Women in the Medical Field During the Civil War
Before the war began it was rare to see women working in the medical field. During the war however, many women took jobs as nurses helping the wounded soldiers. The following sources elaborate on what exactly women did as nurses during the war.
"My Story of the War: A Woman's Narrative of Four Years Personal Experince as a Nurse in the Union Army, and in Relief Work at Home, in Hospitals, Camps, and at the Front During the War of the Rebellion"
In this source Mary A. Livermore writes about her experiences as a Civil War Nurse. The source claims that "[Mary's] whole time and labor were given to the hospitals." It later says that " in her house a kitchen had been fitted up expressley for the preperation of such delicate articles of sick-food as were not at that time easily cooked in the hospitals."
"Kate: The Journal of a Confederate Nurse"
In this source Kate Cumming describes her role as a confedrate nurse. Kate lists the tasks she must preform as "[keeping the wards clean], and at all times, well ventilated. The floors [should] be scrubbed or dry -rubbed and swept, bedding changed or arranged, and everything put in order between the hours of 5 and 6 o'clock in the morning."
Nursing was a new role that women inhabited durning the Civil War, amd every nurse had her own experience that we can learn from. So a question I urge you to consider is; How has the role of women in the medical field changed between the Civil War era and today?