African-American Nurses in the Civil War: Many African-Americans served as nurses during the war, including Anne Bradford Stokes, Harriet Tubman, and Sojourner Truth.Historical Pictures: View photographs from the Civil War era and read an article about the history of Civil War nurses.Clara Barton: Clara Barton was the founder of the American Red Cross and the most famous Civil War nurse.Explore this virtual exhibit from the Smithsonian. A Nurse’s Diary: Amanda Akin, a nurse during the Civil War, kept a diary of her experiences.On June 10, 1861, Dorothea Lynde was named “superintendent of women nurses,” which created an organized unit of nurses for the Union.

Many also worked closer to the battlefield. They served as nurses in Union and Confederate hospitals. That doesn’t mean, though, that women did not play a significant role during the Civil War. However, the groundwork had been laid in Europe through the work of Florence Nightingale. When the Civil War broke out, there was no organized training system in place for nurses in America, which means there was still no such thing as a nursing degree. The American Revolutionary War: This article presents an overview of the war and its major events.The Early Years: Find out what women were doing for the war effort before they were recognized as nurses.Women’s Roles: Read an examination of the various roles women played during the American Revolutionary War here.Women’s Service: Colonial Williamsburg presents a history of women’s service to the Revolutionary army.The signing of this resolution was significant because it created the first organized system for the assignment and payment of nurses for the American military. The worth of female nurses was apparently recognized since the pay per nurse was raised to four dollars in 1776. Women who supervised the nurses and acted as go-betweens to the surgeons received four dollars. On July 27, 1775, a resolution was signed allotting payment of two dollars per month to women who worked as nurses. They were valued because of the traditional role women had as caretakers but also because if a woman was doing the nursing, that meant there was one more man available to fight. Revolutionary War (1775-83)ĭuring the Revolutionary War, women often followed the troops hoping for safety, food, and a chance to work. Today, nurses serve in all branches of the military. Later, the important role that nurses played during wartime was recognized and training programs were established. Many of them were women who couldn’t eke out a living with their men off to war, so they followed the troops and made themselves useful where they could to earn safety, food, and lodging. In the earliest days of American history, nurses were untrained. Women have a long history of serving as nurses to soldiers in the military. Today, nurses in the United States are required to have a nursing degree, but that wasn’t always the case.

Lady nightingale ww2