In times of war, acts of heroism seem to come from everywhere. The soldiers fighting for their ideals play protagonist for most of these stories, but often during these times, a woman finds herself in a position which requires heroic action. Very rarely does one decline such a demand – whether the action required is keeping the home fires burning and dealing with strict rationing, summoning her courage and continuing after the loss of her husband or son, or actually heading onto the battlefield.

The women included here all ventured into the heat of battle to patch up the fallen men, despite the possibility of personal injury or illness. After the stint on the battlefield, they continued fighting against death, poor medical care, and for the improvement of woman’s stature in society.

Florence Nightengale (1820 – 1910) Though most remembered for her humanitarian work, Florence Nightengale’s first passion was actually Mathematics. Well educated by her upper class family, she quickly found herself unhappy with her station in life. She began caring for her sick and injured pets, then ill servants. Eventually it became clear that caring for others was her mission in life. She studied hospital systems across Europe and Egypt. When the Crimean War broke out in 1854, she went to work, almost single-handedly reducing mortality rates through her concise system for effectively organizing the data on morbidity and mortality. After the war, she was able to bring what she had learned to civilian hospitals.

Clara Barton (1821 – 1912) The youngest of 4 children, Clara was always more interested in tomboyish activities than doing what was considered proper for a young lady. Despite being terribly shy, she forced the courage to help when one of her brothers fell ill; learning to care for him. After completing her schooling she started what would become New Jersey’s first free public school, only to be replaced by a man with lesser credentials a short time later. When the American Civil War broke out Clara, who was living in Washington, was overwhelmed by influx of wounded soldiers. She immediately recognized the deficiencies in the Army’s Medical Department and began taking privately procured supplies to the front lines of the battlefield, and worked beneath whirling bullets during the battles of Antietam, Second Manassas, and Fredericksburg – battles which proved to be some of the worst of the war. She also worked trying to identify the dead found at the Andersonville Prison Camp upon its liberation. She worked day and night, barely stopping to rest even after contracting typhoid fever. After a trip to Europe she brought back a great program she had seen, and soon founded the American Red Cross.

Elizabeth Blackwell (1821 – 1910) Born in England at nearly the same time as Florence Nightengale, and the same year as Clara Barton, Elizabeth Blackwell’s name still rarely comes up in a discussion of early women in medicine. She does, however, hold the distinguished honor of being the first woman in America to graduate from medical school with an M.D. She undertook this endeavor as a way to help women who may be uncomfortable speaking with male doctors about their heath concerns. She was turned away from almost every school – right up until she applied to Geneva Medical College in New York. The students endorsed her admission believing it was a practical joke; when she actually showed up for classes, she was shunned. She did extremely well; an eye infection and the resulting blindness was the only thing that kept her from becoming a surgeon. She began writing about women’s health, and encouraging other women to undertake medical training, as well as lecturing across America and Great Britain. When the Civil War broke out, Elizabeth and her sister Emily – who was also a doctor by this time – organized the Women’s Central Association of Relief to train battlefield nurses. After the war, she worked with Florence Nightengale to open the Women’s Medical College and the London School of Medicine for Women. Elizabeth taught at different institutions until 1907, and she died a short time later.

Dorothea Dix (1802 – 1887) “Dragon Dix,” as some would come to know her, was no stranger to fighting an uphill battle. She spent more than 20 years advocating for better care for the mentally ill, and for better conditions in American prisons, and returned to this work after the Civil War’s end. But, when Fort Sumter was attacked, she temporarily set this work aside and volunteered for duty with the Union Army. Military officials were unsure whether women could handle the strenuous duties of nursing, but under Dix’s command as Superintendent of Female Nurses, they did everything that was demanded of them. Dix hand-picked only the best – she wanted to be sure she didn’t allow those “looking for romance” into her units: only those who were plain looking and over 30 were accepted, all were dressed in modest clothing without hoops or jewelry. Dix took on the military’s bureaucracy with full force, and, under her leadership, army nursing care was much improved; as was the care for the nurses themselves.

In wars before and since, women have made a great difference, in some cases even taking up arms against the enemy – a practice that is much more acceptable in contemporary times than it ever has been before. But these four amazing women -- the three contemporaries, and the one a bit their senior – all had a great, and lasting effect on the world as we know it.