2. The Founder of the Army Nurse Corps
The US Army Nurse Corps was largely the creation of Dr. Anita Newcomb McGee. Born in 1864, Dr. McGee got her medical degree in 1892, and became one of the few female practicing doctors in Washington, DC. When the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898, she trained and organized volunteer nurses. Her organizing abilities led to her appointment as acting Assistant Surgeon General of the US Army, in charge of nurses, for the duration of the war. That made her the first woman authorized to wear an Army officer’s uniform.
During the conflict, McGee wrote a manual on nursing that was adopted by the American military and formed the basis for nursing practices for decades thereafter. Some parts survive as standard procedures to this day. After the war, she lobbied for the establishment of a permanent nurse corps, and wrote the section of the legislation that was subsequently enacted into law to establish the Army Nurse Corps in 1901.
