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20 Working Nurse l WorkingNurse.com August 12–September 16, 2019 PROFILES IN NURSING by Jon Garrison, RN, MSN S arah Graham Palmer Young, popu- larly known as "Aunt Becky," was one of the best-known Union Army nurses of the Civil War, adored by many as a fierce champion of sick and wounded sol- diers. Her vivid wartime memoir is still in print today. Gone to War Born in Ithaca, N.Y., Sarah A. Graham Palmer married at age 18 and became a widow by her early 30s. When her beloved brothers enlisted in the Union Army follow- ing the outbreak of the Civil War, Palmer promised them she would "go with them down to the scene of conflict, and be near when sickness or the chances of battle threw them help- less from the ranks." In September 1862, she kept that promise, leaving her two daughters with relatives and join- ing the 109th Regiment, New York Volunteers, as a matron, kitchen supervisor and nurse. The Ideal Nurse When the Civil War began, there were no nursing schools or nursing credentials. Battlefield medics and Army surgeons were all male. However, the shortage of care- givers had prompted the Army to consider female nurses, tasking newly appointed nursing superin- tendent Dorothea Dix with recruit- ment. Dix considered the ideal candi- date to be a woman between the ages of 35 and 50, in good health; of high moral standards; not too attractive; with good conduct, superior education and serious dis- position. Her standards were so rigid that many women could not meet them, although some decid- ed to volunteer anyway. Palmer, only 32 when she joined the 109th, was somewhat younger and pretti- er than Dix's ideal. When she first arrived at the crude Army hospital in Beltville, Md., she was greeted with such skepti- cism that it was five days before the other nurses arranged formal quarters for her. Nevertheless, she soon won the respect and appreciation of her colleagues and patients for her dedication and compassion. Early on, she accepted the nickname "Aunt Becky" (suggested, at least accord- ing to some accounts, by a soldier in her care). Because so many of the soldiers were very young men — some as young as 16 — Palmer's charges would sometimes call her "Mother." Nevertheless, she would be popularly known as "Aunt Becky" for the remainder of her service and until her death 46 years later. The Horror, the Horror Wartime nursing was difficult and strenu- ous, including cooking, laundry and other housekeeping chores as well as the grim work of caring for sick or wounded sol- diers. Disease was as much a risk as enemy action. Palmer's youngest brother nearly died of pneumonia in 1863, although she was able to nurse him back to health. She her- self became seriously ill several times during the war. However, even pneumonia and typhoid fever couldn't match the horror of wounds suffered on a Civil War battlefield. "Oh, if the cruel shots could only kill at once," she later wrote, recalling a middle- aged German soldier's protracted death from an agonizing chest wound. Sometimes, she would see a young soldier undergoing sur- gery and "almost hope he would never wake," so horribly had he been mutilated. Comforting the dying was as much a part of Palmer's work as healing the living. "Many a dying message was given to me for far- away friends — many a last farewell was whispered in my ear for the dear wife and children," she wrote. "She Outranks Me!" Palmer worked in numerous hospi- tals for the next three years, often stationed as close to the front as hospitals were allowed to be. Some postings were fairly comfortable, Sarah "Aunt Becky" Palmer (1830–1908) Storied Civil War Nurse