Nellie M. Chase had no references and noexperience except what life had taught her. Headstrong enough to risk parentaldisapproval for the man she loved, she had eloped at the age of nineteen with a man she later described asa "drunk, a gambler, a liar, a forger, and a thief." She was strongenough to escape from that potentially abusive relationship and resourcefulenough to find a job as wardrobe mistress for a theater. The woman with whomshe shared a single room in a squalid tenement took an overdose of opium in aneffort to escape a life of prostitution. Nellie joined the Union Army, because life in the midstof a war seemed safer than the one she had been living.
The regimental chaplain did his bestto drive her away, but Nellie was an uncooperative target. Shebelieved so passionately in her country’s cause that she faced danger with asoldier’s bravery. Her skill and compassion led her patients to call her their very own FlorenceNightingale. She was equally at home managing a southern plantation full ofabandoned slaves, a battlefield operating station, or a 600-bed military hospital.But after the war, her deep-seated need to dedicate her life to a worthy causecontinued to drive her efforts until she faced an enemy more lethal than war.
The Story Behind This Book
While I was writing a historical account of the 100th Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment (known as the Roundheads), I kept coming across references to Nellie Chase, the regimental matron. While she was not strictly a part of my narrative, she was more interesting than many of the people about whom I was writing. When a librarian asked me if it was true that Nellie had an affair with the commander of the Roundheads, I knew I had to find out more about her.
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