Hannah Ropes: Civil War Nurse

Today is April 12, 1861, the first day of the war. As I walk the dirt path through the town, I can’t help but glance at the faces of the young boys. The excitement in each one of their faces sends a startling chill to my body. I wonder to myself how they can be so carefree about war. How they can handle the shrieks of others dying, or the bloodbaths after a fierce attack. I only wonder if that excitement will last after the first battle. As I’m approaching the entrance to the drug store, I hear two of the generals talking.
I believe it was General Watson, and General Smith. They seem to be talking about our route, and battle plans. I don’t think much of it and walk into the drug store. Sal, the owner, is one of my close friends, he usually has all of the information about the war for the local citizens. I walk up to the front counter and wait for Sal to finish up with his customer. He then walks over to the cash register and places the money in it.

“Alright, what’ll it be today Hannah”, he asks as he walks towards me.

“I just came to pick up some medication for our first aid kits, and maybe some cloth, I don’t know when our next stop will be”, I say.

He nods and walks over to a drawer. “How long do you think you’ll be staying in town before you start marching to your next destination”, he asks as he takes the medication out of the drawer and places it in front of me.

“I’m guessing we’ll be leaving tomorrow morning, we need to get an early head start if we want to reach Williamsburg before dark”, I respond.

He nods and hands me a piece of cloth. “You’re a brave one Hannah, there aren’t many woman willing to risk their lives for others” he says as I give him the money I owe.

“Thank you Sal, and I hope to be home soon, life just wouldn’t be the same without everyone”, I say as I walk towards the door.

“Stand tall, and stay brave. Oh and Hannah”, he says as I’m just about to leave.
“Yes Sal”, I say as I turn to face him.
“Good luck”, he almost whispers to me. I give him a curt smile and proceed on my way.

The atmosphere of war is so different from anything I’ve ever been in. Everyone barely smiles, and you can’t get too attached to people, because it makes it that much harder to lose them. Everything just seemed so quiet here. I walked over to a wagon with my first aid tools in it and placed the new medication and cloth inside of it.
Soon it was beginning to get dark out. I decided it would be smart to set up camp before it became too dark. Tonight I would be sleeping in the wagon, it will be much more comfortable than the ground. After lying down in wagon and covering up with a small blanket, I began to doze off. Soon darkness envelopes me, and I’m in a deep slumber.
I was woken early in the morning to cooking pots being shuffled about. Apparently it was time to get up and make breakfast for the soldiers. Even thought the Confederates had more soldiers cooking for the Union was no Sunday stroll. As I started making breakfast, I decided it might be a good idea to know another nurse, just in case of an emergency. So while I was cooking I started to talk to one of the nurses.
“Hello, I’m Hannah Ropes”, I said to her, trying to use my most polite voice.

“Betty Harolds, it’s a pleasure to meet you”, she responds back.

Same as for you. So have you heard anything about our next stop, or where it is”, I asked curiously.

“I’ve only heard that we might be going to Charleston”, Betty says to me.

“Charleston is a good 8 to 10 miles away, I guess we’ll be leaving this afternoon rather than later tonight”, I say thinking about the long walk ahead of us. “Well it’s been nice been nice to meet you Betty”, I say to her as I stand up to go clean up after breakfast.

“It’s been nice to meet you too, just tell me if you need any more supplies or help with something.”

I already have a war friend. I guess one’s all I’ll really need. Like I said before, if you get to attached to people, it makes it that much harder to lose them.
Later on we walked the 10 miles to Charleston, only to find out that the South was there also. It all happened so fast. Men were down on the ground everywhere. The air reeked of gun powder and blood. I quickly grabbed my first aid kit and started at work. It’s a good thing that I grabbed more cloth, because there were many men with bullets in their arms that needed to be bandaged up.
Soon the battle was over and the South had won due to our retreat. More than 400 men had died and it was only our second day. As it soon got dark the injured and the healthy went to sleep.
Everyday since the battle, Betty and I have been hard at work. There have been sneak attacks, where 10 or less men have died, but there are still the injured that need our help. We have went through more cloth than anyone could imagine.

(Time Skip)

It has been six months since the war has started. We started out with 220,000 men, and are now down to 100,000. We lost numerous well hearted men at the battle of Gettysburg. After that we have decided to reroute and go around certain places, so we don’t run into large about of Confederates.

(Time Skip)

Today is the day I get to go home and see my family. I haven’t seen them in a year. They’ve probably grown so much. As were enter our town I can’t help but look up at the sky and thank God that I’m still alive.