Highlights in the History of the Army Nurse Corps, Beginnings to 1940
The first nurses and first women in the military were
appointed to the Army Nurse Corps on 2 February 1901; however, the Continental
Army first requested nurses to take care of wounded and sick soldiers in 1776.
Women were chosen from among the mothers, wives and sisters of the troops. They
were sent to makeshift tent hospitals, and requisitioned private homes. Besides
tending the sick, they scrubbed floors, laundered linen, prepared meals, and
managed medical and food supplies.
After revolutionary times until the Civil War, military
leaders had little need for nurses. At that war’s onset, however, the expanded
scope of the fighting and large number of casualties caused medical units to
ask for nursing assistance. More than 3,000 female and approximately 500 male
volunteers worked around the clock, dressing wounds, feeding and bathing
patients, and comforting the dying. Oftentimes, they rarely rested until they
themselves became ill.
In 1898, medical care, again, proved inadequate for the
service members struck down by yellow fever, malaria, and other tropical
diseases during the Spanish American War. Fifteen hundred contract nurses were
recruited and they helped to turn the tide with the epidemics. The nursing
professionals’ contributions became the justification for a permanent female
Until 1911, Army
nurses served at three places: Fort Bayard, New Mexico; San Francisco; and the Philippines.
In that year their assignment list expanded to include Hot Springs, Arkansas; San
Antonio, Texas; and Washington, DC. Until 1916 their numbers never exceeded 220. The
Mexican border uprising necessitated additional active duty and reserve nurses,
who were enrolled by the Red Cross. Membership increased to 450.
The following year,
when the United States entered World War I, there were only 403 Army nurses on
active duty. By November 1918, the number rose to 21,460 officers, with 10,000
serving overseas. African-American nurses were also admitted to the Corps for
the first time. However, segregation policies delayed their actual accession
until after the armistice was signed. By demobilization, it is estimated that
one-third of all American nurses had served in the Army.
These health professionals served primarily in base,
evacuation, and mobile surgical hospitals. Their flexibility and “can do”
attitude shown brightly in assignments on hospital trains in France and
transport ships carrying wounded home across the submarine-infested Atlantic.
Moreover, they worked diligently in specialty hospitals and specialty teams attached
to general hospitals in the United States, France, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the
In 1920 Army nurses were authorized relative rank in the grades
of Second Lieutenant to Major. This law entitled them to wear the insignia of
their rank; however, the Surgeon General ordered that these healthcare professionals
would continue to be addressed as “Miss.” Their pay was approximately half that
of a male officer of the same rank. With the endorsement of the line generals,
who had witnessed or benefited from nursing care, and along with the increased
political influence of organized nursing, changes in status and retirement were
legislated. Nurses also lobbied openly for full military status.
During the 1930s, they explored detached duties, that is,
receiving full pay and allowance while attending advanced educational
courses. They were encouraged to apply for anesthesia, psychiatric and other
nursing postgraduate short courses at various universities throughout the
Text by ANCA Historian COL (Ret.) C. J. Moore; Photos courtesy of the Army Medical Department Center of History and Heritage
Left from top:
Civil war nurse and patients
Miss Harriet I. Arrington, ANC
| Right from top:
Staff of Base Hospital 60 in New York City in 1918 before leaving for Europe
Spanish-American War Army Hospital Ward
First African-American Army Nurses