The Civil War is considered the bloodiest war in American history, Most people ignored the importance nurses and doctor's roles played during this time they helped heal injured soldiers, and the sick in the Battlefields, Hospitals, and Clinics. People referred to this period as 'The National Struggle' and Nurses made a huge impact/difference during this time of desperation. The female volunteer nurses were underestimated and looked down on by many male Doctors and Physicians. The three major topics that’ll be discussed are Dorothea dix involvement in the recruitment of many volunteer nurses, the Nurse's diary entrees of experiences, and gruesome details of insight into medical wards and medical procedures.
Dorothea Dix was an Advocate, Educator, and Reformer and was one of the people in charge of recruiting many female volunteer nurses during the 1860s. She was famously known for her many developments of mental institutes for the mentally ill, she also helped not only expose the disturbing conditions in which many of the mentally ill and prisoners were being treated but also helped in the process of the improvement of the conditions.
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According to the book “Dorothea Dix Forgotten Samaritan in Chapter X” “Dix on April 19 dix boarded a train to Washington on April 19 heading towards The War Department, Where she along with a few of her nurses offered their assistance in medically caring for the wounded soldiers later that night. Two of Lincolns' secretaries John G. Nicolay and John Hay wrote to him highly praising Dix for her generous act of kindness She and her nurses did for their troops. A few days later on April 23rd Cameron, the Secretary of War accepted a helping hand resulting in Dix being granted a commission by June making her The Superintendent of United States Army Nurses”(Marshall pp. 201-203).
Dix recruited approximately 2 thousand volunteer nurses she had very strict requirements for those volunteering for military positions, According to the article by Karen J. Egenes “Nursing during the US Civil War: a movement toward the professionalization of nursing” It states dix strict criteria “All military volunteer nurse applicants must be older than 35, “plain-looking,” dressed in “plain colors” (preferably brown, gray, or black) with no “ornaments” such as hoop skirts, bows or jewelry, “neatness, order, sobriety, and industry and Preferably with “good conduct, superior education and serious disposition”(Egenes).
However, volunteer nurses had a hard time being accepted by many of the male medical professionals they did not appreciate their presence even those who had become skilled had a hard time getting acknowledged by them. According to the article by Karen J. Egenes “Nursing during the US Civil War: a movement toward the professionalization of Nursing” “To them women volunteer nurses were Inexperienced/ Untrained, Disorganized, Incompetent, Meddlesome, Opinionated, and Undisciplined”(Egenes).
During the civil war becoming a nurse wasn’t very hard because they were in need of medical assistance so basically anybody could volunteer to be a nurse during this time experienced or not experienced or simply with a little experience you would qualify to be a nurse as long as you followed the requirements asked of you. For Physicians and surgeons, it was similar as well according to the article by Karen J. Egenes “Nursing during the US Civil War: a movement toward the professionalization of nursing” “Many physicians had received little formal medical education. Many had had no clinical experience in a hospital setting and had acquired clinical skills through an apprenticeship with a physician in practice”(Egenes).
Also, the article Surgery in the Civil War talks about what requirements were expected during the civil war to get a degree burns states “Obtaining a medical degree was very easy the requirements were that Surgeons and Physicians only had to be an apprentice of a local physician and take a few courses at a proprietary medical college. Surgery was usually performed ”(Burns).
Among those nurses recruited by Dix, some have left diaries of their experiences behind for people to read and share. Some of them who are well-known are Louisa May Alcott and Jane Stuart Woolsey, but one in specific is Hannah Ropes. In “Civil War Nurse The Diary And Letters of Hannah Ropes” by John R. Brumgardt in one of her Diary Letters Mrs. Ropes talks about one of her experiences as a nurse expressing her sadness about an event in which the general pope was in charge of they were happy about the patients that recovered but immensely heartbroken for those that passed. She states “We turn away with saddened eyes from the long list of those whose last sleep has fallen upon them in this hospital. Fifteen have died within the month just ended, some of them so worn out with fatigue and fasting as to be wholly unable to rally, others kept along with wounded limbs until too exhausted to bear amputation and thus died. It would be folly to say they all might have lived with more prompt attention; it’s also unjust to a true conviction not to say they have lost their only chance through a lack of Earnest interest in the superior surgeon- October 19, 1862”(Brumgardt pp.71).
In Louisa May Alcott Her Life, Letters, and Journals by Ednah D. Cheney Louisa talks about one of her experiences nursing an individual along with Nurse Hannah Ropes during the civil war thoroughly expressing her emotions and sharing thoughts during that time “On January 1863 at the Union Hotel Hospital, in Georgetown, D. C.–The men are docile, respectful, and affectionate, with but few exceptions; truly lovable and manly many of them. John Sulie, a Virginia blacksmith, is the prince of patients; and though what we call a common man in education and condition, to me is all I could expect or ask from the first gentleman in the land. Under his plain speech and unpolished manner I seem to see a noble character, a heart as warm and tender as a woman's, a nature fresh and frank as any child's. He is about thirty, I think, tall and handsome, mortally wounded, and dying royally without reproach, repining, or remorse. Mrs. Ropes and I love him, and feel indignant that such a man should be so early lost; for though he might never distinguish himself before the world, his influence and example cannot be without effect, for real goodness is never wasted”(Cheney pp.136).
According to the article by Karen J. Egenes “Nursing during the US Civil War: a movement toward the professionalization of nursing” A Chicago abolitionist named Mary Livermore shares her first experience observing how injured troops get medically treated before her eyes. “During an inspection tour in 1862 at the St. Louis army hospital located on Fifth Street, Although Livermore had never visited a military hospital, she had undoubtedly heard descriptions of the odors of blood and suppurating wounds that permeated the wards, and the discomforting sights of battle injuries. When Livermore assisted a surgeon dressing the wounds of a soldier whose lower jaw and tongue had been “shot away,” she nearly fainted and ran from the room seeking fresh air. The same scenario occurred three more times. She later recalled: Each time some new horror smote my vision, some more sickening odor nauseated me, and I was led out fainting. The horrors of that long ward, containing over eighty of the most fearfully wounded men, were worse than anything I had imagined. She wrote: I forced myself to remain in the wards without nausea or faintness. Never again were my nerves disturbed by any sight or sound of horror.”(Egenes).
Someone described shared a volunteer nurse named Elinda’s gruesome experience at the ward according to the article by Karen J. Egenes “Nursing during the US Civil War: a movement toward the professionalization of nursing” “ She wandered into the ward. The floor was slippery with blood. She averted her eyes and bent over a soldier with a bandaged arm. The bandage was tight and he was in considerable pain, never stopping to think that the tight bandage might have a purpose, Elinda took it off. At first, everything was alright. A shot had gone completely through the arm and a scab had formed, but Elinda decided the scab should be washed off. She found some water and went to work. The scab loosened. Then she saw little spurts of bright red arterial blood coming out of the wound. In a second the whole artery opened and she was drenched with a pulsing jet of blood”(Egenes).
Lastly here are some details of an amputating procedure during this time and includes mortality rates depending on what the amputation is considered. According to the article “A Description of Civil War Field Surgery” “A doctor saw through the bone til it was cut off he then tossed it into the pile where other amputated limbs are located. The operator would then tie off the arteries with either horsehair, silk, or cotton threads. The surgeon would scrape the end and edges of the bone smoothly so that they would not work back through the skin. The flap of skin left by the surgeon would be pulled across and sewed close, leaving a drainage hole. The stump would be covered perhaps with isinglass plaster, and bandaged, and the soldier set aside where he would wake up thirsty and in pain, the 'Sawbones' already well onto his next case. A Primary amputation mortality rate is 28% and A Secondary amputation mortality rate is 52%'(TOSU).
Many doctors and nurses Took part in helping the wounded and sick soldiers and patients, in general, all over the country to heal. They all had different experiences and helped many people but experienced many losses and saw very difficult things seeing people's limbs, arms, and legs amputated many friends and family members among the nurses played a very important role during the civil war the end of the war female volunteer nurses became accepted and appreciated by male surgeons, physicians, and the soldiers.
Works Cited
- Marshall, Helen E. (1937). “Chapter X.” Dorothea Dix: Forgotten Samaritan. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, (pp.201-203).
- Egenes j. Karen. “ Nursing during the US Civil War: a movement toward the professionalization of nursing.”Hektoen International medical humanities Journal. Hektoen Institute of Medicine, 2009, https://hekint.org/2017/02/24/nursing-during-the-us-civil-war-a-movement-toward-the-professionalization-of-nursing-2/.
- Burns b. Stanely. ”Surgery in the Civil War.” Burns Archive. http://www.pbs.org/mercy-street/uncover-history/behind-lens/surgery-civil-war/.
- Brumgardt, John R.1980. Civil War Nurse The Diary And Letters of Hannah Ropes. (John pp.71). The University of Tennessee Press Knoxville.
- Cheney, Ednah D. November 18, 2011. Louisa May Alcott Her Life, Letters, and Journals (Ednah pp.136). Boston Little Brown and Company 1898. University Press:
- John Wilson and Son, Cambridge.Accessed 27 February 2020. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/38049/38049-h/38049-h.htm#Page_136.
- “A Description of Civil War Field Surgery.” Civil War Battlefield Surgery.Civil War Battlefield Medicine.The Ohio State University. https://ehistory.osu.edu/exhibitions/cwsurgeon/cwsurgeon/amputations
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