Anna "Annie" Bell was born on 9 April 1839 in Blair County, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Martin Bell and Eliza McKnight and cousin of Sarah Dysart.[1][2] Annie went to the Female Seminary of the University of Lewisburg, now Bucknell University, and graduated in 1858.[3]
After the Civil War broke out Annie tended to wounded soldiers at the Battle of Antietam and served as an unpaid volunteer nurse at Harpers Ferry, later becoming a paid nurse and chief matron with the 12th Corps Hospital. Annie and her cousin, Sarah Dysart, both served with the 12th corps. Annie spent the last part of her Gettysburg service at Camp Letterman which was established in August, 1863 and located one mile east of Gettysburg on the York Pike. The site was known as Wolf’s Woods. Annie worked in the 4th ward and completed her work at Gettysburg as the chief matron of ward 4. This company closed Nov. 20, 1863, the day after President Lincoln gave his famous address. Annie followed the 12th Corps to Tennessee and served as chief matron until she was discharged in May 1865.[4] [3]
Annie met her future husband, Dr. George Stubbs, while working in Tennessee. They married 14 September 1865 in Blair County, Pennsylvania.[3] Annie traveled with her husband to Paris, Vienna, and Berlin while he continued his medical studies.[5] Their eldest, Martin Bell Stubbs, was born in Vienna. Annie and George had five children with Myra dying very young from complications from diphtheria. [6] [7]
Annie received a pension beginning Nov. 8, 1893. Her husband, Dr. Stubbs, died in 1909 and Annie received her and his pension, each $12 a month, until her death.[9][10]
Annie passed away 25 January 1916 in Lower Merion, Montgomery, Pennsylvania and was buried at Bala Cynwyd, Montgomery, Pennsylvania. [11]
Nurse Annie Bell with patients after the Battle of Nashville |
The photo of Annie Bell, dating from 1864, was sold as a carte de visite by the U.S. Sanitary Commission (USSC). The USSC was established by the U.S. Congress on June 18, 1861, after being started by a group of prominent New York women to raise private funds for sick and wounded soldiers of the United States Army. While in Tennessee, Bell was approached by USSC representatives to pose for the photo. A letter from Annie to her mother, Eliza, dated February 15, 1864, recounts, “Two weeks ago, some of the Sanitary Commission people came to see me and asked that I would allow an artist to take a hospital scene, that they wanted such a one to sell at the fair at Cleavland [sic].” The Northern Ohio Sanitary Fair opened in Cleveland on February 22 and raised $78,000. [3]
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Categories: West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania | Nurses, United States Civil War | Notables