Dorothea Dix

Photo of Dorothea Dix

Quick Facts

Significance:

Union Nurse

Place Of Birth:

Hampden, ME

Date Of Birth:

April 4, 1802

Place Of Death:

Trenton, NJ

Date Of Death:

July 17, 1887

Place Of Burial:

Cambridge, MA

Cemetery Name:

Mount Auburn Cemetery

From the Peninsula to Maryland: Dix's role in the summer of 1862

Prior to the Civil War, Dorothea Lynde Dix focused her time and attention on social reform, particularly crusading for improved hospitals and state-funded care for the under-privileged and mentally ill. During the Civil War, Dix was appointed "Superintendent of Army Nurses" for the Union army. Setting strict standards for the recruiting, training and assigning of female nurses to army hospitals, Dix enforced a policy of even-handed treatment of wounded soldiers from both armies. Following the war, Dix continued her crusade for fair and equal treatment of the mentally ill.