Mercy Street

Your dress is abominable, Miss Farnham.

Most abominable, and your hair.

I do not wish my nurses to dress in that manner.

These boys must be looking to their recuperation,

not the hem of your skirts.

You come highly recommended,

but I had no idea you wore such a dress.

Miss Phinney.

You are in mourning.

My husband died a year ago.

Well, the frock suits you.

In a time of pain and chaos,

we are instruments of mercy and order.

That and only that is what we offer the boys.

Miss Gibson!

Quite clear, Miss Dix.

I see here you looked

after the good baron during his illness

and two young family members in Boston.

At a difficult time in my life,

nursing gave me renewed purpose.

Now with the war and the terrible plague of slavery--

Slavery, dear girl, is a matter more of prayer than protest.

Men fight and women pray.

It is not for us to opine on politics.

Pardon me, Miss Dix, but...

Slavery is not a political question.

It is a moral argument.

And we are obliged, each of us, to--

To what, dear child?

I only mean to say, emancipation is upon us.

The slaves will be free.

Those not fighting to bring that about only slow it down,

and the more misery will come of it.

Wonderful, Miss Phinney.

Wonderful.

Another noisy abolitionist.

I have just the place for you.

The mansion house hospital in Alexandria.

Lovely town, just across the river.

The army moved in a few months ago.

So it is a Union town, then.

More or less.

With a growing population of contraband slaves.

Move!

Well, I'm sure I can be of use there, among like-minded people.

Who is the nurse in charge? I'll report to her as--

You shall be the first.

The first?

The first Dix nurse, yes.

You are my emissary, no matter what anyone tells you.

Do I take it that I will...

Will I not be welcome there?

Army doctors do not like women

or nurses or me.

But you are dignified and well-spoken,

firm but inoffensive,

sufficiently plain so as not to distract.

You'll do splendidly.

And if you are not welcome, then I am not welcome,

and I do not like to be unwelcome.

Now, come!

Let's make arrangements for your travel.

Mansion house hospital, ma'am.

Hyah!

Ha!

Peg legs! Glass eyeballs!

A ribbon for your honey!

Bullet went right through.

Please.

Glass eyeballs!

What's your name, Reb?

Fairfax.

T-Tom Fairfax, 17th Virginia Infantry.

Come on, now. Here we go.

All right, easy now.

This is a Union hospital, yes? And this man is a confederate?

Orders are, we take in whoever ends up here.

Nurse? Nurse!

Nurse, over here!

My-my leg!

Nurse, excuse me. I need your help.

I-I can't feel my toes.

Nurse. Nurse, come-- come over here.

Look on him with eyes of mercy,

give him patience under his affliction,

and, in thy good time, restore him to health.

And enable him to lead the residue of his life...

...to thy fear and to thy glory.

Let me go!

I took a vow to keep it flying, and I damn well will!

Please. Please help me.

You're from Miss Dix?

You need to see Dr. Summers.

Are you the matron? I'm Miss Phinney.

I know who you are.

Well...

This must have been quite a hotel.

Certainly, for the Secesh upper crust.

Family that owned it, the Greens,

they love it so much, they refuse to leave.

Blasted rebels live right down the street.

Please, be careful.

That is true Indian ivory,

brought back by my husband's grandfather, the admiral.

Listen, you must store it very, very safely.

- How shall we reclaim it? - Hyah!

Please be careful with that, please!

McClellan's got them turning tail.

We'll have Richmond before long.

No doubt about it.

We got more boys headed down there all the time.

Morning, papa.

Mama.

They broke the Indian chest!

One of the elephant heads fell off in the yard.

I found a tusk in the hallway.

I'm sorry, Mother.

Don't ask for an apple.

Yankees took the last of them.

All right. Then I'll get an egg.

Soldiers ate them all up yesterday.

Foul intruders.

My father would have taken a paddle to every last one.

Fortunately, your father's not here.

That chest was an heirloom, James, from your family.

Exactly. You don't see me fretting.

All we can do is make the best of the situation.

That's not all.

We could go.

- Leave our home? - Other families have.

And other families have lost everything,

relying upon the generosity of other people in other places.

Not us. Alexandria is our home.

- Have you tried the jam? - Yes. Quite good.

When this is over, three or four months from now,

our life will resume much as it was.

Until then, we share our house with them.

Not only our house!

Our streets, our food, our milk,

and our hotel is turned into their charnel house.

- Emma. - I will not have you talk that way.

I'm sorry.

But the confederacy will make it right.

- Soldiers like Frank. - And Tom.

They're fighting for us.

Oh, yes, if only we green men were as brave as your two beaus.

Well, at least they're willing to stand up for something.

Or die for nothing.

How do you think it looks

to have a brother and father doing business here

while all the other men have either gone to fight or fled?

All right, now. Leave Jimmy alone.

Let's all breathe and have some...

stewed rhubarb.

Rhubarb? For breakfast?

Beggars and choosers, dear.

Beggars and choosers.

Dr. Summers, I was sent by Miss Dix.

I'm aware, Miss Phinney,

or should I say Baroness Von Olnhausen?

"Miss Phinney" will do, thank you.

I aim to be of service here.

Oh, yes, yes.

A fancy Teutonic widow should come in handy.

The men are always clamoring for spanferkel.

My husband, the baron, was German.

I myself am a born-and-bred New Englander.

So, no spanferkel, then?

I believe you'll find I have more to contribute

than suckling pig.

You underestimate suckling pig.

I have experience as a nurse.

I've looked after several invalid relatives,

including my husband.

What, the dead Duke?

Well, that didn't turn out so well, did it?

Oh.

Eh, gangrene has set in.

The smell is the least of it.

- Kendrick, change this. - Yes, sir.

Contribute, will you?

As soon as I find you a room with a bed

and a looking glass-- of which we're in

very short supply, by the way--

and someone to fetch meals and get little things for you?

Perhaps a pretty young houseboy to rub your feet at night?

I require only minimal comforts.

Oh, my eye!

My eye!

You've no idea what you're signing up for here, do you?

Go back to Boston.

I will not.

Miss Dix dispatched me with precise instructions.

You tell dragon Dix that I'll choose my own staff,

nurses included.

If I need her help, I'll ask for it.

Uh, you're needed in the ballroom, sir.

Matron...

See what accommodations can be arranged for the duchess.