Prior to the Civil War most women stayed at home tending to their families and homes because they thought that they were fragile delicate little creatures. They were not considered strong enough to fight in the Civil War. Two ways for women to participate were through aide and relief societies and nursing. In America, a strive for the development of modern nursing began with the Civil War. Then, trained nurses were almost nonexistent and during the war a crucial need for skilled nurses arose. To meet this need, members of religious orders and other women gained basic nursing skills through short training courses. In this paper, I will discuss two very important women, Dorthea Dix and Clara Barton, in the Civil War.
Dorthea Dix was born on April 4, 1802, the oldest daughter of Joseph and Mary Dix. She was also a granddaughter to the wealthy Elijah and Dorthy Lynde Dix, who lived in Boston, Massachusetts. Dix's father, Joseph Dix, was a minister and he drank heavily. With her father being an alcoholic, her childhood was very unhappy. She left her unhappy home at the age of twelve to be educated in Boston. .
While in Boston, her grandmother brought her up. Being a grandmother, Dorthy wanted what she thought was the best for Dorthea. She wanted her to be a socialite. Dorothea instead began to teach and wrote many books. By the age of fourteen she was teaching in a school for young women in Worchester, Massachusetts. Dix had a curriculum of her own which stressed the natural sciences and the responsibilities of living. In 1821, she opened her own school in Boston. By the time she was thirty-one, Dorothea became very sick, with tuberculosis. Her grandmother sent her to England to get well. In England she met Samuel Tuke, the man who changed her life. He was the person who showed her what an institution for the mentally ill should be like.
They asked Dorthea, in 1841, to teach a Sunday school class in the jail at East Cambridge, Massachusetts.
