Yosemite as a soothing place to heal?

You might not connect Yosemite National Park to the Civil War. But Frederick Law Olmsted, co-creator of Central Park, certainly did. Eyewitness to the horrific destruction wrought by the war when he served as general secretary of the United States Sanitary Commission, a Red Cross-like operation for the North, Olmsted despaired as the nation became, in his words, a "republic of suffering." In 1864, when he was briefly relocated to California, Olmsted envisioned the Yosemite Valley as a convalescent, even redemptive, site of national healing. • Column

Read more here: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2012/09/27/2561980/william-deverell-yosemite-was.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2012/09/27/2561980/william-deverell-yosemite-was.html#storylink=cpy