Mary Seacole

Before the existence of the Great War, America had fought in previous wars. In the years before the Great War nursing was not even a word for the women who had helped with the aid of fallen soldiers. Florence Nightingale, who helped in establishing nursing as a career used her efforts in organizing an emergency nursing service (Dahlman 2). Nightingale started off at first with forty women, some of whom were Sisters of Religious Nursing Orders and others hospital-taught women of the old school, not trained in the modern way, but experienced (Dahlman 3). Florence Nightingale founded the Nightingale Training School for Nurses at St. Thomas’ Hospital which was the parent of the modern system of nursing. From her, therefore, we may well date the story of nursing service of the American Red Cross (Dahlman 4).

During this war, around 21,000 British soldiers died - however, only 2,755 were killed in action, and 2,000 because of battlefield injuries. Over 16,000 British soldiers died due to diseases such as typhus, typhoid, cholera, and dysentery. During this war a lot of hospital patients had to lie on the floor – as there weren’t enough beds. Also, soldiers who had infected limbs had to have them amputated with a saw – and a lot of the time these limbs were given to the military dogs as food. Two significant people to this war were Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole. Florence Nightingale became a nurse in 1853 - only a year before the Crimean war had begun. After a statement that there weren't enough medical facilities for the war, the war minister of the time - Sidney Herbert - asked Florence to help improve the medical work in the military hospitals. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/nightingale_florence.shtml BBC, History, Florence Nightingale) She was the first person to focus on cleanliness and hygiene in hospitals, and also invented the pie chart. After the war, she was able to

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.

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.

Florence Nightingale was an immense impact on nursing, who “became famous for her revolutionary work as a nurse during the Crimean War” (Kent 30). “She dedicated her life to improving conditions in hospitals, beginning in an army hospital during the Crimean War,” (3 Registered). Her actions were then used by “concerned individuals, rather than by professionally trained nurses” during the Civil War, (Registered 279). Many of Nightingale’s ideas were brought into modern times, but with the improvement of technology and licensed nurses. With the influence and patience of Florence Nightingale, nursing has evolved into an outstanding career.

In early 1800’s a hospital in Sydney was opened, in this time it was mainly unskilled convict women that were performing as nurses they were often described as being of poor character and drunks. The first trained nurses arrived in Sydney in 1838 they were the five Irish Sisters of Charity. The

An outlet that Alcott and many other women utilized to truly be a part of the war was medicine which enabled them to work on the battlefields and see the bloodshed first-hand. Since large numbers of men on both the Confederate and Union side were wounded and killed, and hospitals were overflowing with recovering soldiers and more staff was needed. Although many societal constraints made it difficult for women to enter the medical field, fierce leaders such as Dorothea Dix and Clara Barton paved the way for future women to work alongside men as medical professionals. Overall, the general perspectives regarding female nurses are evident in personal narratives as well as historical literature. These sources provide us with a deeper insight into the challenges women faced and how their actions paved the way for future

the world with a team of trained matrons & nurses. The standards of nursing improved and

Women’s role in medicine was altered after the Revolutionary War. It became apparent that wounded and ill soldiers were in need of female nurses. Military nursing was primarily done by males but when it was suggested that nurses be provided to tend to those in need, the wives and female family of the soldiers were commonly chosen because they were unable to support themselves without a male provider. Women were the favored choice as nurses because it was assumed that they were naturally better at caring and nurturing. These women were paid less than three dollars a month, and worked closely together in a makeshift hospital. They were also preferred because it meant that there weren’t men being wasted tending to people rather than adding to the army’s numbers and fighting with the other men. The result was the same with the beginning of the Civil War. There was an urgent and considerable need for competent nurses in order to tend to the American casualties. There were approximately twenty thousand men and women alike from all across the United States who provided aide to the soldiers.

On the other hand, Mary Seacole’s engagements fit the image of the “angel of mercy” and source V praises Seacole and her involvement during the war, despite being rejected by the British authorities due to her race and background. She went to Crimea by herself to help the wounded, whereas Nightingale who went there in request of the Minister of War, Sidney

In an article by Maev Kennedy, “ Florence Nightingale attest that she became a national hero after dramatically reducing the mortality rate at the Scutari hospital during the Crimean war...Official records show that by February 1855, the mortality rate had fallen from 60% to 42.7% and then, once a fresh water supply was introduced, it dropped further to 2.2%.” The death rate had changed from better conditions for sanitation and soldier's hygiene. I think the main reason why Florence Nightingale had become such a sizeable hero is because she thought of options on how to heal soldiers more effectively.According to Henry Wellcome, a pharmaceutical entrepreneur, “"The army is in splendid health, only seven deaths in a week and one of them a fit of apoplexy from drunkenness.” Thus, the death rate had dropped dramatically. The British Army had started to maintain healthy soldiers and prevent diseases.From the evidence here it shows how much of a big improvement the Uk had. The evidence also shows how War journalists improved conditions for soldiers, by showing the situations wounded soldiers were

Mary Seacole is praised in both sources 1 and 2, but in source 3 it seems that Nightingale disagrees in terms of her method of helping the men, although ‘she did some good.’

Florence Nightingale is known as the pioneer of nursing and evidence- based health care. Many believe that she was the founder of what we call modern nursing today. During her time as a nurse she had founded her school of nursing at St. Thomas Hospital in 1860 as well she wrote many nursing books such as Notes on Nursing wrote in

The earliest nurses never attended nursing school; they were often nuns or other women who provided care for the sick, poor, or homeless without family support (The history of Nursing, 2017). During the 18th and 19th centuries, the nursing profession expanded to include care of soldiers during many prominent wars (The History of Nursing, 2017). Florence Nightingale was a nurse during the Crimean War. The conditions she found soldiers in were deplorable. At this time she found that keeping these soldiers clean would lead to healing. She also began tending to them at all hours of the day. Upon her return to England, she wrote a report on her findings that helped reform health care. Years later, she started the Nightingale School for Nurses. After this several nursing schools began in the United States and were all founded on Nightingale’s ideas. The Civil War gave enormous impetus to the building of hospitals and to the development of nursing as a credentialed profession (Weathorford, 2010). One of the pioneers during this time was Clara Barton. By serving during the war she understood the need for clothing, food and shelter. She developed The Red Cross to be a program to aid those affected by

Florence Nightingale changed the public's views of a woman's potential and capabilities in her era. Victorian women of her age group did not attend universities or pursue professional careers . The success of the Scutari post was amazing, and the fact that a woman achieved these feats was even more astounding to her peers. Nightingale was the first woman to be given the British Order of Merit, in 1907 for her work . From Nightingale's example, it could be seen that a woman achieving spectacular results was indeed possible, and the inferiority of the female gender was now in question. Florence Nightingale became a role model for other nurses around her. Linda Richards, who visited Ms. Nightingale at her home in England in 1877, said,