Alcott supported the rights of women and slaves in America. In 1860, Alcott wrote for a newspaper. When the American Civil War began, she worked as a nurse in a hospital at Georgetown, D.C., for six weeks in 1862–1863. She wanted to serve three months as a nurse, but she got typhoid and got ill, but she did get better. Her letters to her home were put in popular newspapers and books (1863, republished with additions in 1869). These letters gave her fame, and people liked her observations and humor. She wrote about the bad care of hospitals by some doctors. Many people liked her stories and became fans of her writing.