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Half a Century

by Jane Grey SWISSHELM (1815 - 1884)

Ch. 43: Frontier Life

In the spring of 1850, while the United States was polarized over the slavery debate and Daniel Webster was negotiating the compromise of that year, the outspoken abolitionist, feminist, and journalist, Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815-1884) unleashed a congressional sex scandal. Frustrated by what she saw as the Massachusetts senator's surrender to the Southern Slave Power, she published an article alleging Webster's marital infidelities with women of color. As a result of the media storm that followed, Swisshelm lost her job at the New York Tribune. This is but one of the many episodes found in her 1880 autobiography, "Half a Century," which is a narrative of the frontier, of the fight against slavery, and of Swisshelm's fearless, compassionate, and innovative work as a surgical nurse treating Union soldiers who had suffered the most terrible wounds of war. (Pamela Nagami, M.D.)

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Listen next episodes of Half a Century:
Ch. 44: Printers , Ch. 45: The Rebellion , Ch. 46: Platforms , Ch. 47: Out into the World and Home Again , Ch. 48: The Aristocracy of the West , Ch. 49: The Indian Massacre of ‘62 , Ch. 50: A Missive and a Mission , Ch. 51: No Use for Me Among the Wounded , Ch. 52: Find Work , Ch. 53: Hospital Gangrene , Ch. 54: Get Permission to Work , Ch. 55: Find a Name , Ch. 56: Drop My Alias , Ch. 57: Hospital Dress , Ch. 58: Special Work , Ch. 59: Heroic and Anti-Heroic Treatment , Ch. 60: Cost of Order , Ch. 61: Learn to Control Pyaemia , Ch. 62: First Case of Growing a New Bone , Ch. 63: A Heroic Mother , Ch. 64: Two Kinds of Appreciation , Ch. 65: Life and Death , Ch. 66: Meet Miss Dix and Go to Fredericksburg , Ch. 67: The Old Theater , Ch. 68: Am Placed in Authority , Ch. 69: Visitors , Ch. 70: Wounded Officers , Ch. 71: ‘Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep’ , Ch. 72: More Victims and a Change of Base , Ch. 73: Prayers Enough and to Spare , Ch. 74: Get Out of the Old Theater , Ch. 75: Take Boat and See a Social Party , Ch. 76: Take Final Leave of Fredericksburg , Ch. 77: Try to Get Up a Society and Get Sick , Ch. 78: An Efficient Nurse , Ch. 79: Two Fredericksburg Patients , Ch. 80: Am Enlightened , Conclusion