Date of Award

Spring 1998

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

History

Abstract

In September 1862, the Confederate Congress authorized hospitals to employ white women as chief matrons, assistant matrons, and ward matrons. This paper examines the lives and experiences of matrons who worked in Confederate hospitals in Virginia. It concludes that only ''exceptional" women with the stamina to endure physical and mental hardships were able to defy conventional ideas about their proper role and contribute to the care of Confederate sick and wounded as matrons.

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