A Heart Touched By Fire: Union Nurse Cornelia Hancock’s Civil War

In 1863, Cornelia Hancock, a 23-year-old Quaker girl, wrote “After my only brother and every other male relative and friend that we possessed had gone to War, I deliberately came to the conclusion that I, too, would go and serve my country.” Two days after the great Battle of Gettysburg she was the first woman to reach the Union Army of the Potomac’s 2nd Corps Hospital. Hancock served as a nurse for the remainder of the war. Well known during the war, she is little remembered today. Author Carolyn Ivanoff will tell Hancock’s story through her own words and annotated letters. This program highlights the events and tragedies of Civil War from a woman’s point of view.

Carolyn Ivanoff is a retired high school administrator and independent historian. She has won several awards for her historical work and presentations. Previous to her new book on Cornelia Hancock, Ivanoff authored “We Fought at Gettysburg,” which features first-hand accounts by the survivors of the 17th Connecticut Infantry and their experiences on the greatest battlefield of the Civil War.