Spanish American War Nurses

The Supreme Sacrifice

At least 24 women died while serving as Army nurses during the Spanish American War, the US Army occupation of Cuba and Puerto Rico, and the Philippine Insurrection. The nurses listed below died of disease contracted while caring for sick and wounded from the Army. A supreme sacrifice report has been prepared for each nurse, to purchase a report type a name in the search box or scroll down.

Army Nurses

Lucretia Marie Bailey
Isabella R. Bradford
Emma Cameron
Anita Anna Long Campos
Dorothy Helen Cochrane
Sylvia Catherine Coffin
Margaret Jessie Greenfield
Bessie McFarland
Dorothea “Dorothy” Phinney
Lulu Maria Plant
Alice Owens Roberts
Katherine B. Stansberry
Doctor Irene S. Toland
Ellen May Tower
Margaret Nestler Tricoche
Minerva Turnbull
Reubena Hyde Walworth
Clara Hannah Ward

Roman Catholic Nuns in the Spanish American War

Catholic nuns, served as Army nurses during the Civil War and became known as “Angels of the Battlefield”. This tradition of service continued during the Spanish American War and nuns served as Army Nurses under contract from the orders of the Sisters of Charity of Emmitsburg, MD, Sisters of Mercy of Mount Washington, MD, Sisters of the Holy Cross of Notre Dame, IN, Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Louis, MO, and Congregation of American Sisters of Fort Pierre, SD.  

Catholic nuns served without contract from the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary of Key West, FL, Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, of Nazareth, KY, Sisters of Charity and Sisters of Mercy in San Francisco, CA, Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, PA, and the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine, FL.

Six Catholic Sisters made the Supreme Sacrifice

Sisters of Charity, Emmitsburg, MD

Mary Ellen Burke, Sister Mary Anastasia
Anna Larkin, Sister Mary Larkin
Mary Catherine Muth, Sister Mary Bernadine
Mary Sweeney, Sister Mary Agnes
Caroline Wolf, Sister Caroline

Sisters of Mercy, Baltimore, MD

Mary Flannagan, Sister Mary Elizabeth

Army Nurse Corps and Navy Nurse Corps

Over 1,800 women volunteered to serve as nurses in the Army and Navy during the Spanish American War, the US Army occupation of Cuba and Puerto Rico, the Philippine Insurrection, and the China Relief Expedition. Their selfless and dedicated service led to the establishment of the Army Nurse Corps on February 2, 1901, and the Navy Nurse Corps on May 13, 1908.