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

Brill, Kristen

doi:10.1891/1062-8061.30.95

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

Brill, Kristen

Authors

Kristen Brill k.c.brill@keele.ac.uk

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.

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