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Nurses on the Civil War Battlefield by Avi Heiligman
Nurses on the American Civil War Battlefields
By Avi Heiligman
Phoebe Pember was memorialized on a postage stamp in 1995 Susie King Taylor Clara Barton
The medical care that a wounded soldier receives has vastly improved in the past two centuries. The wounded in earlier conflicts would often be left out on the battlefield with little or no medical care. The types of wounds have also changed – during the American Civil War, they were most often caused by the Minie Ball from a rifled barreled musket with many others from grapeshot or exploding shells. Observers noticed that the majority of the wounds were impacting the arms or legs of the soldiers. Medical personnel knew that they if they could promptly treat the wounds then many soldiers’ lives would be saved. The medical departments on both sides of the conflict relied upon about 2,000 female nurses to help the doctors and other medical personnel treat the wounded. Many of these nurses have fascinating stories that include a Jewish female nurse from the South, freed African-American nurses, and the nurse who became known as the Angel of the Battlefield.
The largest Civil War hospital in America was Richmond’s Chimborazo Hospital. Throughout the war, they were able to care for 76,000 patients and had one of the highest recovery rates of all Civil War hospitals. The Confederates turned to women to volunteer at hospitals since most of the men were on the battlefield. One of the five division over fifteen thousand men, and caring for the wounded. Pember stayed at the hospital until the Confederate surrender in April 1865. After the war, she wrote down her experiences as the matron of the largest hospital in the South.
Many freed slaves joined the Union cause, and entire regiments of African-American soldiers were formed. The 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Colored) was activated in 1863 and later was designated as the 33rd United States Colored Infantry Regiment. Famed abolitionist Harriet Tubman served alongside the regiment
heads of the hospital was Phoebe Pember – an unusual job for a woman since most nurses at the time were men. She was from a wealthy Jewish family from Charleston, South Carolina, and wasn’t scared off by the hazardous duties of a war hospital. Her duties varied and included housekeeping of the wards, seeing to the dietary needs and comfort of as a nurse, cook, spy, and scout and even led a raid on Confederate troops.
Susie King Taylor was another nurse with the 33rd Infantry after she enrolled in the army as a laundress. She married a sergeant in Company E of the regiment and remained with the men until after the war. After soldiers came back from a raid needing medical attention, it was King Taylor who was there to nurse them back to health. This was just the start of her nursing duties as she constantly helped bring soldiers who were sick from diseases back to health. One of the nurses that King Taylor met while serving in the Union Army was Clara Barton.
The Angel of the Battlefield
Probably the most famous of all nurses to serve during the Civil War, Barton was often seen on the battlefield tending to the wounded. Born in Massachusetts, she was only ten years old when her brother fell from the roof of a barn. Clara wouldn’t leave his bedside for months, even though the doctors gave up hope for his recovery. She taught herself how to provide him his medica-
tion and soon he recovered fully. After teaching for twelve years and serving for three years in the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, Clara returned home but soon was back in the nation’s capital when the war broke out.
The first bloodshed on the Civil War took place on April 19, 1861 and became known as the Pratt Street Riots. The 6th Massachusetts Militia was passing through Baltimore and were attacked by anti-war citizens. Four soldiers were killed in the ensuing melee, and the rest of the militia arrived in Washington dirty and bloodied. Barton was shocked to learn that many in the militia were her former students. The Union Army didn’t have the basic supplies to care for the soldiers, and Barton quickly got to work preparing food and supplies. She helped dozens of soldiers that were injured, wounded, or without supplies and, along with a team of women that she trained, helped them back to health.
After the Pratt Street Riots, Barton’s efforts to help with the war effort grew, and she collected supplies and medical material to distribute to the front-line soldiers. Her ads in newspapers for materials were very successful, and soon she had huge stores of supplies. There
Clara Barton tending to the wounded during the Civil War A group of the nurses in the Civil War, 1862
was opposition to her work, though, but in August 1862, she received to permission to work on the front lines. The first battle she saw firsthand was at the Battle of Cedar Mountain in Virginia where she tended to the wounded and distributed supplies. Many of the wounded were Confederate soldiers, but she helped anyone who needed assistance no matter what uniform they were wearing. She was also at the Second Battle of Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Fort Wagner, the Wilderness and Cold Harbor, among other conflicts. At Antietam, she ran out of bandages and used corn husks to dress wounds.
Barton was often in danger and at times was shot at by enemy soldiers. At one point, she was tending to a wounded soldier and a bullet went through the sleeve of her dress and hit the patient she was trying to help.
Record keeping during the Civil War was primitive at best, and many families had no idea what happened to their loved ones. Barton kept records of soldiers that died in her care and helped wounded soldiers write letters home. After the war, she contacted families of dead soldiers to tell them of their fate and where there were buried (if the information was available). Together with former soldiers she helped identify 13,000 soldiers who had been buried in previously unmarked graves at Andersonville Prison. More than 22,000 other missing soldiers were taken off the missing lists due to her tireless efforts.
During the war, Barton recorded her experiences in meticulous notes that described the carnage of the battlefields and the conditions of the men that needed medical attention. These experiences on the battlefields led her on a campaign that resulted in the creation of the American Red Cross.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of these nurses, as well as thousands of others, many Civil War soldiers recovered from their wounds or illnesses. The work of these heroines is history not to be forgotten.
Avi Heiligman is a weekly contributor to The Jewish Home. He welcomes your comments and suggestions for future columns and can be reached at aviheiligman@gmail.com.
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