Civil War Nurse Research Paper

After four years of seemingly endless battle between a divided nation, more than 600,000 people were killed. These lives, however, were not given in vain. Had it not been for the American Civil War, abolition may not have been carried out. The nation might have remained divided. Women might have remained confined to their roles as the "homemakers." Although the Civil War was fought in hopes of preserving the nation and ridding it of slavery, another war raged on within the depths of this war--the women's war. Serving as nurses both in the hospital and on the battlefields, women came to know a whole

In addition to all the roles patriotic women played in helping America emerge victorious, one of the biggest methods was nursing. Battle nurses were organized into army ranks, the highest rank having been ‘matron’. Their necessity was so that the ratio for wounded soldiers to nurses was 10:1. Even George Washington himself had found female nurses indispensable--he demanded they be present to help nurse soldiers back to health on and off the battlefield (National History Education Clearinghouse).

Nursing was even harder for women whose skin color did not favor them at the time, due to racism. A great example was Mary Seacole, a woman with a great determination to cure the sick and tend to the injured. After the many letters sent to Florence Nightingale, Mary Seacole receive a letter denying her petition to be part of her team of nurses (Carnegie, 1995). This could have been a setback for an ordinary person, but it did not stop well-determined Mary Seacole, she was everything but ordinary. Her persistence to serve those in need of medical care let her to travel more than 3000 miles to Crimea. With limited resources, she bought and opened a lodging house, in which she took care of the wounded soldiers (Carnegie, 1995). Long after the war was over, she received recognition for taking care of the wounded.

Nursing as a profession has faced many barriers over the centuries. One of the most defining barriers discussed in regard to the historical experience of nurses is the effects of its being considered, and for the most part being, work done by women. In evaluating nursing history it is necessary therefore to evaluate the ways in which society has evolved over time in terms of its views on the roles of nurses of women within the society and its institutions. In the U.S., the inception of nursing both as an occupation and later as a profession, has strong ties to the challenge of women's perceived role as a wife and mother whose sphere was solely domestic. In many ways, significant progress has been made from that time in what women and

One aspect of nursing that has changed since the early 1800’s is nursing education. There was no question about the credibility of the women providing care to soldiers after the war. For many years untrained nurses and consequently nursing students cared the sick without any supervision. In 1873, the need for educated nurses was sought but was opposed by untrained physicians who thought trained nurses would pose a threat to their jobs (Gary & Hott, 1988). “Nurses have evolved

Over 5000 volunteer nurses’ north and south served in military hospitals during the Civil War. Nurses were of all sorts and came from all over. Women wanted to be involved in this national struggle in any way they could. They did not want to stay home and play their traditional domestic roles that social convention and minimal career opportunities had confined the majority of their sex to. Many women thought of nursing as an extension of their home duties, almost like taking care of “their boys.” They recall the Civil War as a time when their work as nurses made a difference. It gave them an opportunity to prove they had the ability and courage to help.

First off the nurses were important because they were the ones who helped the injured ones or the sick ones. Normally it would be the nurses who would find out if the women disguised as men would actually be a woman and when they found out the truth they would have to go and tell a genreal the truth. Now between 2,000 to 5,000 women volunteered as nurses during the war. Nursing was a gruesome job that provided an upclose look at the horrific casualties of the war. Civil War nurses cleaned wounds, fed soldiers, dispensed medication and assisted surgeons during operations and medical procedure like amputations.

The Civil War was a time of great learning in the medical field. Without these advances, we would live in a completely different world. The question is though, would the same amount of medical supplies and knowledge in both the North or South have changed the eventual outcome of the Civil War? Similar circumstances in medicine would have only affected the mortality rates of both sides, not the outcome of the Civil War. Almost all odds were against the South from the very beginning. It was just a matter of time from the very start.

They never were able to enjoy the luxury of womanhood. As one historian said, "being a women never saved a single female from hard labor, beatings, rape, family separation, and death" (“Women in the Civil War”). Many women had to do the work of their partners. (“Women in the Civil War.”)

During the Civil War, they had to have many medicines, operations, and surgeries done to themselves or others in order to survive (Jenny Goellnitz, Paragraph 1). Some of these medicines we still use today. Medical technology and scientific knowledge have changed dramatically since the Civil War, but the basic principles of military health care remain the same. The deadliest thing that faced the Civil War soldier was disease. For every soldier who died in battle, two died from disease.

In “Letters of a Civil War Nurse”, written in 1863, Cornelia Hancock’s account of the Civil War gives readers an account of the suffering and hardship of soldiers through the point of view of an Union nurse. This document written by Cornelia Hancock is an account as a nurse who went through the Battle of Gettysburg and the after effects. Through a series of letters written to her loved ones, Cornelia wrote what nurses went through during the times of war. At the time women were expected to be good wives; with Cornelia Hancock’s effort she was able to help soldiers and contribute to the idea that women are capable of much more than being good wives; women can be apart of war. With her background as a Quaker and her family history, Cornelia Hancock was able to contribute greatly to the war effort even though she was originally denied to becoming an union nurse.

Nursing during the Civil War vs. Nursing during war time now! Over the years, nursing during war times has changed dramatically. Nurses during the civil war were volunteer nurses. In 1861, there was no organized medical corps or field hospital services.

On April 26th, 1861, a war started that would lead about 2,750,000 men into an inferno of hunger, torture, and outright annihilation that would kill almost 23% of all of the men who joined. The common soldier would suffer through hellish battles, sleepless hours of guard duty, starvation, and long, mind numbing marches which would lead to even more suffering. Men who had come looking for honor and glory would be lucky to leave with their lives. The average life of a civil war soldier would be filled with challenges, but not challenges that could not be overcome. Men not only survived, but thrived under the abhorrent circumstances and lived to tell about it. I was not one of those men, but my story will live on.

We are all aware of the tragedy that took place in our nation from 1861 to 1865. The Civil War resulted in needless, devastating deaths of thousands of soldiers. What we might not be aware of, however, is the number one killer throughout those years. More soldiers died from this single calamity than battle wounds or blood loss. The catastrophe that tragically affected more soldiers than any other element of the war was disease.

There were no established standards for measuring the strength and stamina of women, so women were being recruited for jobs that they could not physically perform. Eventually the utilization of women proved to be ineffective and lowered morale.