Angels of the Battlefields: Striking Portraits of Nurses From the Mid-19th Century

These striking photos from The Library of Congress that capture the faces of mid-19th century women who marshaled resources, medical skill, and courage to offer help in wartime. Florence Nightingale is credited with being the founder of modern nursing for her role in caring for wounded and dying soldiers in the Crimean War, serving as a model for the many women who provided medical care during the American Civil War.

Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing who served as an inspiration for American nurses in the Civil War, 1854

Florence Nightingale, circa 1856

Adeline Blanchard Tyler, Civil War nurse in Baltimore, Chester, Pennsylvania, and Annapolis, Maryland, circa 1861-65

Almira Fales, philanthropist and nurse during the Civil War, holding baskets of supplies, circa 1861-65

Civil War nurse partially identified as Miss Davis of South Street Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in traditional nurse's uniform, circa 1861-65

Eleanor C. Ransom, Civil War nurse, with Union soldier who is showing her a bugle, circa 1861-65

Grace Babcock, Civil War nurse, sitting atop Lookout Mountain, circa 1861-65

Harriet E. Preston Grogan, U.S. Army Medical Department nurse of Chesapeake Hospital, Hampton, Virginia, circa 1861-65

Helen L. Gilson, Civil War nurse and head of the Colored Hospital Service, circa 1861-65

Katharine Prescott Wormeley, Civil War relief worker, U.S. Sanitary Commission nurse, and hospital director, circa 1861-65

Maria M.C. Hall, Civil War nurse at Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Maryland, circa 1861-65

Mary Morris Husband, Civil War nurse in Philadelphia, at field hospitals, and on hospital transports, circa 1861-65

Sister Ann Alexis Shorb of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, founder of Carney Hospital, Boston, and head nurse at Satterlee General Hospital, Philadelphia, circa 1861-65

Union nurse Debbie A. Hughes in uniform, 1861

Union nurse Helen Louise Gilson, circa 1861-65

Nurse Mary A.E. Keen of Seminary Hospital, Washington, D.C., and Chesapeake Hospital, Fort Monroe, Virginia, circa 1862

Union nurse Major Belle Reynolds, 1862

Mary Ann Ball Bickerdyke, Civil War nurse and agent for the United States Sanitary Commission, 1863

Mary Jewett Telford, Civil War nurse at Hospital No. 8, Nashville, Tennessee, circa 1863

Alma S. Wolcott Bennett, U.S. Christian Commission nurse of Hospital No. 1, Nashville, Tennessee, 1864

Ann Burtis, Civil War nurse at U.S. General Hospital, Hampton, Virginia, June 20, 1864

Carrie Wilkins Pollard, Civil War nurse, circa 1864-65

Dorothea L. Dix, Superintendent of Army Nurses for the Union Army, holding a book and sitting in a room with a medical bag on the floor, Washington, D.C, August 1865

Nancy Maria Hill, Civil War nurse at Armory Square Hospital, Washington, D.C., October 1865

Sybil Jones, Quaker missionary who nursed Union soldiers and Confederate prisoners in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., circa 1865

Union nurse Clara Barton with Red Cross brooch, circa 1865

Union nurse Clara Barton, circa 1865