Julia S. (Julia Susan) Wheelock

Born in Avon, Ohio, in 1833, she became known for her work as a teacher before the Civil War pulled her into a very different kind of service. During the war, she worked with the Michigan Soldiers' Relief Association and served near Union troops, helping care for sick and wounded soldiers.

Her experiences in wartime hospitals and camps later shaped her writing. She is best remembered for The Boys in White, a memoir that drew on what she saw during the war and helped preserve a personal, ground-level record of the conflict.

After the war, she continued a life of public-minded work and became known as Julia Wheelock Freeman. She died in 1900, and her story remains notable for the way it connects women's work, Civil War relief efforts, and firsthand historical writing.