Angels of the Battlefield

[dawna]

CIVIL WAR NURSES - "Angels of the Battlefield"

William Ludwell Sheppard's watercolor In the Hospital, 1861 (above) pays tribute to those women of the South who labored ceaselessly to care for the war's wounded. "I have never worked so hard in all my life and I would rather do that than anything else in the world, said one weary attendant.

A devoted nurse later praised her female colleagues:

"Would that I could do more than thank the dear friends who made my life for four years so happy and contented; who never made me feel by word or act, that my self-imposed occupation was otherwise than one which would ennoble any woman. If ever any aid was given through my own exertions, or any labor rendered effective by me for the good of the South-if any sick soldier ever benefitted by my happy face or pleasant smiles at his bedside, or death was ever soothed by gentle words of hope and tender care, such results were only owing to the cheering encouragement I received from them. They were gentlewomen in every sense of the word, and though they might not have remembered that "noblesse oblige," they felt and acted up to the motto in every act of their lives. My only wish was to live and die among them, growing each day better from contact with their gentle, kindly sympathies and heroic hearts.

Approximately two thousand women, North and South, served as volunteer nurses in military hospitals during the American Civil War. Seeking convention and direct involvement in the national struggle rather than the domestic support roles to which social minimum career opportunity had traditionally confined the majority of their sex, they experienced at first hand the grim constants of war -- amputated limbs, mutilated bodies, disease and death -- and provided invaluable aid to the sick and wounded soldiers and medical authorities on either side.

Of those so employed a relative few-such as Louisa May Alcott, Jane Stuart Woolsey, and Katharine Prescott Wormeley - recorded their experiences for posterity. Most, however, unfortunately left little record of their wartime service. They therefore remain in large measure historically anonymous, except for the terse appearance of their names on hospital muster rolls, and consequently the activities and influence of the woman nurse constitute one of the rare aspects of Civil War history that has not been extensively recorded.

That comparatively little secondary material has been written concerning women nurses mutes the significance of their contribution to the wartime medical service. Available evidence indicates that their activities often had important ramifications in both an immediate and broader social sense, and that as a group they deserve attention as full participants in the civil conflict rather than as mere helpers of the main actors, more interesting than substantial. in fact, these women often had notable impact upon the men they tended and served under; and, further, the introduction of female personnel into responsible roles in a traditionally male military environment was one significant step in the progress of women toward a fuller involvement in American Society.

Source: Civil War Nurse, The Diary and Letters of Hannah Ropes. Introduction and commentary by John R. Brumgardt

"No man, not even a doctor, ever gives any other definition of what a nurse should be than this -- 'devoted and obedient.' This definition would do just as well for a porter. It might even do for a horse. It would not do for a policeman." ~Florence Nightingale~ 1859

[thea_447]

Beautiful beginning for a new thread, Dawna, and one that has not been covered.
These unsung heroines of the War certainly deserve our belated attention to their devotion to the soldiers on both sides.

[8thvacav]

The Ladies of that time are a wonder to me. Thank God there are women like those. I think it takes a special person to do those things. There was a pile up on I-75 at Macon, Ga. April the 2nd. My son inlaw, granddaughter and daughter were right in the middle of it. They got through it with out a scratch. They stopped on the other side and went back to help. They helped people out of there cars because some of them were burning. My daughter went up to one old fellow and ask him if he was all right. He was lying in the road. He took her hand and wouldn't let go. Lori doesn't have any nursing skills but her just being there made the old guy feel better. I was proud of my kids. Thank God for looking out for them.

[dawna]

Martin:

It does take a special kind of person to care for others, espeically under horrific circumstances, and I can only imagine what it was like for these women who were not only breaking out of traditional roles at the time of the Civil War, but they were also experiencing the kind of human suffering to which there is no earthly preparation, or possible explanation. Although I've read many accounts of women who volunteered as nurses, and they're all unforgettable, Louisa May Alcott's story regarding one of her patients, John, (from a previous posting - "Hospital SKetches) is the one that is so paiinfully vivid to me, and heart wrenching.

I am sorry to hear about the tragedy on the I-75 in Georgia, and you should be proud of your daughter, and son-in-law, but Lori does come from good stock and the man whose hand she held will no doubt never forget her kindness, and compassion.

If no one minds, I would like to start a new thread which will be devoted to the "Angels of the Battlefield", and we'll start with Martin's daughter, Lori.

Dawna

[jenna]

Women, for the first time, had to step out of the "Victorian" structure of society. They had to fend for their families and it was either work or die. The south suffered the most, with war raging all around and never knowing what was to happen next. Cornila Peak MacDonald, living in Winchester during Jackson's Shenendoa campaing watcher her place be torn apart. She lived on the outskirts of town and the Yanks used her apple orchard as cannno breastworks. She had 6 children, under the age of 15, in her home and they had to deal with both sides coming and going out of their home and taking things. They lost most of their livestock, like chickens and pigs right away to the Yanks. It is unbelievable the sacrificies they all made.

It is a great start of a thread. Let's keep it going.
Jenna

[thea_447]

Dorothea Dix

1802-1887

A noted social reformer, Dix became the Union's Superintendent of Female Nurses during the Civil War. The soft spoken yet autocratic crusader had spent more than 20 years working for improved treatment of mentally ill patients and for better prison conditions. A week after the attack on Fort Sumter, Dix, at age 59, volunteered her services to the Union and received the appointment in June 1861 placing her in charge of all women nurses working in army hospitals. Serving in that position without pay through the entire war, Dix quickly molded her vaguely defined duties.

She convinced skeptical military officials, unaccustomed to female nurses, that women could perform the work acceptably, and then recruited women. Battling the prevailing stereo types-and accepting many of the common prejudices herself-Dix sought to ensure that her ranks not be inundated with flighty and marriage-minded young women by only accepting applicants who were plain looking and older than 30. In addition, Dix authorized a dress code of modest black or brown skirts and forbade hoops or jewelry.
Even with these strict and arbitrary requirements, relaxed somewhat as the war persisted, a total of over 3,000 women served as Union army nurses. Called "Dragon Dix" by some, the superintendent was stern and brusque, clashing frequently with the military bureaucracy and occasionally ignoring administrative details. Yet, army nursing care was markedly improved under her leadership.
Dix looked after the welfare of both the nurses, who labored in an often brutal environment, and the soldiers to whom they ministered, obtaining medical supplies from private sources when they were not forthcoming from the government. At the war's conclusion, Dix returned to her work on behalf of the mentally ill. </STRONG>

[thea_447]

Clara Harlowe Barton


(1821-1912)

Born on December 25, 1821 in Oxford, Mass., the youngest of 5 children in a middle-class family, Barton was educated at home, and at 15 started teaching school. Her most notable antebellum achievement was the establishment of a free public school in Bordentown, N.J. Though she is remembered as the founder of the American Red Cross, her only prewar medical experience came when for 2 years she nursed an invalid brother.


In 1861 Barton was living in Washington, D.C., working at the U.S. Patent Office. When the 6th Massachusetts Regiment arrived in the city after the Baltimore Riots, she organized a relief program for the soldiers, beginning a lifetime of philanthropy.
When Barton learned that many of the wounded from First Bull Run had suffered, not from want of attention but from need of medical supplies, she advertised for donations in the Worcester, Mass., Spy and began an independent organization to distribute goods. The relief operation was successful, and the following year U.S. Surgeon General William A. Hammond granted her a general pass to travel with army ambulances "for the purpose of distributing comforts for the sick and wounded, and nursing them."
For 3 years she followed army operations throughout the Virginia theater and in the Charleston, S.C., area. Her work in Fredericksburg, Va., hospitals, caring for the casualties from the Battle of the Wilderness, and nursing work at Bermuda Hundred attracted national notice. At this time she formed her only formal Civil War connection with any organization when she served as superintendent of nurses in Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butlers command.
She also expanded her concept of soldier aid, traveling to Camp Parole, Md., to organize a program for locating men listed as missing in action. Through interviews with Federals returning from Southern prisons, she was often able to determine the status of some of the missing and notify families.
By the end of the war Barton had performed most of the services that would later he associated with the American Red Cross, which she founded in 1881. In 1904 she resigned as head of that organization, retiring to her home at Glen Echo, outside Washington, D.C., where she died 12 Apr. 1912.
Source: "Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War" edited by Patricia L. Faust