This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/xhC.2ACE/168.163.1 Message Board Post: I'm sure a number of soldiers didn't come home after the war ended. As for meeting a woman in a hospital, other than laundresses and other auxillary personnel, most of the people assigned or hired for medical duty were men. During the Civil War hospital were considered unfit places for a respectable lady to be. Women of any social station and/or education were strongly discouraged from having direct contact with sick and wounded men, unwashed and of frightful appearance. Accounts of female nurses in the Confederacy, such as those of Kate Cumming and Phoebe Pember, demonstrate that they overcame any number of obsticles and objections in order to take a position in a hospital. Cedar Run was the first battle for the 47th Alabama, which served under "Stonewall" Jackson's command. Please contact me at pittsaj14@hotmail.com if I can assist with copies of a service record.