In honor of women’s history month, I wanted to share a recent discovery. One nurse born in Delaware was the famous sculptor Sarah Fisher Ames. Born Sarah Fisher Clampitt in Lewis, Delaware on August 13th 1817. In the years leading to the Civil war, Sarah learned to become an artist while studying in Boston and Rome.
During the war, she served as a nurse in various areas, including temporally becoming the lady superintendent for the Capitol Hospital following the battle of Second Manassas. While living in Massachusetts, she became friends with the famous poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; during the war, his nephew Stephen suffered a wound at the Battle of Fredericksburg. On December 18 1862, Henry Wadsworth asked his friend nurse Sarah Ames to “enquire for him,” adding “I hope he may have the good fortune to be in your Hospital.”1 Following the Battle of Gettysburg, a letter dated July 6th 1863, from Surgeon General William Hammond stated “the President desires that facilities not inconsistent with the interests of her service may be granted to Mrs. Ames to visit the battlefield at Gettysburg and render her services to the wounded” 2.
During the war, Sarah befriended President Lincoln, and on November 8th, 1863, she, President Lincoln, and his staff went to Alexander Gardner's studio for a photographic session. Alexander Gardner took the famous head-on portrait of the President during this session. Harold Holzer has suggested that this session aided Sarah in her work on the bust of President Lincoln. Capitol Building, the Massachusetts State House, the Williams College Museum of Art, the Lynn Historical Society, and the Woodmere Art Museum.
“Longfellow Relatives and Friends Fighting for the Union in the Civil War,” https://www.nps.gov/long/learn/news/upload/LHB-15-2-2011.pdf
(Accessed March 10, 2025)
“William Hammond Letter”, July 6th 1863, https://www.invaluable.com/.../mrs-sarah-fisher-ames
... (Accessed March 10, 2025)
“John Hay Diary”, November 8th 1863, https://www.lincolnpresidential.org/.../David%20B
... (Accessed March 10th 2025)
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