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In all of 19th century America, with the exception of various indigenous tribes, women were seen as the weaker sex. Circumstances had changed to a certain degree in the northern states, due in part to the increasing migration to cities. Whereas the North was becoming more conducive to urban living, the agrarian lifestyle remained strong in the South. While women in the northern states ventured into politics, social causes, and ultimately independence, young ladies in the southern part of the country had no need to engage in labor.
== Antebellum Women ==
[[File:Mrs._Jefferson_Davis,_full-length_studio_portrait.jpg|thumbnail|200pxleft|250px|Mrs. Jefferson Davis.]]
The life of a plantation mistress was constructed to be one of leisure. Unlike their counterparts in the North, young ladies in the South had no opportunities to earn wages on their own, thus the only means by which to leave the family home was through marriage. Young women in the northern states; however, were entering the work force in factories and the textile mills of Lowell, Massachusetts as early as the 1820’s and were able to enjoy a feeling of independence.<ref>Ellen Carol DuBois and Lynn Dumenil, ''Through Women’s Eyes: An American History'' (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005), 149.</ref> In Southern culture, women devoted their time to leisure and the pursuit of culture; labor was for slaves.
== Breaking the Stereotype ==
[[File:Kate Cumming.jpeg__320x439_q85_subsampling-2.jpg|thumbnail|200px|Kate CummingCummming.]]Many belles responded to the call with a sense of duty and pride, while an even greater number deemed this type of work to be unfit for a lady. Kate CummingKumming, a dedicated Confederate nurse, recalled being told that the hospitals were no places for women and that was not considered “respectable to go into one.”<ref>Kate Cumming, quoted Cunningham, 73.</ref> In April 1862, Cumming Kumming arrived in Corinth, Mississippi at a hotel that had been converted into a hospital. She was initially unaware of the sights, sounds, and smells she would encounter and confessed to her journal that the “foul air” made her “giddy and sick,” and that it was necessary for her to “kneel, in blood and water.”<ref>James McPherson, ''Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 479.</ref> Circumstances such as these were in stark contrast to anything these women experienced in the Antebellum Era. The levels of care and sanitary conditions varied from hospital to hospital. Cleanliness was continually emphasized as the medical directors were well aware of the prevalence of disease and infection. The most common symptom upon arrival at any hospital was dysentery. A soldier's life in camp was conducive to this problem as water sources were contaminated by human excrement. The southerner men who arrived in camp from rural areas were what one might call "rubes." They had little experience with community latrines or education with regard to proper sanitary procedures. Unfortunately, these poor hygienic practices were continued when the soldier arrived at a hospital. For example, Jackson hospital in Richmond was described as having the “floors and seats of sinks…smeared with excrement.”<ref>Cunningham, 88.</ref> These foul examples of sights and smells offer just a glimpse of what the nurses had to endure; the emotional impact was equally great.
== Interactions with the Wounded ==
== Conclusion ==
While Dix and Livermore were actively pursuing social reform and education during the 1840’s, Mrs. Virginia Clay of Tuscaloosa, Alabama was attending balls. She described scenes of “belles of the town” looking “resplendent in fresh and fashionable toilettes.” Twenty years hence, Phoebe Yates Pember, who was of the same social standing as Mrs. Clay, was holding her finger on a man’s artery in order to keep him alive. While women on the plantations complained about disciplining their slaves, nurses were dealing with the rowdiness associated with hundreds of young men being confined together. According to Kate CummingKumming, “the most unruly and dastardly in our hospitals have been from Louisiana.”<ref>Cunningham, 91.</ref>
These women worked tirelessly to help their cause and to comfort the young men of the Confederacy. Although their previous work experiences did rival their counterparts in the North, these courageous women eschewed decorum and sacrificed their comfortable lives in order to care for the wounded and make the last moments of the dying more tolerable. What they witnessed no longer allowed them to be belles. They were no longer pure and meek. During the course of the war, Chimborazo hospital alone treated 77,889 patients. Throughout the entire war, there were only 1,000 female Confederate nurses. Given these numbers, we get an idea of how tirelessly these women served. They were doing the work of women, not the work of belles.
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[[Category:Wikis]] [[Category:Civil War]] [[Category:Medical History]][[Category:United States History]]
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