Scutari and its hospitals

the long version

"The Hon. and Rev. Osborne, a personal friend of Sir Sydney Herbert, had come to Scutari as a volunteer chaplain. He had been cold-shouldered by authorities. Now he found himself assisting at operations. In this book he gives an account of scenes he experienced. In his opinion the hospitals would have collapsed if Miss Nightingale had not been present. The Crimean War was the first war reported to people in their daily newspapers. One result was that the war became a tourist attraction. Scores of civilian Englishmen went there and mingled with the troops to see the war for themselves. This was a new experience for those in authority in the Army. They had no rules for dealing with such people. This book and many others like it was the result. These civilian observers wrote up what they saw and gave public addresses about it, without censorship, sometimes causing great consternation among the politicos at home responsible for the war's blunders."--Elmer Belt Florence Nightingale collection (1958), p.17.