Nurse Carrie Cutter Remembered, Because Clara Did

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
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Landing of the troops at Roanoke Island, by Alonzo Chappel, NYPL, Burnside's ships stand in the harbor. Men died in the battle, an exhausted nurse perished on board one of these transports, the USS Northern..

Ramsdell’s 1901 History of Milford N.H. devoted a page to Miss Carrie Cutter, a Union nurse, one of many who perished while serving. It's a revealing synopsis.

"March 24, died, Miss Carrie E. Cutter, daughter of Calvin Cutter, M. D. She was born in Milford July 28, 1842. Her mother was the daughter of Nathan Hall. She was educated at Professor Russell’s school at Lancaster, Mass., at Mt. Holyoke seminary, and at a private German school in Pennsylvania. Dr. Cutter was surgeon of the Twenty-first Massachusetts Volunteers. In October, 1861, at her earnest, repeated request, she was permitted to join her father at Annapolis, and when the Burnside expedition sailed she was allowed to continue on the steamship Northerner, on board which vessel she was during the action at Roanoke Island, caring for the wounded. After the action she went ashore and labored untiringly in the care of the sick and wounded. Being able to speak German, she took charge of three young German soldiers, who in their delirium had forgotten the English language."

"The severity of this experience brought on fever of which she died in the cabin of the Northerner, before she had reached her twentieth birthday. By order of General Burnside she was buried with military honors, usually observed at the burial of a colonel. When the National cemetery was established at New Berne, by order of the secretary of war, her remains were removed to that place. Her name is inscribed in enduring bronze on the soldiers’ monument in Warren, Mass., the residence of her father. The United States has furnished her with a soldier’s headstone."

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Harper's battle scene, Zouave regiment at Roanoake Island. Nursing wounded took a toll among those who aided, Carrie Cutter was one of them.


Part of the Burnside expedition and on board USS Northerner with the 21st Massachusetts during action, it seems inevitable she, father Calvin and sweetheart Charles Tidd were there, too. Carrie grew up immersed in the abolitionist movement. Her father was a dedicated abolitionist, surgeon and author enlisted as surgeon in the 21st Mass, saw much action with the unit and was captured.

Carrie went ashore, to nurse wounded after the shooting stopped. Frank Leslie's artist left us this- the hospital there. Cannot find whether or not Carrie was here- it's an 1862 image, so maybe.
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Sweetheart, Charles Plummer Tidd -one of John Brown's army, enlisted in the 21st Mass. too. The transport Northerner saw his death of typhoid, too.

Clara Barton wrote Carrie Cutter's death into her incredible poem, posted recently by @John Hartwell.
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We're familiar with some Barton mentions, others are new to me. Somehow feel Clara would expect us to remember all them. So we will. This small memorial is to Carrie Cutter, dead of typhoid while nursing wounded.
 
One person can rock so many worlds...

Thank you.


It's funny, as in odd, how the nurses slid under our radar to the point we do not know how many died in the war. There's an idea how many horses and mules perished, no numbers on nurses. A few are well known and deservedly so but interest seems to be ( largely ) confined to them. Their stories are crazy good, under fire, captured, working in conditions no better than a barn or some shed, spending the war on ships and hospital transports, scooping up wounded left in the rain to die- endless, ridiculously intrepid, selfless stories. Acts of kindness lost to history because no one wrote it down.

Yes, one could touch so many, many lives. What a good point, thank you.
 
Yes, and I've repeated myself- somehow forgot a previous thread about Carrie. It's shocking to think her story not unique enough to remember through a war filled with literal sacrifices made by nurses. We lost too many. Started a thread to try keeping track of those lost but it's overwhelming. One Catholic order alone lost over 100 nursing Sisters, just one.
 
In the spring of 1869, the Boston Traveler published a series of letters by a "Special Correspondent" named only as "Russell." In the fifth of these letters, appearing in the April 20th issue, the correspondent, who clearly knew nothing of this story, writes of his visit to New Bern, which includes a description of the
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This was written at a time when the New Bern National Cemetery was very new, and many of the graves were marked with painted white boards. Over time, these were all replaced with stone headstones. Carrie Cutter's current headstone bears only her name and a new number (1698).
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There is also a cenotaph to Carrie's memory in the Cutter family plot in Pine Grove Cemetery, in her home town of Warren, Mass.:
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And another in Elm Street Cemetery, at her birthplace of Milford, New Hampshire.
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I cannot resist adding another post about the irresistible Miss Carrie. This time from a letter from her brother, written in March, 1895, to the New Berne Daily Journal ... just to set the record straight:

Editor Journal:​
Having arrived in town for the purpose of visiting the National Cemetery here located, my attention was called to certain statements in the ‘New Berne City Directory, 1893,’ concerning my late sister, Miss Carrie E. Cutter, nurse, 21st regiment, Mass. Vols.​
Miss Carrie E. Cutter, daughter of Surgeon Calvin Cutter, author of Cutter’s School Physiologies, was born in New Hampshire, July 28th, 1843. She was educated at Prof. Russell’s private seminary at Lancaster, Mass., at Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary, Mass.., and at a private German school in Pennsylvania. In April, 1861, she was on the eve of her departure for three years’ tour and study in Europe, when the outset of the civil war wrecked her plans.​
The writer’s most vivid remembrance of her was as she distributed New Testaments to the volunteers drawn up on the railway platform of his native town on the morning of their departure for camp. She was lithe, well formed, fine featured, with gray eyes and light brown hair. A few weeks later her father was commissioned as surgeon of the 21st regiment, Mass. Vols., going into camp in July, 1861.​
In the month of October, 1861, at her earnest, repeated requests, she was permitted to join her father in camp at the Naval Academy, Annapolis. When the Burnside Expedition was ready to sail, her elderly lady companion, Mrs. Studley, decided not to go forward. Miss Carrie was permitted to proceed with the officers of the 21st regiment, on the steamship Northerner. She witnessed the horrors of those severe wintry gales off Hatteras, where so many found watery graves.​
During the action at Roanoke Island, Feb. 8th, she was on board the Northerner caring for a dying scout -- a man who enlisted from her home town, Charles Plummer Tidd. This scout had lived in my father’s family from 1860 to the time of his enlistment in the 21st regiment in July 1861. Tidd’s fiance lived in Kansas. My mother has often told me my sister was never engaged to Plummer Tidd. The romance about Charles E. Coledge, as given in the New Berne City Directory, has no foundation. In fact, Plummer Tidd died and was buried at Ashby’s Harbor. My sister was unable to be present at the interment.​
After the action at Roanoke Island, Miss Carrie went ashore and labored untiringly in the care of the sick and the wounded. Being able to use the German language she had especial charge of three young Germans, who in their delirium had forgotten the English language. As the result of her exertions, her privations, and the climate influences, she was indisposed when she sailed on the Northerner for the mouth of the Neuse River. While the battle of New Berne was raging, the fever assumed an alarming state. Her father was unable to reach her until the 19th. When hope for recovery had vanished she requested “to be buried with the soldier brave on Roanoke Island.” She passed away in her cabin on the U.S.S. Northerner early in the morning of March 24, 1862. Had she lived till July, 1862, she would have been nineteen years of age.​
By order of Gen. Burnside, her remains were forwarded on a special steamer to Roanoke Island where she was buried with the military honors bestowed upon a colonel. At her request she was interred by the side of her friend, Orderly Sergeant Charles Plummer Tidd. Her father, owing to duties, was unable to accompany the remains to the island. When the National Cemetery was established at New Berne, by order of the secretary of war, her remains were removed to New Berne. Her name is inscribed in enduring bronze on the soldiers’ monument erected in her home town, Warren,Massachusetts. The United States has furnished her with a soldier’s headstone -- this being the only instance in which it has been given to a woman.​

John C. Cutter, M.D.
Late of the Imperial Japanese Service.

NOTE: the passage Dr. Cutter desires to correct appears on page 20 of the Business Directory of the City of New Berne, N.C.: To Which is Added Historical and Statistical Matter of Interest (Raleigh, N.C.: Edwards and Broughton, 1893):

"Among the interments of the cemetery appear the graves of Charles E. Coledge, a private of the 25th Massachusetts Artillery, and Miss Carrie E. Cutter also of that State. They are buried side by side. The records show that they were betrothed and that she was buried by him at her own request and by authority of the Secretary of War. The interments were originally made at Roanoke Island, and the dates of death in the early part of 1862. The story goes that she dropped dead upon his grave, but for this latter fact I cannot vouch. The United States has furnished her with a soldier's headstone--this being the only instance in which it has been given."​
 
Carrie has always given me hope despite leaving us far too early. She was surely a child of privilege and could have ridden out the war at Saratoga Springs or some other elite watering hole, doing the rounds of balls and pursuing enjoyment. She went to war instead.

Had she lived till July, 1862, she would have been nineteen years of age.

It's awfully hard to read. " Would have been 19 ". Sometimes a phrase brings home what war is. That's one.
 
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