From Eleanor’s Caldwell Private Journal
Richmond Confederate Hospital
March 7, 1862
Late Evening

This marks my fortieth day working in the fever ward proper. The number pleases me—a full accounting of weeks spent in what Dr. Merriweather terms “the most demanding arena of modern medical practice.”
Where other volunteers recoil from the severity of symptoms these patients exhibit, I find myself increasingly drawn to systematic observation of their condition.

Mrs. Patterson positively blanched this ...