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* AT THE ONSET of the American Civil War, women were asked to leave their homes and serve as suppliers and caregivers for the armies on both sides of the conflict.
* MANY WOMEN suddenly found themselves in situations that required real strength, stamina, and fortitude, and some found an inner strength as they organized others to provide care.
* WOMEN LIKE Dorthea Dix and Clara Barton were among the first to champion the ability of and the need for women to provide nursing care, which until then had been a male bastion.
* THIS ARTICLE, which is the second in a two-part series on nursing during the Civil War, tells how Dorthea Dix, Clara Barton, and other women worked to establish nursing as a viable career choice for women in the United States. AORN J 78 (October 2003) 618-632.
Editor's note: This is the second in an ongoing series about the history of perioperative nursing in the United States, especially as it relates to military action. Part one of this article appeared in the September issue of the AORN Journal.
As an occupation, nursing did not exist in the United States before the Civil War. It had been less than a decade since Florence Nightingale was appointed superintendent of the Hospital for Invalid Gentlewoman in London and since she had volunteered her time and skills to help clean up and organize hospitals in the Crimea. It was not until the Civil War that the United States needed women to serve as primary caregivers outside their homes. New types of weaponry and ammunition caused catastrophic injuries, leaving soldiers on both sides of the conflict shattered, torn apart, and crying out for someone to help them. Officials on both sides did not believe the war would last more than a few weeks, so they made no provisions for medical supplies or care for wounded soldiers. Only when the woods were littered with broken bodies and mangled limbs and the ground was soft with blood did authorities understand the necessity of caring for the wounded.
Organizations and aid societies, such as the US Sanitary Commission, were formed to do what the government was ill-equipped to do (eg, inspecting army camps for unsanitary conditions, improper food...