Journal of anne reading, the

Anne Reading, an ordinary woman fromLondon describes her extraordinary life. In 1855 she travels tothe Crimea with Florence Nightingale and nurses the sick andwounded of the British Army. Five years later, she takes a sixweek voyage to New York aboard a sailing ship.Anne finds work at St. LukeÕs hospital. The following yearbrings the start of the Civil War. In 1862 Anne leaves St. LukeÕsand travels south to the headquarters of the Union Army inWashington. She was hired by Dorothea Dix, Superintendent offemale nurses to the Federal Army and also known as the AmericanFlorence Nightingale.AnneÕs saga becomes the story of her life among the wounded.She describes experiences on hospital ships and in a former hotelconverted into a hospital in Alexandria, Virginia. The diarychronicles the impact of atrocities on the soldiers. The generalsocial unrest which developed in the northern cities as the warcontinues and the riots against the drafting of young men into thearmy against their will, makes very interesting reading.Anne married Andrew Furry in October, 1862 and soon gave upnursing and returned to the New York area. She does different workwhile waiting for him to be released from the army. She provides adetailed account of the death of President Lincoln and an eyewitness account of his lying in state and funeral processionthrough New York in 1865.The diary continues with the FurrysÕ married life in Pennsylvaniaand New Jersey highlighted with the marriage of AnneÕs youngersister, Jenny and a swimming party at Coney Island.In 1870, Anne FurryÕs mother, Anne Reading writes about hertrip to visit her daughter, with another daughter and the diarycloses with the two of them returning to Bethnal Green, London, oneyear later.