On Both Sides of the Line: Her Early Years in Georgia and Civil War Service as a Union Army Nurse

Fannie Oslin Jackson (1835-1925) was born in Newton County, Georgia to Jesse Oslin and Abigail C. Smith. She married Zachariah N. Jackson (1832-1912) in 1850. Although born amidst slavery, and always remaining true lovers of the South, both Mr. and Mrs. Jackson were opposed to slavery and to secession. When it became apparent that all able bodied men of that section must answer the call of the South, the young husband enlisted in the 8th Georgia volunteers and the brave little wife, with a heavy heart, took up the burdens of the family and the farm alone. The little home was in the direct path of Sherman’s march to the Sea and for days the sound of cannons was terrifying, then the battle of Snake Creek Gap was fought and dozens of soldiers were killed or wounded in the yard almost. One night the circumstances of her living was transformed and her hospital services as a nurse began by making an emergency hospital out of her home. She was so untiring in her efforts and so proficient in her work that she was given a recommendations by the General in charge of the Union Army at that place, a document that she cherished until her death. It resulted in her becoming a regularly appointed nurse.