Kate Cumming | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
1830 Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Died |
June 5, 1909 Birmingham, Alabama |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Occupation | Nurse |
Kate Cumming (1830 – June 5, 1909) was a Confederate Civil War nurse.[1][2] Cumming remained a nurse throughout the duration of the war, rare for most servicewomen, urged on by her strong sense of patriotism.
Early life[]
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, her family immigrated to the United States when Cumming was still young, settling finally in Mobile, Alabama.[2][3] At the outbreak of the Civil War, Cumming's mother and two sisters left for England, leaving Cumming behind with her father and brother.[1] Against her family's wishes, in April 1862, Cumming volunteered as a nurse in a Confederate hospital located in Corinth, Mississippi, near the location of the Battle of Shiloh after her brother enlisted in the 21st Alabama Infantry.[4][5] She was inspired to serve by Florence Nightingale as well as Reverend Benjamin M. Miller, who called women specifically to aid the Confederacy.[2]
Civil War service[]
Cumming began her service at the Mississippi/Tennessee border at the Battle of Shiloh.[2] The Confederacy did not have an organized medical force at the war's inception, making the efforts of nurses like Cumming crucial for Confederate survival.[1] As the medical department became more organized, Cumming occupied a matron position, and traveled with the mobile hospitals of Dr. Samuel Stout.[1] Cumming was an active nurse throughout the war, which was unusual as nurses usually served temporarily.[2] Cumming eventually became the head of food and housekeeping departments in multiple hospitals in Georgia.[6]
"I could fill whole pages with descriptions of the scenes before me," wrote Cumming of her battlefield experience.[5] It is clear in her writings that Cumming knew nurses to be vital to the war effort.[5] Cumming maintained a diary throughout her wartime experience, offering readers insight into life of a woman nurse in the war effort.[1] Cumming's diary was published in 1866 under the title A Journal of Hospital Life in the Confederate Army of Tennessee.[6]
Post-war life[]
At the end of the war, Cumming returned home to Mobile. She published her wartime experiences in 1866, titled A Journal of Hospital Life in the Confederate Army of Tennessee from the Battle of Shiloh to the End of the War.[2] This journal has become one of the few primary sources regarding the work of Confederate nurses.[7] In 1874, she moved to Birmingham, Alabama, with her father, where she worked with a teacher and was an active member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.[2] She died in Birmingham on June 5, 1909. She is buried in Mobile.[2]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Kate Cumming" (in en). http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1101.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 "Kate Cumming" (in en). http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/kate-cumming-ca-1830-1909.
- ↑ Hall, Richard H. (2006). Women on the Civil War Battlefront. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. p. 232. ISBN 9780700614370.
- ↑ Hall, Richard H. (2006). Women on the Civil War Battlefront. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. p. 235. ISBN 9780700614370.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Tsui, Bonnie (2006). She Went to the Field: Women Soldiers of the Civil War. Guilford: TwoDot. p. 119. ISBN 0762743840.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Tsui, Bonnie (2006). She Went to the Field: Women Soldiers of the Civil War. Guilford: TwoDot. p. 120. ISBN 0762743840.
- ↑ "Cumming, Kate (1828-1909)" (in en). https://www.uab.edu/reynolds/cwfigs/cumming.
The original article can be found at Kate Cumming and the edit history here.