Kate Cumming and the Civil War

In the last couple of weeks, I have dived into primary source documents and secondary books about nurses, soldiers, and civilians during the American Civil War. This time period continues to interest me. I stumbled upon the captivating story of a Confederate nurse during the war, Kate Cumming, who in 1866 published A Journal of Hospital Life in the Confederate Army of Tennessee from the Battle of Shiloh to the End of the War. This detailed account records the day-to-day nursing experiences of a CSA volunteer on the battlefields of Tennessee and Georgia (and illustrates the bloody stories of the wounded and dying on the enemy side of the Civil War). In this blog post, Kate Cumming’s life and parts of her memoirs will be analyzed (photograph of Kate Cumming, date unknown, Civil War Women Blog).

Kate Cumming was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1830 to a father who was a farmer and a mother who was a community midwife. The exact date of her birth is unknown. Cumming’s life changed as a child when her family immigrated across the Atlantic Ocean to Mobile in Alabama soon after her birth. Mobile, then a small growing town, was a democratic stronghold whose civilians strongly believed in slavery (and later agreed on secession from the Union). Cumming quickly adapted to the southern lifestyle, attending public schools and excelling in the sciences. Moreover, the young girl adopted the social life that was reserved only for the affluent, as her father became a very wealthy Mobile merchant and prominent council leader in the community. Religion played a central part in Cumming’s life, as she and her family were active members and volunteers at the town’s St. John’s Episcopal Church. She was an active Christian her entire life.

At the outbreak of the Civil War in spring 1861, Alabama left the Union with seven other Southern states. Though she did not agree with secession, Cumming quickly became a passionate supporter of the Confederacy. Like others, she blamed Union President Abraham Lincoln for the war, spitefully condemned Yankees because they were “from the North,” and her Scottish temper lashed out against Southern colleagues for anything less than wholehearted patriotism. Cumming strongly believed that every able-bodied man and woman should do their best to support the Confederacy (picture of the ‘Stars and Bars’ CSA flag, USFlag.org).

Once the fighting started and the battlefields soaked with American blood, Cumming’s mother and two sisters moved to England (her mother would die of natural causes shortly thereafter). Her brother, David Cumming, was one of the thousands of young Southern men who joined General Robert E. Lee’s army after briefly serving in the 21st Alabama Infantry. Her father, too old to serve, remained quietly at home. A strong-willed patriot, Cumming was not going to stand to the side while young men did their duty and marched off to war. She first took the task of collecting supplies from local businesses and distributing them to soldiers in the region around Mobile. In April 1862, at the age of 32, she offered her services as a nurse. This was a major break from family tradition (these women played the domestic role as a housewife and party host) and against her father’s wishes, who considered such hospital work to be “unladylike.”

Cumming’s nursing career started at a makeshift Confederate hospital at Corinth in Mississippi, where the wounded and dying from the Battle of Shiloh were being cared for. The woman thoroughly enjoyed the daily nursing activities and was inspired to continue through challenges by the British nurse, Florence Nightingale, and Reverend Benjamin M. Miller, the Democratic politician who specifically wrote letters to women in the South to increase the number of nurses in the Confederate Army. Though the Confederacy did not have an organized medical force at the beginning of the war, the efforts from the woman volunteers like Cumming were important to the longevity of the Confederate Army.

Historians admire primary sources as these first-eyed documents illustrate the emotions and stories of the authors. These documents give scholars an in-depth look at how life was perceived in that era. Cumming was one of the few nurses during the Civil War who kept a daily journal of her experiences. Some daily entries are short, as she often hurried notes of her observations and emotions. Her personal memoirs shows us that nursing  during this era was a social affair at first (that was often frowned upon by many traditional antebellum families in the South) and how the occupation depended on the generosity of woman patriots. Her diary, though insignificant and personal in her eyes at first, proved important to the government and military officers after the war, as Cumming noted many of the names of soldiers who died during the conflict, which allowed families to know the fate of their loved ones, even if it took generations to do so (photograph of a makeshift Confederate hospital at the Battle of Antietam in September 1862, Flickr).

After traveling around to many makeshift hospitals managed by Dr. Samuel Stout, Cumming enlisted in the medical department of the Army of Tennessee as a hospital matron in fall 1863. She would sequentially be transferred to Chattanooga. There, she patiently and tirelessly cared for the wounded Confederate soldiers of the Battle of Chickamauga. Below are two diary entries in that year which I chose best illustrate Cumming’s story on handling the stress and pressure of saving lives in unsanitary conditions.

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September 29, 1863:

“Early the next morning I hurried back to the hospital, where I was kept busy nearly all day rolling bandages. I was assisted by a young man, Mr. Dearing, from Kentucky, who was disabled by a wound in the arm. It was as much as we could do to supply the demands of the doctors.

Reverend Mr. Green and my Negro servant (slave) were kept busy dressing wounds. We were seated on an upper gallery, where we could see the ambulances come in from the battlefield with their precious burdens. I saw as many as fifty come in at one time, and a dismal sight they presented. There had been no rain for some time, and the dust was so fearful that when the men were taken out of the wagons you could scarcely tell what color they were.

Rolling bandages was a necessity, but it was a great trial for us, for we would so much rather have been waiting upon the wounded. At last we were told we had rolled enough for that day, and we gladly went down stairs to see what we could do.

I got a bucket, and nearly filling it with wine, put in water and sugar, making a delicious drink. This, with eatables in a basket, Mr. Dearing. and I carried around, and it was highly appreciated by the men. We also visited the cars, which were standing on the tracks filled with wounded.”

 

And on September 30, 1863:

“I arose bright and early, and hurriedly partaking of my breakfast, went to the hospital. I had always wished to go on a battlefield—not from any idle curiosity, but from a desire to know the worst, and see if I could be of any use.

While thinking over the matter, I met a Mrs. Weir, of Griffin, Ga., whose son had lost a leg in the battle, and was in a private house near the battlefield. She had come to nurse him, and said she would go with me to the battlefield if I would go out with her to see her son. Hundreds of wagons were coming in, but none returning that day.

After awhile, a nice looking, covered wagon came along, and after depositing its load of humanity, Mr. Dearing asked the owner to take us, but this, he stoutly refused to do, saying his horses were completely worn out. Mr. D. then said that one of the ladies had nursed at least one thousand Confederates. On hearing this, he immediately drew up and invited us all in.

We traveled over the roughest roads imaginable, and the thought occurred to me that if the wounded were brought this way they must indeed suffer. The surmise proved to be correct, for we met hundreds of wagons loaded with sufferers wending their way to Ringgold. We also saw many slightly wounded on foot going the same direction.

We left Mrs. Weir at Mr. Strickland’s, where her son was, and Mr. Tedford begged me to go on further, to Mr. Hunt’s, where were the wounded of Hindman’s division. He informed me that an excellent young lady, Mr. Hunt’s daughter, was doing much for the wounded, and would be glad of my assistance.

On our way I met Dr. Ray going to see a brother, whom he had just heard was badly wounded. He and several other surgeons had been wandering about for two days looking for the hospitals. I think he said they had been at General Cleburne’s division hospital, and the first day they were there they dressed the wounds of twelve hundred men.

This seems almost incredible, but we have had many more wounded than killed, and all of the wounded of the enemy were left in our hands. He also informed me that at first they had no food for the men nor rags with which to dress their wounds. I promised to send them some rags and also to visit the hospital.

I found Mr. Hunt’s home a very pretty cottage in the midst of a garden, which before the battle had been filled with fine shrubbery and flowers, but was now covered with tents and sheds filled with wounded. Every corner of the house was filled with wounded, many of them lying upon bunks made out of the branches of trees, a hard bed at any time, but much more so for these poor wounded veterans.”

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In the later years of the Civil War, Cumming cared for the wounded and assisted in the opening of field hospitals in several states, including Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky. In 1864, when the Southern Confederate Army under General Joseph E. Johnston was retreating from General William Tecumseh Sherman’s Union forces, Cumming drummed up woman support and organized several successful field hospitals in Georgia. Her name and the stories of her voluntary efforts spread like wildfire across the nation. Many  Southern politicians applauded her efforts. She would eventually become the head of food and housekeeping departments in multiple hospitals in the deep South. Though she was frowned upon for choosing a career that did not align with the traditional gender employment standards of that era, Cumming continued to ignore the harsh comments and busied herself in the dirty, back-breaking, and sickening work that not everyone volunteered to do. She never married or had children. She had little money by the end of her life (she gave much of her fortune away to others) and supported herself by part-time teaching jobs. However, what made her happy was caring for the soldiers who served their country. And in return, she felt gratification by serving her country. she was devoted to the South. Cumming never expected her personal journal to be published and she rarely wanted to be praised. She was humble and honest– traits of a hero. By the time of her death on June 5, 1909, Cumming was a true patriot and warrior in the eyes of many civilians in the South and North. She was a charitable leader who was willing to put her life and energies in front to support the men and flag she had grown to love. She was an enemy in history, but a selfless woman patriot at heart (photograph of wounded soldiers during the Civil War, date unknown, American Battlefield Trust).

For more information: Read Kate Cumming’s 1866 journal, A Journal of Hospital Life in the Confederate Army of Tennessee from the Battle of Shiloh to the End of the War. –It provides a very interesting insight in Civil War medical procedures!