Introduction
Galter staff curated four companion display cases to complement the National Library of Medicine’s traveling exhibition, Binding Wounds, Pushing Boundaries: African Americans in Civil War Medicine, which was on display at Galter Library December 10, 2018, to January 19, 2019. This exhibition looks at the men and women who served as surgeons and nurses and how their work as medical providers challenged the prescribed notions of race and gender.
The curators explored personally meaningful themes to tell the stories of the people—especially African Americans—who served as soldiers, nurses, and doctors during the Civil War. These displays consider various topics related to the main exhibition: modern media portrayals of African Americans in the Civil War era; the emergence of nursing and the role of African American nurses in the war; a history of the 29th United States Colored Infantry, Illinois’ only African American regiment; and the medical initiatives of faculty and students of Feinberg School of Medicine's predecessor, Chicago Medical College, during the war and postwar periods.
Events
Montgomery Lecture by Kate Masur, PhD – “Color Was a Bar to the Entrance: Black Physicians at the White House during the Civil War.”
Credits
Curated and designed by Abebi Espinoza, MFA, former Special Collections Library Assistant; Ramune Kubilius, MALS, AHIP, Collection Development/Special Projects Librarian; Corinne Miller, MLIS, Clinical Informationist; and Annie Wescott, MLIS, Research Librarian.
African American Nurses of the Civil War
The Civil War’s crucial role in the development of the nursing profession in the United States may be one of its lesser known influences on American culture and policy. At the outset of the Civil War, it was rare to see trained nurses in daily life, let alone in the army (Dammann, 2008).
Although the contributions of a few African-American women to Civil War nursing have been documented through memoir and correspondence, their true impact will never be known due to poor and inconsistent records of their service (Harper, 2004). African-American women played many roles in the war effort. While often labeled laundresses or cooks, they were also responsible for the care and comfort of both white and black soldiers. The significance of this care was especially notable in the care of black soldiers, who often received poor treatment from white surgeons. Nurses shouldered the burden of care, from wound management and ensuring hygienic conditions to the simple comfort of human connection (Taylor, 1902).
Susie King Taylor, 1848-1912
Susie Baker King Taylor (1848-1912) shone a light on African-American women’s service during the Civil War. Her memoir, Reminiscences of My Life in Camp (1902), stands alone as the only first-person account of an African-American woman’s experience at the frontlines of battle. Enslaved from birth, Baker King Taylor was educated in secret. Known for her literacy skills, she was just 14 years old when she enlisted as a teacher and laundress for the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment. She later served as a nurse, caring for those who were wounded or suffering from disease.
It seems strange how our aversion to seeing suffering is overcome in war, -- how we are able see the most sickening sights, such as men with their limbs blown off and mangled by the deadly shells, without a shudder; and instead of turning away, how we hurry to assist in alleviating their pain, bind up their wounds, and press the cool water to their parched lips, with feelings only of sympathy and pity.
Susie Baker King Taylor, Reminiscences of My Life in Camp, p. 32
Ann Bradford Stokes, 1830-1903
Ann Bradford Stokes is thought to be one of the first African-American women to serve aboard a military vessel and one of the first female nurses to serve in the US Navy. Even more astounding is her role as the first African-American woman to receive a pension for her service. Stokes served aboard the U.S.S. Red Rover as one of eight known women of color recorded on the muster rolls. Although they served in many other capacities, these women were enlisted as first-class boys, the lowest pay scale for enlisted persons.
Harriet Tubman, 1821-1913
Harriet Tubman, widely known for escorting blacks out of slavery on the underground railroad, was so skilled in surveillance and reconnaissance that she was assigned to intelligence work as she cooked and nursed in a Sea Islands hospital in 1862.
Schultz, Women at the Front, p.118.
Maria Bear Toliver, 1839-?
Maria Bear Toliver escaped from slavery and joined troops at Camp Barker, a contraband camp in Washington, DC. While at Camp Barker, Toliver took on tasks like administering medication and special diets to black soldiers and later went on to work in a smallpox hospital. Toliver was awarded her pension based on supporting testimony from black coworkers, a task made even more complicated for women who nursed white soldiers in predominantly white-serving hospitals.
Eliza Peacher Turner, c.1837-1889
Eliza Peacher Turner did not seek out nursing during the Civil War but found herself in the position due to her husband Bishop Henry McNeal Turner’s role as a Chaplain for the First Regiment of U.S. Colored Troops.
Charlotte Forten, 1837-1914
Sojourner Truth, 1797-1883
Sojourner Truth, a well-known activist for abolition and women’s rights, was devoted to the wellbeing of freedpeople, and worked tirelessly as an activist, teacher, and nurse throughout the Civil War.
Sojourner Truth – lionized by the African American community in wartime Washington – worked tirelessly at the District’s Freedmen’s Hospital and the nearby Freedmen’s Village in Arlington, not to mention earning a legendary status as a charismatic speaker for women’s rights.
Schultz, Women at the Front, p. 118.
Lucy Higgs Nichols, 1838-1915
Lucy Higgs Nichols was dedicated to her service as a nurse. Born a slave, she escaped in 1862 by joining the Indiana 23rd Regiment. She remained a nurse in the regiment for the entirety of the Civil War, standing with the troops through 28 known battles. Originally denied a pension, Nichols fought for six years to have the decision overturned. It was through a Special Act of Congress that she was finally awarded her pension.
The duties of a Civil War nurse were wide-ranging. With the threat of disease, maintaining hygienic conditions was key, but many nurses also took it upon themselves to see to the nutritional needs and overall comfort of their patients. Those at the scene of battle tended to wounds and assisted in amputations.
Modern Media Portrayals of African Americans in the Civil War Era
Tension between the Northern and Southern states leading up to the Civil War was largely due to Abraham Lincoln’s antislavery platform. A popular misconception is that Lincoln’s initial goal was the abolition of slavery and not the preservation of the Union. But in 1862, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order freeing the slaves in states that were in rebellion against the Union. During this time, many African Americans fought with the Union, or escaped north to states where they could be declared free.
The Civil War has been featured in many films, yet very few profile the war from the African American perspective. Instrumental to the Union as soldiers, doctors, and nurses, African Americans secured a place in the war that was vital for future generations. Film not only brings forth the historical perspective to the public for entertainment but also tells the stories of valor that these freedom fighters demonstrated to protect their beliefs. Many testimonials can be read about the people who fought for the freedom of slaves across the United States; here are a few of those stories as portrayed in film.
Glory – The Soldier
Released in 1989, Glory tells the story of the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Not only was this regiment solely comprised of volunteers, it was also the first African American regiment organized in the northern states during the Civil War. “The North, quite simply, was running out of men able and willing to fight, and the only remaining source of untapped manpower was black men (Cox, 8).” Glory shows how these men faced discrimination even as soldiers volunteering for the Union Army. They were reduced to doing menial jobs, and did not receive pay equal to their white counterparts. The soldiers of the 54th Regiment eventually succeeded in getting their chance to fight and were even praised by President Lincoln for their bravery during the war. For its film depiction of the 54th Regiment, Glory received five Academy Award nominations and won in three categories.
12 Years a Slave – The Victor
Based on the memoir by Solomon Northup, this film depicts Solomon’s life as a free man who is kidnapped and sold into slavery for 12 years. Solomon experiences the horrors of slavery as he sees families torn apart, and as he himself is subjected to the deplorable conditions set by slave owners. Throughout the film, viewers watch as Solomon bravely informs slave owners and other white men that he is a free man, and requests them to deliver a message to his family detailing his exact location. No one is interested in helping him, and he is threatened by his slave owner. Even after the many punishments and risk of death from his attempts to escape or make contact with his family, Solomon’s courage does not fail. Solomon’s attitude as a free man was never abandoned as he fought tirelessly to end his misery as a slave. This film adaptation received nine Academy Awards nominations and won three awards, including Best Picture.
A Woman Called Moses – The Abolitionist
This biopic follows Harriet Tubman—portrayed by Cicely Tyson, a recent recipient of the Academy Honorary Award—from youth to her adult years, and features her leadership along the Underground Railroad. She repeatedly risked her life to assist slaves in getting North, as she was a wanted woman with a bounty in the Southern states. Like Solomon in Twelve Years a Slave, Tubman never abandoned her belief in freedom for herself and for all slaves, and she succeeded in helping approximately 300 people to escape North.
After guiding many former slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad, Tubman continued her fight for freedom during the Civil War (this part of her life was not told in the film). She volunteered with the Union Army as a spy and a nurse. Although a significant number of African American soldiers perished in combat, a larger portion died of disease due to black soldiers being denied vital supplies. Tubman cared for sick and dying soldiers suffering from contaminated water and food in Port Royal, South Carolina, and, after the war, she nursed at Fort Monroe in Virginia for no pay.
Chicago Medical College Contributions to the War Effort
Though far from the primary battlefields, the fledgling medical school, then called the Chicago Medical College, did not escape the devastating impact of the Civil War. A number of medical school founders served in various capacities, and students received medical training at Camp Douglas, a prisoner of war camp in Chicago.
Neither can the war’s legacy as it affected the Chicago Medical College be underestimated. The medical school’s first African American graduate, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, was mentored in the postwar years by a physician who had served in the Civil War. After graduation, Dr. Williams was one of the founders of Provident Hospital, a hub for patients as well as training of nursing and medical personnel in the African American community. Dr. Mary Harris Thompson founded a hospital whose first patients were the widows and children of Union soldiers. In the years after the war, Mercy Hospital took on a new role when it incorporated with an adjoining orphanage for children who lost their parents during the war, to become “Mercy Hospital and Mercy Orphan Asylum.” Few in the Chicago Medical College community were untouched by the hostilities; their stories are told briefly in this exhibit.
Faculty Involvement and Educational Value
Dr. Nathan Smith Davis (1817-1904)
Soon after the commencement of the war, Dr. Davis, one of the founders of the Chicago Medical College, was appointed by Governor Richard Yates as a member of a temporary Board of Medical Examiners. His job in Springfield was to evaluate the candidates for surgeons and assistant surgeons to the first six regiments of Illinois Volunteers.
Dr. Hosmer A. Johnson (1822-1891)
Another founder of the Chicago Medical College, Dr. Johnson became Chief Medical Advisor of the Governor of the State. He was a Special Inspector of the General Hospitals of the Army from September 1862 to May 1863 and made many tours of inspection to military camps and hospitals during the progress of the War.
Dr. Edmund Andrews (1824-1904)
Of all the founders of the Chicago Medical College, Dr. Andrews acquired the most notable battle-experience. In 1861, he was appointed contract surgeon (acting assistant surgeon, U.S. Army) of Camp Douglas by Governor Yates. He was sent by the Sanitary Commission to care for the wounded after the capture of Fort Donelson (Stewart County, TN) and Fort Henry (western middle Tennessee), was appointed surgeon to the First Regiment, Illinois Light Artillery, and served on the staffs of Generals Sherman and Grant.
Dr. Andrews’ experiences as a surgeon are related in accounts published in Dr. Nathan Davis’ Chicago Medical Examiner from 1862 to 1865.
Dr. Ralph Nelson Isham (1831-1904)
A founder of the Chicago Medical College and the first Professor of Surgical Anatomy and Operative Surgery, Dr. Isham served during the Civil War in various ways. He took on a leadership role at the United States Marine Hospital at Chicago when it was a military hospital. Dr. Isham was a member of the Sanitary Commission, twice went South with supplies as well as medical personnel, and was in the field at the Battle of Shiloh.
Hospital and Clinical Advantages
The students will also have access to the Military Hospitals in Camp Douglas and the City Hospital building… A considerable number of the students of this Institution have found its extensive Clinics and demonstrative teaching of so much practical value as to enable them to merit, and receive, appointments as Assistant Surgeons in the army before graduation. In this way they honorably support themselves in their studies while they add experience to their preparatory qualifications and enter the profession with a certainty of high standing and success.
Annual Announcement for 1864-1865, p. 8-9
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams (1856-1931)
Dr. Williams began his studies at the Chicago Medical College in 1881, following an apprenticeship in Janesville, WI with Dr. Henry Palmer, chief surgeon of the U.S. Army at York during the Civil War.
Awarded an MD in 1883, Dr. Williams was the first African-American to graduate from the Chicago Medical College. He established a private practice in Chicago, served as Demonstrator in Anatomy (1885-1888), and Instructor at the South Side Dispensary, the free clinic of the Chicago Medical College. In 1891, he was one of the founders of Provident Hospital and Training School for Nurses, the first inter-racial institution of its type in Chicago, which provided internship opportunities for many of Chicago’s African-American medical students.
Local and National Organizations
The U.S. Sanitary Commission (1861-1879)
The USSC was a civilian organization authorized by the United States government to provide medical and sanitary assistance to the Union volunteer forces during the Civil War. It received no federal government funding and was supported by donations of cash and supplies by soldiers’ aid societies. Sanitary Fairs were civilian-organized bazaars and expositions held in major metropolitan areas, dedicated to raising funds on behalf of the USSC.
USSC members, physicians selected from civilian life, formed committees concerned with: camp and hospital inspections, collecting statistics, preparing reports on sanitary practice, food preparation, and supply quality. The Commission published 19 monographs. These treatises recorded the latest results of medical investigation, with a focus on diseases that prevailed in large armies.
Founders of the medical school who served on the Sanitary Commission included: Nathan Smith Davis, Hosmer A. Johnson, Edmund Andrews, and Ralph N. Isham.
Mercy Hospital
Hospital instruction for medical students was provided through an arrangement with Mercy Hospital. During the Civil War, sides did not matter: the Sisters of Mercy cared for both Union soldiers and Confederate prisoners of war. Faculty member Dr. Edmund Andrews, longtime Chief Surgeon at Mercy Hospital, served during this time period.
Camp Douglas
The government converted Camp Douglas, an induction center at 33rd Street and Cottage Grove, into a prisoner of war camp for Confederate troops captured at Fort Donelson (Stewart County, TN).
The Camp Douglas Aid Society was formed to help the sick. The experience of its members resulted in the founding in 1864 of a free hospital known as St. Luke’s, where the sick of both Confederate and Union forces could be cared for by nurses and physicians.
Mary Thompson Hospital
The Chicago Hospital for Women and Children (later called Mary Thompson Hospital) was founded in 1865 to provide medical care to indigent women and children, and clinical training to women doctors. The first patients at the hospital were the wives, widows, and children of Union soldiers.
The hospital's founder, Mary Harris Thompson, received her MD in 1863 from the New England Female Medical College in Boston. In 1869, she and two other women attended courses at the Chicago Medical College. At the end of the 1869-70 school year, she was granted an ad eundem degree (recognition of her academic credentials from another university), a customary practice at the time, while the other two women were not permitted to complete their studies.
Twenty-Ninth Regiment, United States Colored Infantry: A Timeline of Illinois’ African American regiment in the Civil War
See Gallery for graphic timeline.
February 12, 1853
The 1853 Illinois Black Law, the title page of which is shown here, bans blacks from emigrating to Illinois. Illinois’ Black Laws, the first of which was passed in 1819, denied free blacks of fundamental rights and were considered the harshest of such laws in the Northern states. Consequently, at the start of the civil war, African Americans accounted for less than 0.5% of Illinois’ population (Miller).
April 12, 1861
This heat map shows the movements of the 29th USCI during its full tour of duty. The color and size of each locus indicates the amount of action seen in each location.
January 1, 1863
The enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation gives official authorization for African Americans to join the armed services. Until this time, African Americans could only serve in the capacity of labor. The first union regiment of black soldiers forms in Massachusetts later that month (VandeCreek).