Lesson Plan

Civil War Nurse Mary A. Newcomb

Grade Level:: High School: Ninth Grade through Twelfth Grade
Subject:: Social Studies
Lesson Duration:: 60 Minutes
Common Core Standards:: 11-12.WHST.2
State Standards:: US.34, TN grades 9-12
TN 8.42 8th grade Social Studies
Thinking Skills:: Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words. Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts.

Essential Question

Why were volunteer nurses so important for the care and comfort of Civil War soldiers? Why were they not recognized officially as medical nurses at the outset of the war?

Objective

Understand the complexities and difficulties of a female nurse volunteer at Fort Donelson (1862).

Learn about her career as a Civil War nurse.

Gain understanding on how one woman's story in the Civil War was a similar struggle for other women.

Background

The Campaign for Forts Henry, Heiman, and Donelson began in winter 1862, at a time that 19th century women were not permitted to serve as nurses or soldiers. Women were thought of as very fragile, in need of protection from the world. Society instructed women that they had a "sphere of influence," which did not include service as a nurse, doctor, or soldier.

Much of society, reinforced by popular literature and newspapers, and instructed from the home, church, and schools, told women that it was acceptable to marry and have children. A woman's responsiblity was as the center of the home--as caretaker and nurturer. If they did not marry, it was appropriate for women to become teachers. The Civil War radically changed how women thought of themselves. When husbands, sons, fathers or young men from their hometown left to join the fighting, the daily work and care of the household changed dramatically. Chores meant for brothers or fathers were now assumed by the young girls or wives. They were suddenly expected to assume duties and roles that were normally only for men or boys.

A call for volunteers from churches and even some state governments such as Illinois and Indiana prompted women to serve their country. State governors sponsored floating "hospital ships" in the aftermath of the battle at Fort Donelson. Two women, Mary Bickerdyke and Mary Safford, volunteered to serve and arrived at the Dover river landing on February 16, 1862. They arrived on the hospital ship the City of Memphis. Plucky and tenacious, both women, one a middle-aged mother and another an unmarried young girl, comforted cold, frozen wounded soldiers and made their evacuation to the military hospital as comfortable as possible.

Mary Newcomb arrived a little later, primarily searching for her family members. She funded her own trip to the fortification, unlike Bickerdyke and Safford, who arrived on a state-sponsored hospital vessel. Newcomb was older, not accustomed to working in a field hospital or caring for wounded male soldiers. She found her husband and son and cared for them at Fort Donelson until they could be safely moved back to their Illinois home. Her son would return to active service but her husband succumb to those horrendous battle wounds. Her husband's wish was that she go back and take care of "the boys" with the Eleventh Illinois Infantry.

Newcomb's story mirrors other American woman during this extraordinary time. Feeling hopeless and compelled to help with the war effort, women pushed normal societal boundaries to serve as nurses and caregivers.

Preparation

Students will need a background history of the battle of Fort Donelson.

Provide access to Mary Newcomb's memoirs are available on Google books (link is within our lesson).

View audiovisual film, Fort Donelson: A Place for Heroes.

Historical information about the battle is also found on the park's website: www.nps.gov/fodo

Materials

These three items demonstrate how Mary was first recognized as a widow pensioner, later evolving to earn her own pension. The documents also record her death in 1892.

Download Pension Records for Mary Ann Newcomb

Mrs. Newcomb's memoir. A second printing was arranged by an ancestor.

Download Google Books: Four Years Personal Reminiscences of the Civil War

Procedure

1, Present background history or have powerpoints available with the key points of the site.

2. Ask students to read a portion of Mary Newcomb's story. (Note: You may prefer to make copies of the book sections related to Newcomb's early volunteer service and her account of Fort Donelson). See: Four Years of Personal Reminiscences of the War - Google Books

3. Challenge students to compare differences for today's women and mothers and 19th women and mothers. How unusual was it for mothers or women of all ages to volunteer to help with the care of wounded soldiers?

Vocabulary

Students might want to research and understand how women were taught or ideas were reinforced by the American culture.

woman's "sphere of influence"

woman's "work"

Godey's Lady's Book

Peterson's Magazine

Assessment Materials

What Did You Learn?

Students should be able to present a short program, either power point or first-person account, of Mary Newcomb's life as a Civil War nurse.

Ask students to collect images and data on Civil War nurses in the Western Theatre. Create a short power point on the topic of women who volunteered as nurses in the Civil War, particularly those who volunteered in the Western theatre.

As an alternative, students may tell the story of Mary Newcomb, using her own words and the recollections of the military officials who served with her, have the student create a costume for a first-person interpretive program.

Last updated: October 26, 2022

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