Running head: NURSING HISTORICAL TIMELINE 1

Nursing Historical Timeline

Student

Professor

Institution

Course

Date
NURSING HISTORICAL TIMELINE 2

Nursing Historical Timeline

Phoebe: In 1862, she was the head nurse at Chimborazo Hospital. She was a very effective

administrator who controlled many areas of the nursing field while not being a nurse herself.

Florence Nightengale: During the Crimean War (1820-1910), the British made extensive

improvements to the medical facilities at their station in Scutari. She is believed to be the

founder of modern nursing.

Dorothea Dix: Assisted and campaigned for people with mental illness throughout the United

States pre-and post-Civil War eras. She even founded asylums in the US states of New Jersey,

Illinois, and North Carolina (Norwood, 2017).

Kate Cummings: Throughout her tenure as a nurse in the American Civil War, she maintained a

thorough notebook in which she recorded her experiences (the University of Southern

Mississippi, n.d.).

Jane Stuart Woolsey: Her memoirs, set during her time as a Union nurse during the American

Civil War, was published in 1868 after she returned to New York (History of American Women,

n.d.).

Clara Barton: Established the American Red Cross in 1881; it continues to be a beacon of hope

in the globe today (American Red Cross, n.d.)

Harriet Tubman: Guided slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad once she escaped

enslavement. She was a spy as well. During the American Civil War, she served as a nurse,

scout, and guerrilla fighter for the Union (Michals, 2015).

Mary Livermore: Provided medical aid to Union troops as part of the US Sanitary Commission

during the American Civil War. Care packages of blankets, clothing, and food were put together

by Livermore along with the other women in the group (American Experience, n.d.).
NURSING HISTORICAL TIMELINE 3

Louisa May Alcott: During the American Civil War, she served as a Union nurse, and her

memoir, Hospital Sketches, helped change the public’s positive view of nurses (Kueter, 2020).

Mary Ann “Mother” Bickerdyke: Helped medical personnel during the cholera epidemic that

struck Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1837. During the American Civil War, she served as a nurse, and her

courage and devotion earned her the respect of both Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman

(Ohio History Central, n.d.).

References

American Battlefield Trust. (n.d.). Phoebe Pember. Battlefields.

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/phoebe-pember
NURSING HISTORICAL TIMELINE 4

American Experience. (n.d.). Mary Livermore. PBS.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/grant-livermore/

American Red Cross. (n.d.). Clara’s story. Red Cross. https://www.redcross.org/about-us/who-

we-are/history/clara-barton.html

History of American Women. (n.d.). Civil War nurse from New York. Women History Blog.

https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2007/07/janestuart-woolsey.html

History Editors. (2022). Florence Nightingale. History. https://www.history.com/topics/womens-

history/florence-nightingale-1

Kueter, C. P. (2020). Flashback Friday – Louisa May Alcott, nurse. University of Virginia

School of Nursing. https://www.nursing.virginia.edu/news/flashback-alcott/

Michals, D. (2015). Harriet Tubman. National Women’s History Museum.

https://www.womenshistory.org/educationresources/biographies/harriet-tubman

Norwood, A. (2017). Dorothea Dix. National Women’s History Museum.

https://www.womenshistory.org/educationresources/biographies/dorothea-dix

Ohio History Central. (n.d.). Mary Ann Bickerdyke. Ohio History Central.

https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Mary_Ann_Bickerdyke

The University of Southern Mississippi. (n.d.). A journal of hospital life in the confederate army

of Tennessee from the battle of Shiloh to the end of the war by Kate Cumming. The

University of Southern Mississippi Special Collections.

https://lib.usm.edu/spcol/exhibitions/item_of_the_month/iotm_april_09/