Page 48 - QARANC Vol 14 No 13 2016

In Feb 2016 the Association was approached by Lily, an 11 year old girl from Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania, who was participating in the United States National History Day Competition. She wanted to present the story of Charlotte Brown who grew up near London. In 1754 she became the Matron of the British Army Hospital in America, while her brother, Robert Bristow (or Bristowe) ran the apothecary at the hospital. She was paid 2 shillings a day. She sailed over to America in 1754 and returned to England in 1763.
Although Lily did not win the competition, I thought her work was really deserving of recognition. This is her submission:
46 QARANC THE GAZETTE
Invaluable yet Invisible:
The women nurses during the Seven Years’ War in America, through the Encounters of Charlotte Browne
“All of us greatly alarm’d a Boy came from the Camp and said the General was kill’d 4 Miles from the French Fort and that almost all S’r Peter Hackets Regiment is cut off by a Party of French and Indians who were behind Trees, Dunbars Regiment was in the rear so that they lost but few Men, it is not possible to describe the Distraction of the poor Women for their Husbands. I pack’d up my Things to send, for we expected the Indians every Hour.”
Charlotte Browne wrote that in her journal 11 July 1755, two days after General Braddock’s Defeat. Charlotte Browne was born in a small town outside of London, England. In the winter of 1755, when she was 31 years old, Charlotte sailed over to the American colonies to be the Hospital Matron of the British Army. With her came her brother, Robert Bristowe, one of the Army’s apothecaries. They would be following the march to capture Fort DuQuesne. Charlotte Browne and the nurses she supervised encountered many challenges as they toiled in the British Military Hospital during the Seven Years’ War in America.
Before I tell you more about Charlotte Browne and the nurses, let me set the stage. In 1755, the lands east of the Appalachian Mountains housed about 1 million British subjects. Down along the St. Lawrence Seaway and through the Great Lakes region, New France had been established, holding about 300,000 French settlers. Both Britain and France claimed the land in between. America was a land of dense forest, abundant wildlife, fish, and natural resources. It was the frontier. The French wanted the land mainly for trading with the Indians, while the British wanted it for farming and expanding their territories. At the centre of it all, was Fort DuQuesne. A small French outpost, Fort DuQuesne was stationed at the confluence of three rivers, the Monongahela, the Allegheny and the Ohio. These rivers are essential to travelling quickly throughout the claimed land. King George of Britain decided to send Maj Gnr Edward Braddock to capture the Fort.
“4 August, 1757. I here end my journal having so much business on my hands that I cannot spare Time to write it. My encounters and experiences have been shared with this book. I remember when I was at Will’s Creek-Fort Cumberland, where the Hospital was located while the General was marching to capture Fort DuQuesne. At Fort Cumberland the mountains and rolling hills surrounded us.
Lily as Charlotte Browne
Where the Potomac River and Will’s Creek met there was a high situation of land, that’s where the Fort was. The Hospital was but a small shed located just outside the Fort walls.
I’ve been working all day. The wounded are still straggling back from the General’s defeat. Here at the Fort, there is blame taking and name calling. There is a brash young Virginian telling everyone that the three Virginian companies ‘behaved like men and died like soldiers,’ while our brave British regulars broke and ran as ‘sheep pursued by dogs.’ Well obviously this, George Washington is full of faulty opinions.