Female Civil War Nurses: A - B
Female Civil War Nurses: A - B
This page is under construction! Please check back frequently!
Over time, I will be adding more names and biographies to the list of women below. If you would like to learn more about a nurse who has no biography listed at the present time, please contact me and I will be sure to add it soon!
Maria Abbey (North)
- Born in Brooklyn, New York
- Assigned to Georgetown Union Hospital in Washington, DC from April - December 1861
- Opened her home as a hospital for remainder of War
Mariam Hooper Adams (North)
- Born in Boston, Massachusetts; September 13, 1843
- Was 17 when she started working at various hospitals through the U.S. Sanitary Commission
- Born in Germantown, Pennsylvania; November 29, 1832
- Was 30 when she received a position in December of 1862 at Georgetown Union Hospital in Washington, DC
- Was known as the "nurse with a bottle" for the bottle of lavendar water she wore around her neck to combat the hospital stenches
- After 3 months of work, she was forced to leave due to contracting typhoid fever from her patients
Susan Babcock (North)
- Was roughly 50 years old when she received appointment from Dorothea Dix on October 1, 1861 and ordered to the front at Belle Plain to carry supplies and attend to the wounded
- Worked at: Georgetown Union Hospital in Washington, DC; Fortress Monroe in Virginia; Stone Hospital in Washington, DC; Columbia Hospital; Harewood Hospital
Ada W. Bacot (South)
- Born in South Carolina
- Was 27 years old when started position as a Confederate nurse
- Worked in a hospital in Charlottesville, Virginia from 1861-1863
Lucy Seaman Bainbridge (North)
- Born in Cleveland, Ohio; but birth date is unknown
- Received position as a nurse through the Ohio Soldiers' Aid Society in 1864
- Worked at various hospitals in Washington, DC
Martha Baker (North)
- Born in Concord, Indiana; April 9, 1838
- Was appointed by husband to work in the Special Diet Kitchen (he worked in an officers hospital and was a member of the 160th Battalion Veteran Relief Corps)
- Was present at the Battle of Nashville
Lauraetta Balch (North)
- Born in Boston, Massachusetts
- Was first female nurse at Fort Schuyler, New York
- Worked there from October 18, 1862 until January 1864
Lucy Barron (North)
- Received appointment through Captain S.M. Davis
- Served as nurse from March 1861 until March 1863
- Stayed at Camp Reed, Erie for 2 months before following troops into Maryland where she worked at a hospital in Baltimore
- Worked at the General Hospital at Harper's Ferry in May 1862 until surrender in September
- Returned to College Hospital at Georgetown until end of service
- Born in Oxford, Massachusetts; December 25, 1821
- At start of War collected medical supplies and distributed them at hospitals via mule train
- Was present at: Cedar Mountain, Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, eight months at the siege of Charleston, Fort Wagner, Petersburg, and the Wilderness
- Performed her first operation at Antietam (removed a minie ball from the cheek of a wounded soldier)
- Worked at various hospitals near Richmond and Morris Island
- At end of War went to identify unmarked graves at Andersonville Prison
- Organized the American Red Cross throughout the 1870s, although it did not take form until 1882)
Mrs. Beach (North)
- Nothing is truly known about her service except that one of her dresses still exists, including stains on the skirt that have been tested positive for blood
- The dress is on loan for display at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine but will be permanently displayed at the Union Drummer Boy in Gettysburg, PA
Fannie Beers (South)
- Was a Confederate nurse in a Georgia hospital
- First volunteered her services as a nurse in October of 1862
- Was present at: Harper's Ferry, Acquia Creek, and Gettysburg
- Was matron of Hospitals 1 and 8 in Nashville until end of War
Mary Bell (North)
- Born in Hillsborough, Ohio; July 28, 1840
- Was 23 years old when started working at Covington Barracks, Kentucky in September 1863
- Was appointed matron and was in charge of the "low diet" patients
- Continued work until end of War
- Born in Knox County, Ohio; July 19, 1817
- Helped to organize a hospital in Cairo, Illinois and was appointed matron
- Strongly advocated order and cleanliness; became known as the "Cyclone in Calico" as a result of her efforts
- Created diet kitchens and army laundries, serving as the field agent for the U.S. Sanitary Commission
- Was present at: Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Lookout Mountain, Vicksburg, and Resaca
- Born near Albany, New York; August 4, 1839
- Wrote the words to the song, "Ellsworth Avengers"
- Was asked to accompany the 44th New York Infantry as the "Daughter of the Regiment," and she remained with the regiment throughout her service
- Volunteered as a nurse until at least 1864, when she married the Assistant Surgeon of the regiment
Mrs. M.J. Boston (North)
- Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; July 17, 1837
- First volunteered her services at Gettysburg
- Later went to work at Patterson Park Hospital
Amy Morris Bradley (North)
- Born in East Vassalboro, Maine; September 12, 1823
- Was about 38 years old when she was assigned to the 5th Maine Infantry as a nurse and organized a hospital
- When the hospital was disbanded in 1862 after the regiment moved, she volunteered her services with the U.S. Sanitary Commission
Margaret "Maggie" Branson
Margaret E. Breckinridge (North)
- Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; March 24, 1832
- Began training for a position as a nurse at Lexington, Kentucky's Union Hospital in 1861
- Worked on hospital ships until March of 1863 when she was forced to return home due to her health
- After a year, she resumed her work at Philadelphia Episcopal Hospital until she died on July 27, 1864 due to typhoid fever she contracted while nursing the wounded
Mary Briggs (North)
- Born in Madison, Wisconsin; Born roughly in 1821
- Received appointment from Dix to work at Good Samaritan Hospital in Saint Louis in August of 1861
- Was sent to Irontown, Missouri in 1862
- Then worked at Harvey Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin in 1863 until end of War
Mary Agnes Scott Britt (North)
- Born near Strathroy, Canada West; May 6, 1841
- Followed her husband who enlisted in the 9th IL Vol. Inf., and acted as a nurse for that regiment
- Was present at the battle of Corinth
Eunice Brown (North)
- Born in Windham, Ohio
- Began volunteering at General Hospitals in Ohio in June of 1864
- Was assigned to the 88th Ohio Vols. Infantry at the end of 1864 by Surgeon Longwell
- Remained with the regiment until it was disbanded at the end of the War
Cloe Annette Buckel (North)
- Born in Warsaw, New York; August 25, 1833
- Received her physician's degree in 1858 from the Pennsylvania Women's Medical College
- Was directed by Grant to organize field hospitals
- In 1863 was assigned the U.S. General Hospital in the Southwest to recruit nurses
- Began working at the Jefferson General Hospital in Indiana in 1864 as "chief nurse"
- Was assigned to Judiciary Hospital by Dix in September of 1862
- Worked at a field hospital at Gettysburg
- Worked at Stoneman's Cavalry Hospital in Washington, DC
- Was present at other hospitals near Petersburg until the end of the War
Mary Buncher (North)
- Born in New Hampshire
- Volunteered at "Webster Hospital" in Manchester, New Hampshire from October 1864 until September 1865
Caroline Burghardt (North)
- Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts
- Worked as a nurse from June 1861 until September 1865 at Bellevue Hospital, New York
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Copyright 2002 by Britta Arendt
