(Photo)
After the fall of Fort Sumter, Dix
volunteered her
services to the Union. In June 1861,
Secretary of
War Simon Cameron
appointed her head of female nurses.
The Crimean
War had set a precedent for using women
as nurses,
but the practice
was alien in the United States, and Dix
faced
opposition from many army doctors. In
spite of the
obstacles, the small,
soft spoken woman worked without pay
and molded an
efficient operation dedicated to
relieving the
suffering of sick
and wounded soldiers. She had total
authority over
all female nurses and laid down strict
criteria for
their selection.
Nurses were required to be over 30,
plain looking,
drabbily dressed, and not adorned with
either curl
or jewel.
Thousands of eager young women were
excluded from
service for being too pretty, too young,
or
"overanxious." Some
subordinates considered Dix high-handed
and
arbitrary, and they dubbed her
"Dragon
Dix".
Dorothea Dix's job as superintendent of
nurses of the U.S. Army during the Civil
War was but
one episode in a
life spent crusading for prison and
hospital
reform.