Harriet Scott (nurse)

Harriet Scott (March 23, 1833 – August 31, 1915) was a Union nurse during the American Civil War.

Civil War Service
Scott left Vermont for service in November of 1861 at Camp Griffith in Virginia. Here she worked with her husband's unit, Battery F of the Fifth U.S. Heavy Artillery. She then enlisted in the services of Dorothea Dix, who sent her to Fortress Monroe to work at Union Hotel Hospital in Georgetown. Here, there were numerous typhoid fever patients. In June, Scott was transferred to Armory Square General Hospital, where she remained through the summer.

At this hospital, Scott worked day and night, often with soldiers who had just undergone amputations. One day, President Abraham Lincoln visited this hospital. From here, Scott was transferred to the Government Transport Steamer, Rockland on Christmas of 1862. According to Scott, this was the hardest part of her service.

In the spring of 1863, Scott was again transferred to Washington to service numerous hospitals and later to serve at Gettysburg. Scott served until August of 1863, when she left the service due to poor physical fitness from exhaustion. She described her service as "the most precious of my life".

After the war, Scott applied for a pension but was denied.