Home Nursing, Gender and Confederate Nationalism in the American Civil War, 1861-65

Brill, Kristen

Abstract

This article provides the first extended analysis of Confederate home nursing in the American Civil War (1861-65). Home nursing was an integral component of Confederate health care outside of the regulation of the Confederate Medical Department and relied on the willingness of individual and collective groups of middle and planter class white women to open private homes to ailing Confederate soldiers. The gendered labor of home nursing wedded the gap between the shortcomings of the Confederate Medical Department and the needs of its people, on both the front lines and the home front. In doing so, home nursing provided a new channel for women to engage with Confederate nationalism in tangible and local ways.

Citation

Brill, K. (2021). Home Nursing, Gender and Confederate Nationalism in the American Civil War, 1861-65. Nursing History Review, 30(1), 95-118. https://doi.org/10.1891/1062-8061.30.95

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 23, 2021
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2021
• Journal: Nursing History Review
• Print ISSN: 1062-8061
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 30
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 95-118
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1891/1062-8061.30.95
• Publisher URL: https://www.springerpub.com/nursing-history-review.html