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- Aug 27, 2011
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I noticed the figures on each end and wondered what/who they were.Taking a different inspiration: At the southeast corner of Dupont Circle in Washington D.C. stands the unique Civil War Nurses Memorial, also known as “Nuns on the Battlefield.” Erected in 1924 by the Ladies’ Auxiliary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, it is the work of Irish American sculptor Jerome Connor.
Taking a different inspiration: At the southeast corner of Dupont Circle in Washington D.C. stands the unique Civil War Nurses Memorial, also known as “Nuns on the Battlefield.” Erected in 1924 by the Ladies’ Auxiliary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, it is the work of Irish American sculptor Jerome Connor.
TO THE MEMORY AND IN HONOR OF
THE VARIOUS ORDERS OF SISTERS
WHO GAVE THEIR SERVICES AS NURSES ON BATTLEFIELDS
AND IN HOSPITALS DURING THE CIVIL WAR
Most poignant and notable aspect of this memorial for me: General Sherman's words "She outranks me".Michaelangelo's famous Pietà, showing the grieving Virgin Mary holding the body of the dead Jesus, was the obvious inspiration for Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson's 1906 Mother Bickerdyke memorial in Galesburg, Ill. And, it is a fitting grouping, that has been used often, up to and including Glenna Goodacre's 1993 Vietnam Army Nurses Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Thanks for bumping this thread.
Hmm. I never thought of it but one of the 5 figures on the Confederate monument in from of the Leflore County (Miss) Courthouse depicts a very similar pose of a lady guving aide to a young soldier.
I will try to post a photo.
It does seem the South didn't have the same number of dedicated facilities and organisations for caring for the sick and wounded, from what I have read many of them being cared for in private homes, halls, etc, and ordinary citizens being required to care for them. They must be some of the many unsung heroes of the war.If it is possible, would you please? Despite hearing bits and pieces of nurses it seems to me genuine interest has either fallen or kind of condensed our nurses into one,Frankensteined female, you know? We're allowed one " Civil War Nurse ", really, a prim albeit intrepid young creature forever bedside, wearing a pinafored apron and possibly marrying one of her patients. The End.
Tom Elmore's post highlights one battle's response in women's dedicated compassion and you can add to that most households. Doors thrown open to wounded made a " Civil War Nurse " out of housewives and teenaged girls- heck, children, too. Read a first hand account, mother directing her little girl to please hold a wounded man's leg still while she cleaned it.
Too many circumstances to count- hospital transports, frontline nurses, those serving in rehabilitation units and hospitals where men were placed, knowing there was no hope. Our Southern women faced special horrors, good grief. I've never seen this addressed comprehensively although am not an expert. Wards full of the most horrifically wounded men- and no proper medicine, women resorted back to pioneer days. Woodland and meadow herbs and plants, the old lores were brought back, anything to alleviate suffering.
The magnitude of response to the call for help is staggering. Some women just packed bags and left home, showing up in places of need. If Dix wouldn't take them ( That was only 10% of our nurses ), they kept moving until someone did. Wish I knew more on the various organizations in the South. In the North, somehow Army, Sanitary Commission, Christian Commission and different state and local organizations provided nurses inside a system which somehow worked.
Where in Galesburg is this? I didn't see it when I was there to photograph the Knox College site of the Lincoln-Douglas debate in October 1858.Michaelangelo's famous Pietà, showing the grieving Virgin Mary holding the body of the dead Jesus, was the obvious inspiration for Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson's 1906 Mother Bickerdyke memorial in Galesburg, Ill. And, it is a fitting grouping, that has been used often, up to and including Glenna Goodacre's 1993 Vietnam Army Nurses Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The monument, all fourteen tons of bronze and granite is "on the lawn of the Knox County Courthouse" according to http://www.thezephyr.com/bick100.htm.Where in Galesburg is this? I didn't see it when I was there to photograph the Knox College site of the Lincoln-Douglas debate in October 1858.