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If you were to ask about when women began acting as nurses for the military, two names always pop up. Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton are held up as the ground breakers who brought women and nursing into the history of military medicine, and indeed, to the world as a whole. This truth has been taught to us in both our history text books and in the popular mythos that reaffirms the basis of our modern society.

For the critical historian, a simple acceptance of the commonly held belief cannot go unchallenged. While Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton certainly deserve their position in the history books as powerful advocates for modernizing battlefield medicine and moving forward the recognition of women’s capabilities in military medicine, the facts reveal a somewhat different picture of the history of women in nursing and military medicine. The use of women as nurses in warfare was both formalized in regulation and practice in the armies and navies of both the United Kingdom and the United States prior to Nightingale’s involvement in the Crimean War and Barton’s involvement in the U.S. Civil War. We’ll explore this by looking at the two major wars to involve both nations prior to this, the American Revolution of 1775-1783 and the Napoleonic Wars (including the War of 1812) of 1793-1815.

The American Revolution (1775-1783)

The existence of camp followers throughout the history of warfare has been well established. Though the term itself is not known to have existed prior to 1810, their existence is well documented prior to this time. In his book on the subject, Professor John Lynn began his exploration of the topic of camp followers in 1500, noting that their existence was already well established phenomenon at that time.

By the time the friction between Britain and its colonies in North America had boiled over into a state of war the British Military had long experience dealing with the presence of large numbers of women and children (and opportunistic civilian men) traveling with an army’s baggage train. The British Army in North America had an extensive number of camp followers. Don N. Hagist has published a number of books on the American Revolution. Relying heavily on primary sources such as victualing returns he has calculated that the British Army had roughly one woman on the books for each man. At its height it was estimated that there were approximately 56,000 British regulars in North America during the war. Ignoring the number of local auxiliaries raised amongst the loyalist population, native tribes, and freed or runaway slaves, as well 30,000 German auxiliaries, this would have rendered approximately 7,000 women being on the British books.

These women were being accounted for because British regulations of the day called for their being provided rations in exchange for service to the various units. A headcount was necessary in order to assure each unit received the correct number of rations. The exact number of women allowed per unit varied according to the whims of the commander, but there presence was generally assumed.

The question is whether any of these women were enrolled on the books for the purpose of nursing sick and wounded soldiers. Much of the British Army at the time operated in accordance with Cuthbertson’s System for the Complete Interior Management and Oeconomy of a Battalion of Infantry. Chapter 8 of this 1768 book of regulations describes the proper regulation of medical care for sick and wounded troops. In it we find several crucial directives:

“An experienced, careful woman must be constantly employed to attend in the Regimental hospital, as a Nurse, whose wages should be paid, either by the Surgeon when he has an allowance for it, or from the savings of the sick Men's Pay.”

And later,

“You [the regimental surgeon] are to appoint a head nurse (and the others to be under her) and the great­est attention must be paid that she is of exceeding good character, sober, healthy, and experi­enced in her duty, and in every other respect qualified for the employment.”

For her work the book called for any woman thus employed was to be paid “thirteen shillings and three-pence three farthings per month.”

For the Continentals the requirement for female nurses was no less recognized. Usually outnumbered, army commanders were eager to keep as many men as possible in the ranks of fighting men and not have them in the rear as nurses. As such the Continental Congress passed a resolution on July 27, 1775 establishing a structure calling for one female nurse per ten patients and establishing their pay at $2 per month. Eventually this would rise to $8 per month.


 

Napoleonic Wars and 1812

Though many argue that the Napoleonic Wars did not officially start until 1803, many earlier dates have been proposed. From a practical standpoint, the British involvement began with the Republican French government’s declaration of war on Britain in 1793. Warfare would rage on and off again from that date on to the end of the war in 1815, a period of twenty-two years.

While there had been some degree of modification of various regulations between the end of the American Revolution and the start of the Napoleonic Wars, in terms of the routine operation of the British Army little had changed. As such the continued presence of women as camp followers and nurses with the Army would receive little surprise.

What is surprising to most modern readers is the presence of such women amongst the British Navy.

At the time the common convention was to transport army units on board British Warships when traveling to an overseas location, be it France, Egypt, or North America. Those women in the employ of the unit, whether as cooks, sutlers, laundresses, seamstresses, or nurses, regularly shipped right alongside of the soldiers. During the 1801 invasion of Egypt, HMS Charon’s log book records having 30 women on board as part of the 30th Regiment’s compliment.

In some cases the disembarking of the regiment did not necessarily mean the disembarking of the women. Admiral Lord Keith, commander of the naval portion of the invasion, encouraged women to remain aboard ship as nurses. In exchange, they would be fed out of the ships stores, and not out of the regimental alotments. A number of women chose not to join the regiments ashore but instead stayed aboard to aid in treating those wounded who were evacuated to the ships, a position they would occupy for the entire seven month long campaign.

Not all women aboard ship at this time were there as a result of the transportation of Army units. Though Article XIV from the Regulations and Instructions Relating to His Majesty's Service at Sea specifically barred women being aboard ship without explicit instructions from the Admiralty, ships records frequently reference that this regulation was not followed on a regular basis. In one such case, then Commodore Horatio Nelson presided over a court martial for Lieutenant Nicholas Meager. Meager was on trial for assaulting the sailing master of HMS Dromedary. The testimony of witnesses revealed that at the time of the attack the sailing master (George Casey) was taking a stroll about the deck of the ship with his wife.

Another woman known to have spent time aboard ship was Ann Hopping. Married to a gunner’s mate, she witnessed the battles of Cape St. Vincent and the Nile while aboard HMS Orion. During these battles she was employed preparing flannel cartridges for the guns.

It is also clear from a study of ships records that some of these women were employed as nurses. HMS Goliath was a ship of the line that saw action during the 1798 Battle of the Nile. The ships muster book recorded four women as drawing rations as part of the crew, noting that they were “victualed at 2/3 allowance per Captain’s orders in consideration of their assistance in dressing and attending on the wounded, being widows of men slain in fight with the enemy on 1st August 1798.” These women were Sarah Bates, Ann Taylor, Elizabeth Moore, and Mary French.

The War of 1812 is often viewed as being a separate matter altogether from the Napoleonic Wars by North Americans. In Europe, however, it is considered to be an extension of the Napoleonic Wars, and with good reason. The war came about as a direct result of British naval activity related to the wars with France and Spain. The U.K. had declared a blockade of Europe that stifled American trade, and the needs to simultaneously maintain that blockade, fight the French and Spanish fleets, and transport vast numbers of troops throughout the far flung empire encouraged the impressment of American sailors on the high seas. The abilities and limitations of the British military during the 32 month long war also cannot be understood unless set against the needs and activities of the Napoleonic War.

Though far smaller in size, the U.S. Navy was modeled off of the British Navy. This included not only its general structure of regulation, but also its common conventions and standard practices. It is therefore no surprise that women could be found aboard American warships at this time. Two women in particular deserve mentioning in this document. In 1813 two women were invited to serve as nurses aboard the U.S.S. United States. Mary Marshall and Mary Allen both spent several months on board at the request of Commodore Stephen Decatur. They served in this capacity for several months, only ending their career as navy nurses when the United States was trapped in port in mid 1813 by a British blockade, rendering her inactive for the remainder of the war.

As can be seen by the evidence, Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton were not the first women to actively engage in military nursing. Their contributions do still deserve recognition even in light of this fact. While they may not have started women’s involvement in military nursing they certainly used their personal traits to standardized it and brought it to the forefront of the popular mind. Their well-deserved fame came not in spite of history, but built on the foundation laid in history by the many women who came before them in the American Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, and many other wars not mentioned here.

Footnotes:

"Camp Follower." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster. Web. 13 Jan. 2015. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/camp follower>.

Lynn, John A. Women, Armies, and Warfare in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2008. Print.

Don N., Hagist. "The Women of the British Army in America." Rev War '75. 1 Jan. 2002. Web. 13 Jan. 2015. <http://revwar75.com/library/hagist/britwomen.htm>.

Cuthbertson, Bennett. Cuthbertson's System for the Complete Interior Management and Oeconomy of a Battalion of Infantry. Bristol: Rouths and Nelson, 1768. Print.

Slope, Nick. "Women in Nelson's Navy." BBC News. BBC, 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 13 Jan. 2015. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/women_nelson_navy_01.shtml>.

Adkins, Roy. Nelson's Trafalgar: The Battle That Changed the World. New York: Penguin, 2004. Print.

Cordingly, David. Seafaring Women: Adventures of Pirate Queens, Female Stowaways, and Sailors' Wives. 2007 Random House Trade Pbk. ed. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2007. Print.

 

About the Author:

James Hinton is a former army soldier and armchair historian. He currently hangs his hat in Idaho, where he  bores his daughters to tears discussing the minutia of Civil War era artillery tactics.

Associated Website:

https://jamiemhinton.wordpress.com/