A Confederate Nurse: The Diary of ADA W. Bacot, 1860-1863

Bacot, a 27-year-old widowed South Carolina plantation owner who was devoted to God and the Confederacy, found an answer to her prayer for ``something to do'' when her state recruited nurses. With other volunteers she headed for Charlottesville, Va., and a converted hotel run by what Berlin describes as the ``chaotic Confederate medical system.'' While most of the medical duties were handled by men--the wards being considered ``scarcely a place for a lady''--Bacot and the other volunteers tended to housekeeping, cooking and laundering for the patients, one of whom she married. Still, there was time for social activity which she recounts with zest. Berlin, a former history professor at the University of Virginia, who annotates the diary, emphasizes the importance of Southern women's contribution to the war effort. And though Bacot's relationships to her own slaves are beyond the scope of her diary, Berlin points out that the author reflects the plantation owner's paternalistic belief in the inferiority of blacks. (Dec.)