Pember, Phoebe Yates, “Reminiscences of A
Southern Hospital. By Its Matron.” The Cosmopolite, Serialized: Vol.
I., No. I. January 1866, pp.70-89; Vol. I., No. II. February 1866, pp. 203-215;
Vol. I., No. III. March 1866, pp. 297-309; Vol. I., No. IV. April 1866, pp.
350-369; First page of memoir has it copyrighted 1865 by T. C. DeLeon in
Maryland.
Phoebe Yates Pember was chief matron of the first division of
Chimborazo Hospital. She is best known for her memoir, A Southern Woman's
Story, published in 1879. It is a rich account of life in Chimborazo
Hospital. However, it was not known how soon after the war Pember wrote the
book. In 1998, Michael Gorman found what is largely a draft version of A
Southern Woman's Story, published in The Cosmopolite, a Baltimore magazine,
in 1866. This places the date of writing to immediately following the
civil war. This version differs from A Southern Woman's Story in several
respects: Pember deletes many place names in the book that are retained in the
magazine; Pember uses much more critical language when describing prominent
figures in the magazine; also, the magazine version is conspicuously devoid of a
major editing effort. Because it was published in serial form, that form will be
used here also.
