A Wartime Role for Women
With no specialized medical training or
preparation, Amanda Akin arrived at Armory
Square Hospital on an April evening in 1863
to begin work. Nursing was not yet established
as a profession, and most men and women who
took on these roles were expected to learn as
they went about their daily activities.
Female nurses were newcomers to military
hospitals. Convalescent soldiers continued to
fill most of the nursing positions, especially in
field hospitals and in camp, where conditions
were considered unsuitable for women. At Armory Square Hospital
the female nurses shared their duties with male “attendants.”
During the war, the title of “nurse” was often reserved for white
middle- and upper-class women. However, along with these “lady
nurses,” as they were known, others from diverse backgrounds
working as matrons, cooks, laundresses, or without title performed
many of the same tasks.
—Amanda Akin, 1863
“Our Women and the War”
This illustration from Harper’s Weekly, September 6, 1862, depicts the array of women’s Civil War roles that drew on traditionally feminine activities, from sewing and laundering to nurturing ill and wounded patients. (Courtesy of National Library of Medicine)
