Famous Nurses in History

Alcott, Louisa May:

Authored Little Women; volunteered for 6 weeks as a nurse in the Union Army during the American Civil War and wrote a book called Hospital Sketches (pub. 1863) based on her experience; Hospital Sketches received popular and critical acclaim at the time of publication

• Freely available resources
  • Image: Louisa May Alcott as a nurse
  • UVA School of Nursing blog: Flashback Friday – Louisa May Alcott, Nurse
  • Text of Hospital Sketches, access provided by Tufts University
• Subscription/paid resources
  • Choperena, A., & Fairman, J. (2018). Louisa May Alcott and Hospital Sketches: An innovative approach to gender and nursing professionalization. Journal of advanced nursing, 74(5), 1059–1067. doi: 101111/jan.13510
  • Seiple, S. (2019). Louisa on the front lines: Louisa May Alcott in the Civil War. Seal Press, Hatchett Book Group.

Cannary, Martha Jane (Calamity Jane)

Cared for the sick in Deadwood, SD during the smallpox epidemic of 1878

• Freely available resources
  • Rapid City Journal: Calamity Jane was a complex western character
  • Black Hills Visitor: Calamity Jane
  • Gehrke, K. (2015). Dakota Midday interview with author Richard W. Etulain
• Subscription/paid resources
  • Herda, D.J. (2018). Calamity Jane: The life and legend of Martha Jane Cannary. TwoDot.

Lincoln, Mary Todd

Volunteered in the hospitals in Washington, DC after the Battle of the First Bull Run and in the Union hospitals during the American Civil War

• Freely available resources
  • “The Life of Mary Todd Lincoln,” from OSU
  • Nurses who led the way: Mary Todd Lincoln, from Lippincott’s NursingCenter blog
• Subscription/paid resources
  • Baker, Jean Harvey. "Lincoln, Mary Todd." Americans at War, edited by John P. Resch, vol. 2: 1816-1900, Macmillan Reference USA, 2005, pp. 105-106. Gale eBooks

Tubman, Harriet

Having escaped enslavement, she served as a nurse to the Gullah people and in the Union hospitals during the American Civil War

• Freely available resources
  • “First nurse and abolitionist icon to grace $20 bill,” from New York State Nurses Association
  • “Flashback Friday – Harriet Tubman’s overlooked story as a nurse,” from the UVA School of Nursing blog
• Subscription/paid resources
  • Spy, Nurse, Cook, Commander. (2015). American History, 50(2), 8.

Whitman, Walt

Whitman moved to Washington, DC especially to volunteer to care for the wounded at Union hospitals during the American Civil; many of his works were inspired by his experiences there

• Freely available resources
  • “Walt Whitman: Civil War poet and caregiver,” from the Smithsonian
  • “Traveling with the wounded: Walt Whitman and Washington’s Civil War hospitals,” from the Walt Whitman Archive
  • “Walt Whitman’s Civil War poetry,” from the National Humanities Center
  • “The wound dresser,” by Walt Whitman, access by the Poetry Foundation
• Subscription/paid resources
  • Hsu D. (2010). Walt Whitman: an American Civil War nurse who witnessed the advent of modern American medicine. Archives of environmental & occupational health, 65(4), 238–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/19338244.2010.524510
  • Foley, S., Sofer, D., & Jacobson, J. (2000). I Am Faithful, I Do Not Give out. The American Journal of Nursing, 100(10), 48-49. 2307/3522316">doi:10.2307/3522316