Louisa May Alcott dies

​Louisa May Alcott died March 6, 1888.  There remains a small mystery to the cause of death.  Officially, she caught a cold and it traveled to her brain and she developed spinal meningitis.  Others suggest mercury poisoning used to treat typhoid fever that she caught nursing civil war casualties, was the more chronic cause of death. Typhoid curtailed her volunteer nursing activity after six weeks but it was the impetus to her “Hospital Sketches” book, compiled from letters home to her mother. Sadly, she died twenty-four hours after the death of her father.  She was born on his birthday. From 1882 to her death she was devoted to caring for her father’s paralysis.  Additionally, her home was a regular stop on the Underground Railroad.

Back to Blog
​Back to Home Page
"Louisa M. Alcott Dead." New York times March 6, 1888, “On This Day”. Jan. 2016. Web. 01 Apr. 2016. http://www.citationmachine.net/items/64392462/copy