Years later, painstaking research by Noel G. Frassanito believed the image was taken by a photographer working for Mathew Brady on May 19 or May 20, 1864, but he was unable to pinpoint its location. In his ground-breaking 1983 book, “ Grant and Lee, The Virginia Campaigns 1864-1865,” Civil War photography expert William Frassanito dissected this image and six other photos of this scene in Fredericksburg.

Lee and threaten the Rebel capital in Richmond, the Union army fought especially bloody battles at the Wilderness (May 5-7), Spotsylvania Courthouse (May 8-21) and elsewhere near Fredericksburg, causing thousands of casualties on both sides. , July 26, 2011.Gravediggers were especially busy that spring. Highlights in the History of the Army Nurse Corps. US Army Medical Department Office of Medical History. Gettysburg, PA: Thomas Publications, 2004. Dada, A Union Army Nurse in the Civil War. Ministering Angel: The Reminiscences of Harriet A. “Worth a Dozen Men: Women, Nursing, and Medical Care During the American Civil War.” PhD diss., Harvard University, 2003. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2003. Women in the Civil War: Extraordinary Stories of Soldiers, Spies, Nurses, Doctors, Crusaders, and Others. Brave men received attentive care and would forever remember the special women working the hospital wards all around the country during these pivotal moments in American history.Įggleston, Larry G. They persevered through dire and unsafe conditions with selfless dedication. Over four years of war nurses provided exemplary service to the fighting forces and to the nation as a whole. Many drew strength from the Soldiers themselves, whose constant assurances helped the nurses overcome their emotional burdens. Yet these brave women faced the fear of the unknown and the daily horrors that confronted them throughout the war. Regardless of the accommodations, a nurse could be assured of ghastly experiences dealing with bloody wounds and mangled limbs that would challenge even the hardiest individual’s emotional capacity. Hospital conditions and accommodations varied greatly depending on where the hospital was located and what sort of facilities existed there before the war. Nurses maintained written correspondence with Soldier’s families, and often assisted with a last letter home or death notification. Numerous accounts tell of men wracked in pain that would instantly calm and be comforted by a nurse’s attentiveness, conversation, or physical contact. Nurses tended to the Soldier’s physical needs, but also their spiritual needs, especially among Soldiers who were not expected to survive their wounds. Soldiers viewed nurses as holistic healers because of the strong connection they drew between physical and spiritual healing. Nurses acted as homemakers and orderlies in their wards. Army Military History Institute, MOLLUS-MASS Collection. Yet thousands of women left home to become nurses, and take care of fighting servicemen. The women faced the same challenges as their male counterparts, including the risk of communicable diseases, unsuitable medical field facilities, and various battlefield dangers. Beside the fears about sickness, death, or other calamities, many people, including many of the doctors the nurses worked with, did not believe women belonged in a medical setting. Apprehensive parents, fearful for their daughter’s safety, attempted to prevent their young daughters from leaving. Older women typically had greater freedom to leave their homes to participate in this uncertain and dangerous profession.

From middle-aged widows to young bachelorettes, women volunteered to assist in hospitals and other medical establishments. In August 1861 Congress authorized the Surgeon General to employ female nurses in Army hospitals, and to pay them $12 a month and provide them with food rations. Two months after the war began Secretary of War Simon Cameron appointed Dorothea Dix as Superintendent of Women Nurses for the Union. Civil War nurses overcame their objections through appeals to national pride, patriotic duty, and through hard work and dedicated service to the sick and wounded Soldiers that filled the nation’s hospitals. Many of their male colleagues believed that women did not belong in the hospitals and resented their presences. These pioneers challenged existing gender roles and social norms. Driven by the same patriotic desire as many of their male counterparts, roughly 3,300 women served as nurses for the Union Army from years 1861-1865. Most of these female volunteers served as nurses.

Women on both sides also felt a need to volunteer and contribute to the war effort. With the onset of the American Civil War in 1861, able-bodied men on both sides of the conflict began marching to battlefields in service to their country. Dorothea Dix, Superintendent of Women Nurses for the Union.

Civil war hospital photos