When the words Civil War comes to mind, some might think about North and South, slavery, Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee or even Ulysses S. Grant. But does the word nurse come to mind. Being a nurse of the Civil War was an important duty that many women had an opportunity to be a part of. The results of the Civil War changed history for many things but a major thing that came out of it was the women nurses. Women from the North and from the South came out of their houses and what they were familiar with and decided to help those who were wounded and hurt. There were “thousands of women [who] served as volunteer nurses during the civil war” (Civil War Nurses, 1). The women of the Civil War made a change not only then but for the future. Women from the North and South came out to help with the war effort, there are names we do not know about and there are names that live on today and their contribution to the war shaped the world. When the war first broke out, it was thought to not last very long. They never thought it would last four years. They did not understand how big it was going to end up. When it came to the women they had to take over what their husbands were doing; “On the home front, northern and southern women took over households, ran family businesses, maintained farms and plantations and provided daily care …show more content…
and food for their families while the men went to war” (Women in the US Military,1). The women stepped up to keep their families going. But soon they wanted to do more, they wanted to help in all ways possible. They wanted to be in the action; “Women on both sides also felt a need to volunteer and contribute to the war effort” (Education Materials Index, 1). It was important for them to help out and they did this by becoming nurses. They never knew how important nurses would be. The nurses started to come out to help but starting only at the hospitals; “At the beginning of the war nurses were merely volunteers who showed up at military hospitals” (Civil War Nurses, 1). Just like the war, what started out to be something small ended up being a huge thing. They started with something simple and they ended up going to other places and helping out wounded soldiers all over America. It was said that, “Within a few months of the war’s onset, some 600 women were serving as nurses in 12 hospitals” (Civil War Nurses, 1). Within just a few months there were a lot of women who came out and volunteered their time in hospitals. While there were women who just stayed in hospitals, there were women who helped out in other places. From the start of the war, women wanted to help out and while some worked in the hospitals, there were women who went around to the different armies giving them supplies that they needed. It was said that, “women helped organize and run public relief and sanitary commissions to gather and distribute supplies to the armies” (Women in the US Military,1). They would go to the different armies and give them the supplies they needed to keep going. The nurses are the people behind the scene. They helped out where ever they could and they did things to help the soldiers out. They helped take care of the wounded and they helped give them supplies. But while there were nurses that helped out all over the place there was one nurse who was well known. She was the superintendent of the women nurses in the Union: “Two months after the war began Secretary of War Simon Cameron appointed Dorothea Dix as Superintendent of Women Nurses for the Union” (Education Materials Index, 1). Dorethea Dix made a huge impact within the Civil War and among the nurses; “a week after the attack on Fort Sumter, Dix, at age 59, [she] 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” (Dorothea Dix Biography, 1). She was the face of the Union nurses. She did what she thought was right and decided to make the nurses a big deal. She realized that it was going to be a big thing and she needed to get the nurses in place to deal with all the casualties they may face. She was not always a nurse and she dealt with a variety of people. It was said that, “[in] 1841, when she began teaching Sunday school at the East Cambridge Jail, a women’s prison. She discovered the appalling treatment of the prisoners, particularly those with mental illnesses, whose living quarters had no heat. She immediately went to court and secured an order to provide heat for the prisoners, along with other improvements” (Biography.com Editors ,1). She helped people and stood up for what was right years before the war even started. She knew how important it was to help people out. She did what she could for the prisoners and tried to make a difference in their living arrangements. She went around to different places trying to help all of the people that she could; “She began traveling around the state to research the conditions in prisons and poorhouses” (Biography.com Editors,1). She knew that she had to help out people and this passion of helping people continued on through her leadership position she acquired during the war. When she received the title of superintendent of the Union nurses, she began to hire nurses for pay, but she had strict requirements for what she was looking for in a nurse. She also gave them a uniform that they had to wear. She wanted to make sure that they were modest and that didn’t attract men. They wore simple things; “All nurses are required to be plain looking women," she stated. "Their dresses must be brown or black, with no bows, no curls, no jewelry, and no hoop-skirts.” (Arendt, Britta,1). They had to be plain and something that did not take away from the job at hand. They had to be professional and keep focuses on helping out the soldiers and not getting into their heads. Dix’s nurses were also paid for their services. It was said that, “her nurses were paid 40 cents a day plus rations, housing and transportation” (Civil War Nurses, 1). It was also said that she “discouraged single women from nursing because of the improprieties involved in close contact with strange men and hostility to their presence” (Women in the US Military,1). It was important for the women who were nurses to be married or older because of the interaction with the soldiers daily. This was not only to protect the nurses but to protect the soldier nurse relationship. It is important for everything to stay professional. The nurses did a lot of traveling among the hospitals to make sure that they received the care that they needed, “army nurses traveled from hospital to hospital, providing “humane and efficient care for wounded, sick and dying soldiers” (History.com Staff,1.). They saved the soldiers and helped them get better so they could continue to fight in the war. They were for the soldiers through the hard times, when they were in pain or when they were fighting to survive. This was one of the reasons why Dorethea Dix really only wanted married, older women. The nurses were there to treat all kinds of needs; “nurses tended to the Soldier’s physical needs, but also their spiritual needs, especially among Soldiers who were not expected to survive their wounds” (Education Materials Index, 1). When they were dying the nurses were there to give them comfort and helped them find the strength they needed as they were dying. They were with the soldiers as they healed and prepared to go back into battle. Even though these nurses never had the proper training for helping the sick they did the best they could.
Their goal was to provided the comfort and needs to help no matter who the soldier was; “Lacking professional training but endlessly resourceful, the volunteer nurses of the Civil War labored tirelessly to bring aid and comfort to the sick and wounded soldiers on both sides of the fighting” (Civil War Nurses, 1). They did the best they could with little information. They wanted to save the soldier’s life and they did all that they could to make this happen. Nurses were behind the scenes and they helped heal the soldiers back to
life. When it came to the Confederate nurses their life was a little different. They did not really work in hospitals. They worked mostly in and out of homes; “Women in the South did not have to leave their homes to reach the front” (Women in the US Military,1). They could help the soldiers from their homes and they did with great honor. They also had different standards for what nurses volunteered; “In the South, there were no strict age requirements for female nurses. Therefore, the ages of nurses ranged greatly in the North and South - from young teenage women to more mature adults” (Arendt, Britta,1). The South did not have requirements like the North had. They wanted nurses and they were not worried about the age of them. They just needed the people to help the soldiers to get better, no matter what the age was. Even though the nurses of the North did things differently than the nurses of the South, they still had a common purpose of helping people. They wanted to give the soldier the correct treatment so they could continue to live. Nurses are a vital part in any war. When people get hurt they need someone to take care of them and they need to get all bandaged up and make sure that their injury does not transpire to something more dangerous that could result in death. Even though the soldier did not have a relationship with the nurse before and more than likely after they still remembered who was the one that saved their life; “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” (Education Materials Index, 1). When a nurse saved their life and helped them it was very important to history. Their life was saved because of them and who would know what would happen if they did not have that care that was needed. Nurses did way more than imaginable and they created a comfortable environment when all else was gone. They helped the soldiers at one of their weakest moments in life and they put them back together after they were broken. They healed them so they could fight for the people and win the rights that we have today. So now when you think about Civil War, does the term nurse come to mind. Does their impact back then have an impact on our life today? It is said that “Women's participation in the Civil War became a catalyst for changes of women's roles in society and in the military” (Women in the US Military,1). The women back then made a change and they helped shaped the world today. Even though there was “Approximately two thousand women, North and South, served as volunteer nurses in military hospitals during the American Civil War” (The Angels of the Battlefield,1). There are many more nurses who are working today to make a difference in each patience life.
Furthermore, as war led to an increase in the number of injured men, there was a shortage of nurses, and women swarmed into medical universities to receive their educations so they could serve as nurses. In his “Universities, medical education, and women,” Watts states that when it was observed that women could “join the popular and increasing band of professional nurses. women were striving to gain university admission” (Watts 307).
“At the war’s end, even though a majority of women surveyed reported wanted to keep their jobs, many were forced out by men returning home and by the downturn in demand for war materials… The nation that needed their help in
Clara Barton’s ‘The Women Who Went to the Field’ describes the work of women and the contribution they made on the civil war battlefield in 1861. Barton highlights the fact that when the American Civil War broke out women turned their attention to the conflict and played a key role throughout as nurses. Therefore, at first glance this poem could in fact be seen as a commemoration of the women who served in the American Civil War as its publications in newspapers and magazines in 1892 ensured that all Civil War veterans were honoured and remembered, including the women. However, when reading this poem from a feminist perspective it can be seen instead as a statement on the changing roles of women; gender roles became malleable as women had the
On March 15, 1965, large shipments of troops arrived in South Vietnam. These troops occupied the country until 1973. During this time, many men fought and died for the United States of America. The numerous nurses that operated on thousands of soldiers are often forgotten. The soldiers that the nurses operated on were usually blown apart and crippled for life. The nurses worked diligently to save these men. Even by working hard to save these men they were not recognized as army personnel by the public. The Vietnamese citizens and even the male American soldiers looked down upon the nurses. The United States did not acknowledge the nurses that served in the Vietnam War until 1993. The nurses that served in the Vietnam War, although commonly unrecognized, served as bravely as their soldier counterparts, and some suffered much of the same mental and physical distress.
Women played an important role throughout American history. They were known in the Civil War to be doing various acts. Women had enlisted in the army as soldiers, spied and gathered information about the enemy, took care of wounded soldiers, traveled and helped within the military camps and even took over their husbands’ businesses. There were many things that they did to contribute to the war just as much as the men did. Even though it was dangerous they still helped whether it was on the battlefield, in a hospital, or at home, they still tried to help out the best they could.
The Vietnam War was the longest war ever fought by U.S. military forces. U.S. personnel were engaged from 1961 until 1973. Approximately 10,000 U.S. military women served in Vietnam during the war. Most were members of the Army, Navy, and Air Force Nurse Corps. All of the Army nurses were volunteers who attended a six-week basic training class, and then were assigned to one-year stunts in Vietnam hospitals and mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) units. Most of these nurses were fresh out of nursing school, some with less than six months of clinical experience. These nurses were not prepared for the physical and emotional wounds that they would have to heal.
For the first time women were working in the industries of America. As husbands and fathers, sons and brothers shipped out to fight in Europe and the Pacific, millions of women marched into factories, offices, and military bases to work in paying jobs and in roles reserved for men in peacetime. Women were making a living that was not comparable to anything they had seen before. They were dependent on themselves; for once they could support the household. Most of the work in industry was related to the war, such as radios for airplanes and shells for guns. Peggy Terry, a young woman who worked at a shell-loading plant in Kentucky, tells of the money that was to be made from industrial work (108). “We made a fabulous sum of thirty-two dollars a week. To us that was an absolute miracle. Before that, we made nothing (108)." Sarah Killingsworth worked in a defense plant. " All I wanted to do was get in the factory, because they were payin more than what I'd been makin. Which was forty dollars a week, which was pretty good considering I'd been makin about twenty dollars a week. When I left Tennessee I was only makin two-fifty a week, so that was quite a jump (114)." Terry had never been able to provide for herself as she was able to during the war. " Now we'd have money to buy shoes and a dress and pay rent and get some food on the table. We were just happy to have work (108).” These women exemplify the turn around from the peacetime to wartime atmosphere on the home front. The depression had repressed them to poverty like living conditions. The war had enabled them to have what would be luxury as compared to life before.
In the book Women in the Civil War, by Mary Massey, the author tells about how American women had an impact on the Civil War. She mentioned quite a few famous and well-known women such as, Dorothea Dix and Clara Barton, who were nurses, and Pauline Cushman and Belle Boyd, who were spies. She also mentioned black abolitionists, Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, feminist Susan B. Anthony, and many more women. Massey talks about how the concept of women changed as a result of the war. She informed the readers about the many accomplishments made by those women. Because of the war, women were able to achieve things, which caused for them to be viewed differently in the end as a result.
many men were involved in the war, women finally had their chance to take on many of
When all the men were across the ocean fighting a war for world peace, the home front soon found itself in a shortage for workers. Before the war, women mostly depended on men for financial support. But with so many gone to battle, women had to go to work to support themselves. With patriotic spirit, women one by one stepped up to do a man's work with little pay, respect or recognition. Labor shortages provided a variety of jobs for women, who became street car conductors, railroad workers, and shipbuilders. Some women took over the farms, monitoring the crops and harvesting and taking care of livestock. Women, who had young children with nobody to help them, did what they could do to help too. They made such things for the soldiers overseas, such as flannel shirts, socks and scarves.
When the American Civil War began on April 12th, 1861, over 3 million Union and Confederate soldiers prepared for battle. Men from all over America were called upon to support their side in the confrontation. While their battles are well documented and historically analyzed for over a hundred years, there is one aspect, one dark spot missing from the picture: the role of women in the American Civil War. From staying at home to take care of the children to disguising themselves as men to fight on the battlefield, women contributed in many ways to the war effort on both sides. Though very few women are recognized for their vital contributions, even fewer are.
However, when the war was over, and the men returned to their lives, society reverted back to as it had been not before the 1940s, but well before the 1900s. Women were expected to do nothing but please their husband. Women were not meant to have jobs or worry about anything that was occurring outside of their own household.... ... middle of paper ...
Women were not only separated by class, but also by their gender. No woman was equal to a man and didn’t matter how rich or poor they were. They were not equal to men. Women couldn’t vote own business or property and were not allowed to have custody of their children unless they had permission from their husband first. Women’s roles changed instantly because of the war. They had to pick up all the jobs that the men had no choice but to leave behind. They were expected to work and take care of their homes and children as well. Working outside the home was a challenge for these women even though the women probably appreciated being able to provide for their families. “They faced shortages of basic goods, lack of childcare and medical care, little training, and resistance from men who felt they should stay home.” (p 434)
During World War I and World War II, America called upon thousands of women to become nurses for their country to help in hospitals and overseas units. America’s calling was considered a success and by the end of World War I, 23,000 nurses served in Army and Navy cantonments and hospitals, 10,000 served overseas, and 260 either died in the line of duty or from the influenza pandemic (“Nursing Reflections”, 2000, p. 18). In the early 1930s, nurses experienced the devastation of the depression. Families were very poor and unable to feed themselves let alone pay for a nursing visit. This caused many nurses to seek work elsewhere. Nurses who were lucky to be empl...
During the Civil War, women began to feel like part of the work force, but along with it, was the downfall of being considered "service workers", which is very similar to being a servant. Nurses had to suffer through much conformity, as they had to wait hand and foot on male patients, while at the same time being scrutinized by their male "overseers". These issues that nurses faced in the nineteenth century, continue even to this day, with a little more ease, but we are still driven by a patriarchal society that just isn't ready to let go. Through the works of Louisa May Alcott and Charlotte Perkins Gillman, one can see the hardships that Nineteenth century women were faced with when it came to working. These stories bring to light the fact that, by overcoming oppression, through the strength and desire that leads to resistance, women have been able to achieve self-reliance, which makes their "service work" considered to have with it, an achieved independence. These stories show us the struggles that women faced in the nin...