Half a Century

Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815 - 1884)

In the spring of 1850, while the United States was polarized over the slavery debate and Daniel Webster was negotiating the compromise of that year, the outspoken abolitionist, feminist, and journalist, Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815-1884) unleashed a congressional sex scandal. Frustrated by what she saw as the Massachusetts senator's surrender to the Southern Slave Power, she published an article alleging Webster's marital infidelities with women of color. As a result of the media storm that followed, Swisshelm lost her job at the New York Tribune. This is but one of the many episodes found in her 1880 autobiography, "Half a Century," which is a narrative of the frontier, of the fight against slavery, and of Swisshelm's fearless, compassionate, and innovative work as a surgical nurse treating Union soldiers who had suffered the most terrible wounds of war. (Pamela Nagami, M.D.)

Genre(s): Biography & Autobiography

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 Ch. 1: I Find Life Pamela Nagami
00:09:24
Play 02 Ch. 2: Progress in Calvinism, Hunt Ghosts, See La Fayette Pamela Nagami
00:12:08
Play 03 Ch. 3: Father’s Death Pamela Nagami
00:04:42
Play 04 Ch. 4: Go to Boarding School Pamela Nagami
00:14:13
Play 05 Ch. 5: Lose my Brother Pamela Nagami
00:09:18
Play 06 Ch. 6: Join Church, and Make New Endeavors to Keep Sabbath Pamela Nagami
00:08:24
Play 07 Ch. 7: Deliverer of the Dark Night Pamela Nagami
00:14:17
Play 08 Ch. 8: Fitting Myself into My Sphere Pamela Nagami
00:08:08
Play 09 Ch. 9: Habitations of Horrid Cruelty Pamela Nagami
00:14:59
Play 10 Ch. 10: Kentucky Contempt for Labor Pamela Nagami
00:09:29
Play 11 Ch. 11: Rebellion Pamela Nagami
00:05:24
Play 12 Ch. 12: The Valley of the Shadow of Death Pamela Nagami
00:06:08
Play 13 Ch. 13: ‘Labor—Service or Act’ Pamela Nagami
00:04:32
Play 14 Ch. 14: Swissvale Pamela Nagami
00:06:37
Play 15 Ch. 15: Willows by the Water-Courses Pamela Nagami
00:03:34
Play 16 Ch. 16: The Waters Grow Deep Pamela Nagami
00:13:49
Play 17 Ch. 17: My Name Appears in Print Pamela Nagami
00:06:11
Play 18 Ch. 18: Mexican War Letters Pamela Nagami
00:11:12
Play 19 Ch. 19: Training School Pamela Nagami
00:08:18
Play 20 Ch. 20: Rights of Married Women Pamela Nagami
00:06:36
Play 21 Ch. 21: Pittsburg Saturday Visiter Pamela Nagami
00:11:42
Play 22 Ch. 22: Reception of the Visiter Pamela Nagami
00:06:45
Play 23 Ch. 23: My Crooked Telescope Pamela Nagami
00:08:00
Play 24 Ch. 24: Mint, Cummin, and Annis Pamela Nagami
00:03:04
Play 25 Ch. 25: Free Soil Party Pamela Nagami
00:04:13
Play 26 Ch. 26: Visit Washington Pamela Nagami
00:13:47
Play 27 Ch. 27: Daniel Webster Pamela Nagami
00:08:16
Play 28 Ch. 28: Fugitive Slave Law—The Two Riddles Pamela Nagami
00:06:32
Play 29 Ch. 29: Bloomers and Woman’s Rights Convention Pamela Nagami
00:10:33
Play 30 Ch. 30: Many Matters Pamela Nagami
00:08:42
Play 31 Ch. 31: The Mother Church Pamela Nagami
00:09:57
Play 32 Ch. 32: Politics and Printers Pamela Nagami
00:04:41
Play 33 Ch. 33: Sumner, Burlingame and Cassius M. Clay Pamela Nagami
00:07:17
Play 34 Ch. 34: Finance and Desertion Pamela Nagami
00:13:52
Play 35 Ch. 35: My Hermitage Pamela Nagami
00:02:51
Play 36 Ch. 36: The Minnesota Dictator Pamela Nagami
00:10:58
Play 37 Ch. 37: Another Visiter Pamela Nagami
00:05:29
Play 38 Ch. 38: Border Ruffianism Pamela Nagami
00:07:09
Play 39 Ch. 39: Speak in Public Pamela Nagami
00:06:42
Play 40 Ch. 40: A Famous Victory Pamela Nagami
00:11:57
Play 41 Ch. 41: State and National Politics Pamela Nagami
00:10:38
Play 42 Ch. 42: Religious Controversies Pamela Nagami
00:05:29
Play 43 Ch. 43: Frontier Life Pamela Nagami
00:07:08
Play 44 Ch. 44: Printers Pamela Nagami
00:03:48
Play 45 Ch. 45: The Rebellion Pamela Nagami
00:04:41
Play 46 Ch. 46: Platforms Pamela Nagami
00:05:56
Play 47 Ch. 47: Out into the World and Home Again Pamela Nagami
00:10:04
Play 48 Ch. 48: The Aristocracy of the West Pamela Nagami
00:10:06
Play 49 Ch. 49: The Indian Massacre of ‘62 Pamela Nagami
00:07:41
Play 50 Ch. 50: A Missive and a Mission Pamela Nagami
00:08:41
Play 51 Ch. 51: No Use for Me Among the Wounded Pamela Nagami
00:08:17
Play 52 Ch. 52: Find Work Pamela Nagami
00:12:25
Play 53 Ch. 53: Hospital Gangrene Pamela Nagami
00:03:27
Play 54 Ch. 54: Get Permission to Work Pamela Nagami
00:02:45
Play 55 Ch. 55: Find a Name Pamela Nagami
00:09:14
Play 56 Ch. 56: Drop My Alias Pamela Nagami
00:04:31
Play 57 Ch. 57: Hospital Dress Pamela Nagami
00:03:55
Play 58 Ch. 58: Special Work Pamela Nagami
00:05:30
Play 59 Ch. 59: Heroic and Anti-Heroic Treatment Pamela Nagami
00:08:28
Play 60 Ch. 60: Cost of Order Pamela Nagami
00:08:06
Play 61 Ch. 61: Learn to Control Pyaemia Pamela Nagami
00:03:30
Play 62 Ch. 62: First Case of Growing a New Bone Pamela Nagami
00:10:14
Play 63 Ch. 63: A Heroic Mother Pamela Nagami
00:03:21
Play 64 Ch. 64: Two Kinds of Appreciation Pamela Nagami
00:10:13
Play 65 Ch. 65: Life and Death Pamela Nagami
00:07:26
Play 66 Ch. 66: Meet Miss Dix and Go to Fredericksburg Pamela Nagami
00:10:16
Play 67 Ch. 67: The Old Theater Pamela Nagami
00:11:22
Play 68 Ch. 68: Am Placed in Authority Pamela Nagami
00:05:57
Play 69 Ch. 69: Visitors Pamela Nagami
00:07:59
Play 70 Ch. 70: Wounded Officers Pamela Nagami
00:05:30
Play 71 Ch. 71: ‘Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep’ Pamela Nagami
00:05:55
Play 72 Ch. 72: More Victims and a Change of Base Pamela Nagami
00:10:35
Play 73 Ch. 73: Prayers Enough and to Spare Pamela Nagami
00:03:58
Play 74 Ch. 74: Get Out of the Old Theater Pamela Nagami
00:05:14
Play 75 Ch. 75: Take Boat and See a Social Party Pamela Nagami
00:06:06
Play 76 Ch. 76: Take Final Leave of Fredericksburg Pamela Nagami
00:16:08
Play 77 Ch. 77: Try to Get Up a Society and Get Sick Pamela Nagami
00:05:42
Play 78 Ch. 78: An Efficient Nurse Pamela Nagami
00:02:16
Play 79 Ch. 79: Two Fredericksburg Patients Pamela Nagami
00:01:48
Play 80 Ch. 80: Am Enlightened Pamela Nagami
00:02:57
Play 81 Conclusion Pamela Nagami
00:02:54