DAR Hospital Corps

History

Before the 20th century, the U.S. military had no official nursing corps, and battlefield nursing had mostly disappeared after the Civil War. On April 28, 1898, Surgeon General George M. Sternberg asked Secretary of War Russell A. Alger for permission to hire as many contract nurses as needed, though they would not hold military rank. Sternberg then turned to Anita Newcomb McGee, a physician and a leader in the Daughters of the American Revolution who had been made an Acting Assistant Surgeon, to find qualified nurses for the Army and Navy during the Spanish-American War.

That same year, McGee created the DAR Hospital Corps to screen candidates. Some nurses came through American Red Cross training, while many others belonged to Catholic groups like the Sisters of Charity, the Sisters of Mercy, and the Sisters of the Holy Cross. McGee named Mary Desha as Assistant Director, and together with volunteers they reviewed between 5,000 and 8,000 applications from their Washington, D.C. office. They evaluated each applicant’s skills, character, and health, and especially favored those who had already survived yellow fever, since that made them immune to it in camp conditions.

The Corps ultimately registered 1,081 trained nurses. The Army surgeon general initially required nurses to be between 30 and 50 years old, but later dropped the minimum age. The nurses wore white dresses, caps, and aprons, along with a badge: a red enamel cross engraved with “Hospital Corps,” ringed by a blue enamel circle reading “Daughters of the American Revolution.” Each apron also had the DAR insignia stenciled on it.

During the war, these nurses served in the United States, Cuba, and the Philippines. Four Catholic Lakota nuns were registered by the Corps and first sent to Camp Cuba Libre, then reassigned to Camp Columbia in Havana. Nurses working for the Navy were not guaranteed pay but did receive travel reimbursements, and eventually got $30 a month plus ration allowances from private funds, not the federal government. Later, the Daughters of the American Revolution provided pensions for many nurses who did not qualify for government pensions.