"I Stand for Liberty" - Nurses
Although camp followers were extremely valuable for their work in performing household-type chores, the army was also in desperate need of nurses who could help sick and injured soldiers, and they looked to women to fulfill this position. When things got desperate, the soldiers themselves pushed women to become nurses. General George Washington sent out a job description of what was involving in being a nurse, hoping to influence and recruit women to join the camps. He wrote: “...[nurses need] not only to be attentive to the cleanliness of the wards and patients, but to keep themselves clean. They are never to disguised with liquor, they are to see that the close-stools or ports are to be emptied as soon as possible after they are used...They are to see that every patient, upon his admission into the Hospital is immediately washed with warm water and that his face and hands are washed and head combed every morning.” (10) This job description was not convincing to most women, who did not want to empty chamber pots and bathe men all day. So other officers alternately had to bribe and/or threaten women to take up nursing. Some soldiers even promised full rations of food for women who volunteered for the position, which was an important incentive for women trailing the army. Sometimes, when women didn’t volunteer, the men threatened to withhold the rations all together. Thus, women assuming this new role, as nurses, was something the women did not do completely on their own, but was a vital position in the American Revolution. (11)
Women were reluctant to take the nursing jobs, even when soldiers bribed them with the promise of payment. Hidden in one of the dirtiest and nastiest work environments ever was a massive threat--the serpent of sickness. As people who cared for the sick and injured, the nurses themselves could end up in hospitals, suffering from the same sicknesses that they treated. The mortality rate in hospitals was exceptionally high because patients and medics were exposed to many sick people, increasing the chance of catching germs and associated illnesses. Diseases such as smallpox and various camp fevers could be deadly. As Holly Mayer of “Women and Wagoneers: Camp Followers in the American War for Independence” wrote, “germs rather than enemy fire brought the [biggest] danger.”(12) During this time when many women were afraid of being shot or wounded, the women who were nurses were more afraid of becoming ill. This fear was a major turn off for any woman who was considering, or being forced to think about, becoming a nurse. There is no doubt that women who did look past the danger of catching a sickness were exceptionally fearless and brave. Women may have also been persuaded to become nurses because nursing was a paid job, which was a big deal for women of the eighteenth century. Generals and officers agreed that for their efforts, nurses would get twenty four cents a day as well as one full food ration. Congress, who decided the payment amount for nurses, later allowed two dollars per month a salary and continued to raise the salary for the nurses’ tireless duties. In 1776, the pay for nurses was raised to four dollars per month and doubled the next year to make sure that women would continue on as nurses, even if they were dissatisfied with their jobs, and to ensure that even more women would choose nursing for the benefit of a good salary. There was recognition that women had good reasons to be reluctant about becoming a nurse, given the risks, so those who agreed to ought to be commemorated and compensated. (13)
Women who became nurses performed many duties in caring for sick or injured soldiers in infirmaries. They worked to meet their patients’ every need and made sure that both the environment and the soldiers were clean. Female nurses emptied chamber pots as soon as possible after use and washed new patients who were often bloody and dirty from the brutal battlefield. They also made sure the soldiers had good hygiene by washing the face and hands of patients, combing their hair daily, and changing the linens they were sleeping on. This care helped the recovering male soldiers focus on getting better, rather than needing to focus on performing simple tasks. Nurses also swept and cleaned the hospital floors with vinegar three or four times a day to be sure it was disinfected. Another important job nurses did was occasionally cooking healthy and hearty meals for the patients to help them regain strength. Rebecca Beatrice Brooks describes the patient meals that were provided by the nurses. She explains the women brought, “warm ‘pap’ (milk in which oatmeal had been cooked and strained and to which beaten egg yolks, butter, and orange flavor were added) and beef tea, an extract of beef juices.”(14) Clearly, nurses wanted the best for their patients and gave them meals that encourage healing. Surgeons may have performed most of the skilled medical duties, but these nurses were dedicated to their profession and hardworking in doing custodial work. The women who became nurses were not medically trained, but they did their best in caring for sick and injured soldiers, despite the endlessness of disinfecting the wards and keeping patients clean. (15)
The work done by nurses ultimately allowed the soldiers, generals, and officers to be more successful in battles, to have more men out in the battlefield, to survive illnesses that could have wiped out entire camps, and to recover from serious injuries. A survey conducted at the end of the American Revolution found that seven matrons (the people who supervised the nurses) and thirty nurses were serving the military in seven hospitals and were caring for more than four thousand men. Although this may seem like a small number, imagine what would have happened if these dying men had been left abandoned in the battlefield or in their army camps, half alive and suffering brutally every moment with little energy or expertise to help themselves. These men would have continued to worsen and there would have been far fewer survivors of the war. In addition, for every woman who nursed the sick, there was another man freed for fighting on the battle line, since without women, many inexperienced men would have had to perform nurse-like jobs. Holly Mayer, a professor at Duquesne University and author of “Belonging to the Army: Camp Followers and Community during the American Revolution,” writes, “without the help of these women both the American and British Armies would have had to hire or assign men to do these chores--and that meant diminishing the ranks of soldiers.”(16) With female nurses, there was more of a chance of succeeding. As well, women were experienced in the duties that came with being a nurse, as they had been taking care of children and the house for years, so they were the perfect candidates for the job. Their efforts gave benefits to the army in two ways: first, that they would have more survivors of sickness and injury, and second, women nurses gave men more of a chance to fight on the front line. (17)
Women were reluctant to take the nursing jobs, even when soldiers bribed them with the promise of payment. Hidden in one of the dirtiest and nastiest work environments ever was a massive threat--the serpent of sickness. As people who cared for the sick and injured, the nurses themselves could end up in hospitals, suffering from the same sicknesses that they treated. The mortality rate in hospitals was exceptionally high because patients and medics were exposed to many sick people, increasing the chance of catching germs and associated illnesses. Diseases such as smallpox and various camp fevers could be deadly. As Holly Mayer of “Women and Wagoneers: Camp Followers in the American War for Independence” wrote, “germs rather than enemy fire brought the [biggest] danger.”(12) During this time when many women were afraid of being shot or wounded, the women who were nurses were more afraid of becoming ill. This fear was a major turn off for any woman who was considering, or being forced to think about, becoming a nurse. There is no doubt that women who did look past the danger of catching a sickness were exceptionally fearless and brave. Women may have also been persuaded to become nurses because nursing was a paid job, which was a big deal for women of the eighteenth century. Generals and officers agreed that for their efforts, nurses would get twenty four cents a day as well as one full food ration. Congress, who decided the payment amount for nurses, later allowed two dollars per month a salary and continued to raise the salary for the nurses’ tireless duties. In 1776, the pay for nurses was raised to four dollars per month and doubled the next year to make sure that women would continue on as nurses, even if they were dissatisfied with their jobs, and to ensure that even more women would choose nursing for the benefit of a good salary. There was recognition that women had good reasons to be reluctant about becoming a nurse, given the risks, so those who agreed to ought to be commemorated and compensated. (13)
Women who became nurses performed many duties in caring for sick or injured soldiers in infirmaries. They worked to meet their patients’ every need and made sure that both the environment and the soldiers were clean. Female nurses emptied chamber pots as soon as possible after use and washed new patients who were often bloody and dirty from the brutal battlefield. They also made sure the soldiers had good hygiene by washing the face and hands of patients, combing their hair daily, and changing the linens they were sleeping on. This care helped the recovering male soldiers focus on getting better, rather than needing to focus on performing simple tasks. Nurses also swept and cleaned the hospital floors with vinegar three or four times a day to be sure it was disinfected. Another important job nurses did was occasionally cooking healthy and hearty meals for the patients to help them regain strength. Rebecca Beatrice Brooks describes the patient meals that were provided by the nurses. She explains the women brought, “warm ‘pap’ (milk in which oatmeal had been cooked and strained and to which beaten egg yolks, butter, and orange flavor were added) and beef tea, an extract of beef juices.”(14) Clearly, nurses wanted the best for their patients and gave them meals that encourage healing. Surgeons may have performed most of the skilled medical duties, but these nurses were dedicated to their profession and hardworking in doing custodial work. The women who became nurses were not medically trained, but they did their best in caring for sick and injured soldiers, despite the endlessness of disinfecting the wards and keeping patients clean. (15)
The work done by nurses ultimately allowed the soldiers, generals, and officers to be more successful in battles, to have more men out in the battlefield, to survive illnesses that could have wiped out entire camps, and to recover from serious injuries. A survey conducted at the end of the American Revolution found that seven matrons (the people who supervised the nurses) and thirty nurses were serving the military in seven hospitals and were caring for more than four thousand men. Although this may seem like a small number, imagine what would have happened if these dying men had been left abandoned in the battlefield or in their army camps, half alive and suffering brutally every moment with little energy or expertise to help themselves. These men would have continued to worsen and there would have been far fewer survivors of the war. In addition, for every woman who nursed the sick, there was another man freed for fighting on the battle line, since without women, many inexperienced men would have had to perform nurse-like jobs. Holly Mayer, a professor at Duquesne University and author of “Belonging to the Army: Camp Followers and Community during the American Revolution,” writes, “without the help of these women both the American and British Armies would have had to hire or assign men to do these chores--and that meant diminishing the ranks of soldiers.”(16) With female nurses, there was more of a chance of succeeding. As well, women were experienced in the duties that came with being a nurse, as they had been taking care of children and the house for years, so they were the perfect candidates for the job. Their efforts gave benefits to the army in two ways: first, that they would have more survivors of sickness and injury, and second, women nurses gave men more of a chance to fight on the front line. (17)