Nurses who led the best way: Walt Whitman

Not only was Walt Whitman a famous American poet, teacher and journalist, but he also worked as a volunteer nurse for 3 years throughout the Civil War. In 1862, Whitman went to Washington, D.C. to look after his brother who was wounded within the war. After seeing wounded soldiers at the sector hospital where his brother was being treated, Whitman signed up as a battlefield nurse in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

He hung out visiting various Civil War hospitals, caring for the sick, listening to soldiers’ stories, and writing letters home to them. Until the tip of his servicehe estimated that in 600 hospital visits he saw “over 100,000 wounded soldiers (each Union and Confederate).

Some of Whitman’s most famous poems were written about his work as a nurse, including “Dressing the Wounds”, which describes the act of caring for the sick and dying:

I keep going, I stop,

With hinged knees and a gradual hand to bandage wounds,

I’m firm with everyone, the pains are sharp but inevitable,

One turns to me together with his charming eyes – poor boy! I never knew you

But I do not think I could refuse this moment to die for you if it might prevent (35-39)

After his death in 1892, Whitman was buried in a tomb he designed in Harleigh Cemetery in Camden, New Jersey.