Liljenquist Family Collection, Library of CongressUnion Earring
When war had broken out, Rebecca Pomroy, 43, a Boston native, wrote to Dorothea Dix, superintendent of army nurses, offering her services. Thus started Pomroy’s notable career as a military nurse. Almost immediately upon reaching Washington, she was put in charge of a ward of typhoid patients at Georgetown Hospital.
In early 1862, when the president’s wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, was sick and their son Tad fell critically ill with typhoid, Dix recommended Pomroy to nurse them back to health, which she did. In response, a grateful Abraham Lincoln reportedly said to her, “Tell your grandchildren how indebted the nation was to you in holding up my hands in time of trouble.” Pomroy was called again to the White House in 1864 to nurse Mrs. Lincoln after she suffered a fall from her carriage.
During her wartime service, Pomroy—whose sole surviving son was in the Union army—wore a pair of patriotic metal earrings, one of which is shown here. Decorated with red, white, and blue enamel and adorned with the word “Union,” they made clear her loyalties. By war’s end, Pomroy was said to have cared for more than 700 patients. She died in 1884 at 66.
