Sterling — Roleplayer Guild

Name: Harriet Coleman

Alias: By those who know her she is called Harri. The rest probably call her Miss Coleman.

Age: 24 years old

Gender: Female

Origin: Lexington Kentucky, a border state teetering whether they were Confederate or Union. 
Being a Coleman her family probably hailed from England some time back. 

Current Occupation: Nurse and Midwife. Before the war Harriet was just a farmer’s daughter, but with the fighting came the need to heal. While rather young, the Army trained Harriet for a nurse by the Union and the skills stuck. She now works with the town’s local Doctor, though the ailments of Laredo are not as trying as the ailments of war.

Appearance: Harriet is not what one would call the most beautiful woman in the world. Or even a beauty at that. She has fair skin and bright brown eyes, but her features are common place, as is her straight brown hair (mostly worn up in a braided bun out of the way in a practical and comely fashion) . 

An average build and an average height Harriet’s most striking feature would probably be her nerves of steel, and her ability to perform and even be soothing in a dreadful situation (as an army nurse would need to be, experienced in battle field amputations and dying men all around her, or a midwife would need to be with a screaming soon to be mother laboring) . She has a sweet reassuring smile normally tucked into the corners of her mouth and steady hand and a kind word while stitching a fellow up. 

She dresses for cleanliness and practicality, in long sleeved dressed, cuffs typically rolled up to her forearm to keep them out of the way and worn boots. Almost always Harriet wears dull colors of fawn brown, dove gray, or the lightest of blues, her goal in dress had never been to impress or to be seen. Normally she wears a starched white apron over her dress with its pockets carrying the contents a nurse might need readily available. 

When going out Harriet modestly covers her head from the scorching sun of Texas with a plain white bonnet. A little dated but then during the most 'fashion driven' years of Harriet's life she was covered in mud and gore. Pretty things just didn't seem to matter after an adolescences of blood.

Personality: Her vocation speaks volumes to her nature, a person who wants to help and isn’t afraid to get dirty in the process. Also the fact that after the war she did not return home to her brothers and father to marry as many girls her own age says something more. 

Harriet likes her work, helping people and being independent. Sure she’s not loudly proclaiming her freedom as a woman but her choice to move to Laredo and peruse a life on her own rather than the one she knew back on the farm shows that Harriet might be an adventurer at heart. 

Soft spoken and gentle handed Harriet believes you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Of course that is not to say she is a pushover. She knows what is right and if a patient is proving difficult Harriet’s iron will and stubborn side is known to show itself. Nurse knows best after all. 

Skills/Abilities: Being a farmer’s daughter Harriet has a fair green thumb (she grows her own herbs (for cooking and medicinal) as well as her own small vegetable garden) and knows her way around livestock. 
Being a nurse she has medical training and can sew up a wound just as easily as she might darn a sock or hem a skirt. 

She does know how to handle a rifle and a few pistols but hunting and shooting other people had never been something Harriet wanted to do.

Harriet learned to play the piano as a special treat for being the only girl in the family.

Miscellaneous: Since Harriet from such a young age was tending to others she is not the most adept at the other skills women her age 'should know'. She can keep a tidy house, but it is medically so, not ecstatically. She can cook but it is just the bare necessities and is often more comfortable with campfire cooking than in the big iron ovens.  

Never will Harriet produce a beautiful cobbler or pie, nor design a complex patch work quilt. She can can and pickle and jar foods but those made by another will always have a more refined taste. 

This applies to her own appearance as well. Harriet never learned complex hair styles or makeup at all. A nurse doesn't need to have ringlets and pink cheeks. A braid and her own simple face will have to do. 

History/Bio: Harriet was born and raised on the family farm in Kentucky. She was the only daughter in a family with 4 boys. A middle child Harriet was expected to do her chores and keep up with the rest of the Coleman’s, no special treatment for her aside from the piano lessons granted for not making as much trouble as her brothers did. 

Living a fair distance from all the other farmers Harriet spent most of her childhood either trying to keep up with her older brothers, keeping the younger ones out of as much trouble as she could, or sitting with the cows and the chickens . When Harriet became old enough to go to school she made more friends and found she enjoyed learning her figures and her letters much more than talking to the chickens. An excellent student Harriet’s parents allowed her to attend school much longer than her brothers and so she became the most educated of the Coleman’s. 

When the war broke out Harriet watched in dismay as all the young men went off, including her brothers. As the fighting waged on the only girl Coleman felt she needed to contribute as well, though she chose to be nonviolent. The army took her and trained her as a nurse. While terribly excited to be learning more skills and acquiring more knowledge, Harriet had a heavy heart from all those moaning crying boys whose hands she held as they died.  War was just as awful as she had expected it to be, and each time the injured were brought to the medical tents she was afraid she’d see the face of one of her brothers. 

However, she never did. In fact while two of her brothers came home from the war ( to some degree at least) a third was killed and the fourth missing, presumed dead.  When the south fell and the armies were recalled Harriet returned home, only to find she no longer belonged. It wasn’t enough to bring a smile to her father’s face with her piano playing, and it wasn’t enough to watch her brothers stare out at the fields vacantly. Harriet wanted to help more. 

So she left Kentucky and moved to the new and terrifying state of Texas, where there was a sure promise. A promise to never have to see her own family broken into little pieces, and a promise to help as many sick and injured as she could. It took some years to finally find a doctor who would take her on and even pay her but the traveling and searching was worth it. 

Secrets:  None

Relations: Harriet’s family back in Kentucky. Father: John Coleman Mother: Elizabeth Coleman Eldest brother: Samuel Coleman- Alive, wounded. Second Eldest Brother: Jesse Coleman – Died in the war, Younger Brother: Horace Coleman, Alive, effected in the head from the war, Youngest Brother: Ira Coleman- Presumed dead, missing.
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