Join us at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in the Delaplaine Randall Conference Room on May 6 at 2:00PM for a special National Nurse’s Day event. Historian Elaine Kessinger will discuss the evolving roles of female nurses in the Civil War.

Today, female nurses and matrons are the frontline heroes, but that has not always been the popular perception. Elaine Kessinger will take a look at the five years that turned public opinion about female nurses around, from fussy mother and flighty debutante to warrior in the battle for health. She will bust the myths and explore the stereotypes of the Civil War nurse as she finds her professional feet.