Lieutenant Robert Wilson of J. H.’s regiment wrote home at the time a letter which might easily have come from any regiment in the Army of the Potomac. “Six days’ [...]

Eliza Woolsey Howland to her Mother. Fishkill, Aug. 15. Dear Mother: In answer to my letter Dr. Draper came up yesterday noon and stayed till this afternoon. . . . The visit was part professional and part for pleasure and was satisfactory in both ways. He finds Joe improving, though more slowly than he had [...]

Eliza Woolsey Howland and Georgeanna… were planning to join the hospital service again, and keep near [Eliza’s husband] Joe, under the Sanitary Commission auspices. Frederick Law Olmsted to Eliza Woolsey Howland U. S. Sanitary Commission, New York Agency, 40 Broadway. New York, 25th July, 1862. Dear Mrs. Howland: I have just received your note of [...]

By July 22 [Colonel] Joe [Howland] could not be kept away from the army, and only half well, he started back, probably in a hospital return boat, to the regiment at Harrison’s Landing. It was, however, only to break down again. The Historical Sketch of the 16th, prepared for their reunion at Potsdam in 1886, [...]

Somewhere about July 14, ’62, Charley and G. must have gone home from Harrison’s Landing, probably in a returning hospital ship. The record is lacking–Sarah Woolsey’s letter of July 22 being the first mention of it. She had been serving all this time at the New Haven Hospital. Sarah Chauncey Woolsey to Georgeanna Woolsey. New [...]

The whole staff of the Wilson Small seems now to have scattered and “fallen back” on Washington. The letter of July 21 is from Miss Katherine P. Wormeley. She and Mrs. William P. Griffin had been delightful friends to us. We were the four “staff” women on the Wilson Small through the whole Peninsular campaign. [...]

Joseph Howland kept up constant communication with the 16th and his commanding generals, always in the hope of going back, in spite of all discouragements. Gen. Henry W. Slocum writes to him: Harrison’s Landing, July 19, ’62. My dear Colonel: Yours of the 16th has just come to hand. I am sincerely glad that you [...]

Eliza Woolsey Howland to her sister, Georgeanna. Fishkill, July 13. Except for seeing how much good the rest and the home scenes are doing Joe, I would much rather be at Harrison’s Point. He is improving nicely. His wound is not healed yet, but the inflammation has all gone and it looks better every day, [...]

Charles William Woolsey to his brother-in-law, Joseph Howland, Wilson Small, Harrison’s Landing, Saturday, July 12th. Dear Joe: I saw, to-day, your adjutant, surgeon, and quartermaster; the former is much better, he says, and is going home in a day or two. He reports the 16th in good condition and in excellent spirits. This is unmistakably [...]

Georgeanna Woolsey’s journal. July 12. Lying off Harrison’s Point in sight of the hospital on shore to which we went the other evening. The fifty tents we brought from Washington are going up and are partly filled– men on cots, and not very ill. The place is to be used as a rest for a [...]

Abbie Howland Woolsey to her sister, Georgeanna. 8 Brevoort Place, New York, July 10th, 1862. Eliza, Joe and Jane have gone off this morning to Fishkill. . Joe’s place here was in the long lounging-chair by the front parlor window, while we received ordinary folks whom he wouldn’t see, in the dining-room. He has worn [...]

Georgeanna Muirson Woolsey to Frederick Law Olmsted. Washington. My dear Mr. Olmsted: Can the Sanitary Commission do anything to prevent a repetition of the inhuman treatment the sick received last week, on their way from Jamestown to Alexandria? 150 men were packed in one canal boat between decks, stowed so closely together that they were [...]

General Franklin’s wife to Eliza. April 12. My dear Mrs. Howland: Last night (late) I was informed as a great secret that General Franklin’s Division was to go to General McClellan after all! I was wondering when I awoke this morning if I might not go and tell you. . . . General Meigs was [...]

Sarah Woolsey to Eliza Woolsey Howland New Haven, Tuesday Night. I am just home from a very hot day at the New Haven Hospital, and so glad to find Jane’s note with the news of your arrival that I must write a line before going to bed to tell you of it. And thus our [...]

Abbie Howland Woolsey to her sister at Harrison’s Landing. 8 Brevoort Place, July 7, 1862. My dear Georgy: Eliza and Joe came safely through yesterday (Sunday) morning. Jane and I were just going to the front door on our way to church when their hotel coach drove up. They had a pleasant voyage, only Joe [...]

Abby Howland Woolsey to her sister, Eliza. 8 Brevoort Place, Saturday, July 5th, ’62. My dear Eliza: Georgy’s and Charley’s letters from Harrison’s have just arrived, the last date being a postscript Thursday, July 3, which brings us into close correspondence again you see. These letters have relieved the painful anxiety that began to possess [...]