Rebecca Gratz (1781-1869) of Philadelphia, and of Ivanhoe fame, and the sister of Simon Gratz (after whom Gratz, Pennsylvania is named), tried to offer her services as a nurse during the war, but was rejected because of her advanced age. She spent the war writing letters to her nephews who were fighting on both sides. Rebecca and her brother Simon had become estranged, possibly because of religious differences, and she knew little or nothing about Theodore’s family who were living in Gratz, Pennsylvania, so she did not know that one of her nephews, John Gratz (son of Theodore Gratz) had died in the war.
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First posted on the Civil War Blog on August 9, 2010.
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