Harriet Patience Dame
| Harriet Patience Dame | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait in the New Hampshire State House | |
| Born |
5 January 1815 Barnstead, New Hampshire |
| Died |
24 April 1900 (aged 85) Concord, New Hampshire |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Nurse |
| Years active | 1861-1865 |
| Known for | Civil War nurse |
| Medical career | |
Harriet Patience Dame (January 5, 1815 – April 24, 1900), was prominent as a nurse in the American Civil War. Her portrait hangs in the New Hampshire State House.[1]
Early life
Dame was born in Barnstead, New Hampshire[1][2] (or North Barnstead)[3] to James Chadbourne and Phebe Ayers on January 5, 1815.[3] In 1843, Dame moved to Concord, New Hampshire and worked at various occupations.[3] By 1861, she was running a student boarding house.[4] She had no formal training as a nurse.[1]
Civil War
When war came, Dame, aged 46, approached the recruit training station at Camp Union in Concord and offered her services to officers there.[4] Because the camp had no infirmary, Dame was put into service as a nurse.[4]
Dame served with the 2nd New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry from April 1861 to Christmas 1865.[2][3] She served without furlough through two enlistment periods.[1]
The regiment was mainly made up of men from Concord and Exeter, led by Col. Gilman Marston.[1] Dame marched and camped alongside the troops, often as the only woman among a thousand men.[3] She was appointed matron of the 18th Army Corps hospital in September 1864, and supervised the nurses on duty. Marston said of her: "Miss Dame was the bravest woman I ever knew. I have seen her face a cannon battery without flinching while a man took refuge behind her for safety from flying shells. She was always present when most needed."[4] She saw action at first Bull Run, second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg.[4]
She was twice captured in battle, and released by her captors.[1][5] In once instance, Stonewall Jackson authorized her return to Union lines.[4]
Post-war life
After the war, Dame was appointed by William E. Chandler to a Treasuy Department clerkshop in Washington, D.C.,[1] which she held into old age.[2][4] She did not return to her home state until 1900.[1] Congress voted her a military pension in 1884.[4]
Dame served as the third president of the National Association of Army Nurses of the Civil War, upon the death of Dorthea Dix and resignation of Dr. Susan Edson.[6]
Patience Dame never married.[1] She died in Concord and was buried at Blossom Hill Cemetery.[7]
Honors
- Shortly after the Civil War, the New Hampshire legislature awarded Dame $500 for extraordinary public service. She donated most of the money to the 2nd Regiment.[1][5]
- Upon her death in 1900, Governor Frank W. Rollins and the state milita participated in her funeral ceremony.[5]
- In 1901 the New Hampshire Legislature commissioned that her portrait be painted and hung in the New Hampshire State House. It was the first portrait of a woman to hang there.[1][5]
- The Harriet P. Dame Elementary School in Concord was named in her honor.[4]
- In 2002, Dame was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the American Nurses Association.[8]
External links
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Rimkunas, Barbara (25 May 2012). "Harriet Patience Dame and the 2nd N.H. Regiment". SeacoastOnline.com. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
- 1 2 3 Wilson, James Grant (1901). Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume 7 VII. New York: D. Appleton and Company. p. 81.
- 1 2 3 4 5 New Hampshire Women: A Collection of Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Daughters and Residents of the Granite State, Who are Worthy Representatives of their Sex in the Various Walks and Conditions of Life. Concord, NH: The New Hampshire Publishing Co. 1895. p. 83.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Winship, Steve (25 February 2006). "Dame: Concord's Florence Nightingale". Concord, New Hampshire: The Concord Monitor. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 Dennis Segelquist. "Harriet Patience Dame". Civil War Days & Those Surnames. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
- ↑ Logan, Mrs. John A (1912). The Part Taken by Women in American History. Perry-Nalle publishing Company. pp. 358–359.
- ↑ "Harriet Patience Dame". Find a Grave. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
- ↑ "Harriet Patience Dame (1815-1900) 2002 Inductee". American Nurses Association. Retrieved 18 April 2015.