Hello,
Dorthea Dix was well-known as an advocate for the mentally ill when,
at the outbreak of the Civil War, she was appointed superintendent of
the Union Army's Nursing Corps.
Many think Dorthea Dix was a better advocate than nurse administrator.
According to the Massachusetts State House Women's Leadership Project
(http://www.mfh.org/specialprojects/shwlp/site/honorees/dix.html):
"When the Civil War broke out, Dix hoped to become the American
Florence Nightingale, but her tenure as Superintendent of Women Nurses
for the Union was not a success."
Says Enclclopaedia Britannica
(http://women.eb.com/women/articles/Dix_Dorothea_Lynde.html): "In 1861
she was appointed superintendent of army nurses for Civil War service.
She was ill-suited to administration, however, and had great
difficulty with the post."
Why was her tenure considered a failure? Perhaps because her standards
were so high that collegues called her "Dragon" Dix. For example, she
demanded that all nurses be at least 30 years old, plain-looking and
modest. Yet she did manage to organize a 3,000-strong corps of nurses
from scratch under the most difficult conditions. Keep in mind that
the concept of women working with men on such a large scale was not
without controversy at the time.
A Civil War Magazine article
(http://womenshistory.about.com/library/prm/blunsungsisters1.htm)
explains her difficulties in a bit more detail. Dix's tough standards
rankled the government, who overruled her. The article, though, is
more upbeat about Dix's experience than the previous citations.
A similar analysis is at (www.civilwarhome.com/dixbio.htm).
Michael Swogger at Suite101.com
(http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/american_civil_war_retired/2263)
notes Dix never received pay for her thankless duties during the war.
Elaine Schneider (http://ks.essortment.com/nurseshospitals_rjey.htm)
notes that Dix's "expectation of hard work soon gave her a reputation
of trustworthiness among the wounded. And although Dorothea pushed her
nurses, she asked no more of them than she did of herself and often
opened her home to tired nurses so that they could stay closer to the
hospitals."
The University of Toledo Libraries explains
(http://www.cl.utoledo.edu/canaday/quackery/quack9.html): "When the
war began, the only nurses were in the religious orders, namely the
Catholic Sisters of Mercy and the Sisters of Charity. These nurses
soon were overwhelmed by the large number of casualties the war
produced, forcing the U.S. Government to establish the Army Nursing
Service in 1861. The Service, headed by Dorothea Dix, faced many
obstacles, including the prejudice of male surgeons. Dix herself
refused to accept any woman who was not "plain of appearance" and at
least thirty years old."
One nurse's page also discusses the Civil War nursing service:
<http://members.aol.com/_ht_b/ksurn/page/>
After the war, Dix returned to her work on behalf of the mentally ill.
I hope this answer meets your needs. Please let me know if there is
anything else I can do.
Search strategy:
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Dix Civil War nurse
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