Breckinridge, Margaret E. (d. 1864)
Breckinridge, Margaret E. (d. 1864)
American nurse. Date and place of birth unknown, possibly Princeton, New Jersey; died July 27, 1864; dau. of John Breckinridge (minister); granddau. of John Breckinridge of Kentucky (US attorney general, 1806).
Orphaned at 9 and frail of health, was raised and educated by grandparents in Princeton; at onset of Civil War, determined to become a hospital nurse; went to Baltimore, Maryland (1862), where she contracted measles during 1st week of visiting hospital wards; recuperating in Lexington, Kentucky, resumed hospital work there; in St. Louis, worked aboard the transport boats and in the hospitals at Young's Point and Helena; volunteer efforts were cut short by ongoing health problems, forcing her off the transports; died in summer of 1864.