Anna Etheridge

Lorinda Anna Blair Etheridge (1839–1913), also known as Michigan Annie and Gentle Annie, was a Union nurse and Vivandiere who served during the American Civil War.

Anna Etheridge was born Lorinda Anna Blair in 1839 in Wayne County, Michigan. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Etheridge enlisted in 2nd Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment, serving as a nurse and Vivandiere (Daughter of the Regiment). Annie helped heal bad wounds and many hurt soldiers. She was sent to a hospital once. Every nurse there treated patients badly. So she treated them nicely. She even wrote letters for the wounded people. Later, in every room she went to, there would always be a greeting. She had made friends with every patient in the hospital. Later, she was thrown out because she anounced some good news about a patient going to get married and they all cheered. She had wanted to nurse people because she had nursed her father when she was young. But he died and she became an orphan. During the war, she had tried to save her best friend's boyfriend,Edwin Powers, but he died in her hand. She was nursing him on a ship ready to get to a hospital boat. She fainted after his death. After the war, the reporter tried talking to her but she said "Talk to these marching men. Quit makinga heroine out of me!" She was trying to heal a boy right when he was shot by a cannonball. She died in 1913 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. [Jill, Canon. "Civil War Heroines". Santa Barbara, CA: Bellerphon Books, 2000.]

References

*cite book |last=Eggleston |first=Larry G. |title=Women in the Civil War: Extraordinary Stories of Soldiers, Spies, Nurses |year=2003 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=0786414936 |pages=p. 134

External links

*findagrave|8125627|name=Annie Etheridge Hooks