Painting

Title:

Nurses Station, Armory Square Hospital

Object Name:

Painting

Object ID:

2013.012.02

Date:

1864

Description:

Painting of Nurses Station, Armory Square Hospital, Washington, DC, 1862-1865. Watercolor on paper. Painted by a soldier/patient and presented to Civil War nurse Sarah Low (1830-1913) of Dover, NH. Depicts one end of a room (probably the shared nurses' bedroom) with exposed stud walls and pitched ceiling with exposed rafters and boards. Woodstove on right with long stovepipe extending through wall on left. Window on right. Furnishings include three tables, chair, barrel, three trunks, and shelves holding boxes and equipment. Other items hang on end wall, including a painting, a blue cross, and two blue wreaths. Triangle in upper right with decorative scroll.

Material:

Paper

Dimensions:

H-14.6 W-12.8 inches

Provenance:

Sarah Low (1830-1913) was born in South Berwick, Maine, to Dr. Nathaniel Low and Mary Ann Hale. One of seven children, the family moved to Dover, NH, in 1833. Sarah Low undoubtedly learned much about the treatment of the sick from her father and much of her life was spent in the care of friends and family members. Like many patriotic women at the outbreak of the Civil War, Low felt she could best help the Union cause by tending to soldiers wounded in battle. In September 1862 she traveled south to Washington, DC, where she served for two and one-half years as a nurse at the Union Hotel and Armory Square Hospitals under the leadership of Dorothea Dix.

Credit Line:

New Hampshire Historical Society Purchase, Katharine Prentis Murphy Fund

People:

Low, Sarah (1830-1913)

Subjects:

Civil War, Nurses, Hospitals, Hospital wards, Hospitals, Field